MD Angler New To Crappie Fishing

Greetings Maryland crappie fishing enthusiasts! My name is Brad Hierstetter. I live in St Mary’s County. Over the last 10 years or so, I've devoted a considerable amount of my fishing time to learning how to more consistently catch catfish - both smaller and trophy-sized - from the tidal Potomac River and its tributaries. I've always been intrigued by crappie, though, and wish to learn how to consistently catch them throughout the year as well.

My crappie fishing journey (I recognize that I'm not going to become proficient overnight) began yesterday evening when my partner and I headed to a tributary of the tidal Potomac known for good crappie fishing, especially early in the year. The water temperature was near 80 degrees, so we decided to fish structure in or very near to the deeper water sections of the creek. We caught a few small crappies, but landed considerably more catfish than crappie.

Not sure if our approach was sound. I’m hoping that the skilled crappie anglers on this forum are willing to share a little of their Maryland crappie fishing expertise with me. I thank you in advance for any information that you’re willing to share with me.

Very respectfully,

Brad H.

Brad, :welcometo the site and you sound determined to be successful. Bet we see some photos of your crappies soon. Enjoy.

Welcome aboard ,I used to fish in Mattawomen cr. upstream from ya in the winter and early spring for crappie many yrs ago it was good around blowdowns and beaverhuts. Never fished there in warm weather though.We do more salt water in the summer but do sometimes crappie fish in summer ,actually I caught some in all 12 monthes last year. I would fish small plastics on 1/16 and 1/32 heads with and without a bobber trying different retrieves or vertical jigging to see what works best at each location . We get over to St. Mary's co. sometimes when we go to the dirt track at Potomac speedway (Budds cr) when they have big races there some of our local delmarva racers we're friends with race there. Good luck

Thanks for the tips, tear-em-up. I'm familiar with Mattawoman Creek, having launched out of Smallwood State Park many times in search of trophy blue catfish on the main river. I've never fished for crappie there, though Ross Williams of the MD DNR recommends it as a good spot to fish for crappie that's fairly close to St. Mary's County. I will give it a try sometime soon. Mr. Williams also tells me that St. Mary's Lake harbors crappie, although they tend to be on the smaller side. St. Mary's Lake is an electric-motor-only lake that's just a few minutes from my house. Since I don't presently have an electric motor on my skiff, I'm in the process of modifying it to accommodate a small transom-mount electric motor. Will hopefully be up and running and able to fish St. Mary's Lake soon. Thanks again for sharing with me. I'll keep you posted on my progress.