Summer crappie patterns

Don't crappie prefer muddy/stained water?

Hey Peke,
After vacation you should check out Oolagah cause the bite has been pretty good there and real close to home. The water is fairly clean below Winganon. And this is off topic but do you raise pekes? We have a cute male thats just over five weeks if you know anyone interested. He'll be ready for a new home in July.

Sorry...off topic.
Well I wouldn't say we raise them...they seem to be in charge. We are just there because they can't reach doorknobs and open dog food containers! :D We also have two collies....all dogs have been fixed. My first peke lived over 18 years. We have two pekes inside with the two collies outside...except when the heat gets over 95...the collies come inside.

Our vet says she wants to be reincarnated as one of our dogs! :D
So you breed pekes? We've never had a male before. Can you PM me with a picture. I love pekes personality.

Peke

Froggie,

I will check out Oologah when I can get some time and talk my husband into going. Had some trouble with my boat last week so I have to figure it out first.
Peke

Peke
I'll work on sending you a pic. Sorry bout the boat. Mine's given me an issue this year but I think I got it resolved.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by crappieguru

Summer crappie fishing can be extremely fun when you find them. The pattern can fall on two planes: one being deep brush piles, and the other being shallow timber. When you talk about deep brush it depends on the lake you fish. We normally fish brush no deeper than 15ft. on Oologah. In the timber I simply bounce around until we find a pattern. You would be amazed how shallow some of them slabs will be. I waste very little time when timber fishing, it's more of a dip and rip. If they are there you'll know it, plus I'm trying to fish as many trees as possible, and I'm looking for Big Momma or Daddy. I have found that the warmer the water temp the better the timber fishing. That means in the dead dog heat of the day you can be out there killing them, but you have to be safe. Don't be afraid to try different techniques for summer crappie. Trolling cranks on Oologah can be deadly. We have loaded up a ice chest on numerous trips trolling bandits (200 & 300 series). When trolling cranks remember you are fishing for crappie not sandbass, so slow down. We watch many sandbass fishermen trolling around us catching sandies while we are moving slower catching crappie. Summer crappie will let you know how fast or slow you should go. Slow trolling is also a method i use during the summer once we locate the fish. Don't put up the rods, but if you do that means I have a better chance a catching that Big one.

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CrappieGuru,

I was wondering if you weigh down your cranks? I've seen people use a 3way swivel rig to be able to use like a 2-3 oz lead to get the crank down deep. Just wondering...I am green around the gills and oologah is my home lake..trying to get as many tips as possible.

Thanks

As EB said "Great Read"
Thanks to all who replied. I have a lot to learn.

Okfishing,
I typically don't weigh down my cranks. The only time I've done it is when I fished a tournament up at lake stocken. The only reason we did that was because the lake is clear which caused the fish to be 20 plus feet deep. Plus we were using 14ft slow trolling rods to push them not pull them.

Great read. I've been the Mississippi River in WI for Crappies. This thread has opened my eyes to try some new things. But I have found Crappies in the evenings hanging out is mid to shallow depth weed edges near break lines/drop offs. Usually using plastics or minners.
Great information from all.

You really know you're addicted to crappie fishing when you fish for them year around. Without a doubt fishing during the summer is the most predictable for me. The way I look at is, how does the weather affect me while I fish. The winter has deadly conditions and is by far the worst conditions that affect how well I can fish. On the other hand the summer is tough too but I can always fish from daylight till noon and be off the water before it gets too hot and I'm totally comfortable while fishing. It's also a lot easier to jump in the water and cool off if I need to. The crappie are really predictable in the summer time too. The crappie want shade and they get that from brush piles and standing timber. I know where my best brush piles or standing timber are and I know they will be there. There are several methods that almost always work and all I have to do is find out what they like best or do several of them at the same time. On a normal summer day I will try to get to my brush pile before the sun comes up. I'll position my boat 10 to 15 yards away from the brush pile and I'll cast a 1/16oz weedless jig past the brush pile and drag the jig as slow as I can back through the pile. I can usually catch the biggest fish off the pile casting because the big crappie rule the pile. Casting usually works for the first 30 minutes to an hour after sunrise. After that I'll move in a little closer and pitch a jig with 10 to 12ft of line out and let it pendulum back to vertical straight under the rod. When the early jig bit slows I'll go to minnows. I set up 3 or 4 rods with a splitshot a foot up from a minnow hook and start at a depth of 8/10ft and fish those straight down. After I have those rigged and in the water I use another rod to drop shot another minnow. I use a small bell sinker and a hook on a 2/3" loop knot 18/24" above the bell sinker. I cast this rig all around the pile and slowly drag it along bottom and let it set for 15 to 30 seconds after each drag. I try to leave enough slack in the line to not spook the fish when they pick it up. Usually during the summer I find it very difficult to fish with this rig because I'm catching so many fish off the other 3 or 4 rods. I usually go through a half a pound of minnows before noon and a normal day would be 30/50 keeper crappie on any given summer day on Oologah. That's why I say the summer is the most predictable time to catch crappie. A rule of thumb I use on my minnow rods set straight down is to change the depth deeper when I haven't had a bite in 15/20 minutes. Dropping the hook down another 2/4" works almost every time. I immediately start getting bites again. The fish move deeper into the pile as the day gets hotter. Fishing with minnows is not as fun as jigs, but at least you can usually catch some on jigs really early in the morning. Also, If you can be lucky enough to be there when a thunderstorm blows in, things can get downright outstanding.