Fishing new areas

Ok, bare with me as this may be one of those questions that are a bit vague and wide open but I know many of you will have some good insight. My question is this....what tips do you have for fishing (for Crappie of course) a completely new area for the first few times?

There is a spot relatively close to me that I finally decided to give a try. Its just off the Mississippi river and conservation web page said it has 43 fish-able acres (although it did seem bigger to me)**Correction, just saw where it is actually about 200 acres...which makes more sense to me. The 43 acres were the other lakes around it** It is a bayou and quite deep in the middle, my finder showed about 25-30 ft most of the way down with it coming up sharply as you got closer to the banks. Lots of tops and brush along the bank as well as cypress trees.

Decided to do a variety of things like throwing out some jugs for cats and also brought some crickets for some bream fishing, but I really wanted to figure out how to possibly crappie fish it. Not sure it was the best day to try anything due to the wind being pretty strong and it was really tough for me to keep the boat still for very long. I did manage quite a few small bream around some cypress tress and caught one cat on a jug but had zero luck on the crappie. I am not setup to pull cranks and typically will spider rig with minnows but didn't have those either, so I tried trolling with some gulp minnows and a couple different Garland baby shad. I did try to drop a jig around some brush but as I said earlier the wind made it really tough to not get my boat pushed up in trees. I felt I got a full days workout on the trolling motor!!! I did notice quite a lot of little gar around the trees in the bank line, but I did manage to still catch some bream there. I know there have to be some crappie in there and I am not sure how much pressure it really gets. I have been there twice (once to just see where it was and then on Saturday to fish) and I was the only one there. Its a very pretty place to go and will always hold water due to getting fed from rises in the Mississippi River so I would really like to go there more if its worth my while.

I guess back to my main question....when you decide to try a new spot like this that you have no knowledge of, what is your game plan? What tactics do you use and how long do you stay with it until you say its not worth the trouble? It may not be a good time of the year to be trying a new spot for crappie but I want to learn how to branch out and be able to fish new spots with success. Thanks as always for your help and advice.

Here is what I would do, and it's hard for me not to over fish a spot so it takes some discipline. I would take one pole, a jig pole, some jigs you have confidence in and a bucket of minnows. I would do a lot of riding and looking a electronics. If I found a good looking spot I would fish it with a jig and minnow for no more than 10 minutes. Then move on to the next good looking spot. If you have GPS you can mark these spots, if not try to look around and get some thing to align on when you go back. Remember you are hunting now not fishing. That's how your going to learn this water and once you do that your fishing time can be better spent and way more productive.

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Originally Posted by cray

Here is what I would do, and it's hard for me not to over fish a spot so it takes some discipline. I would take one pole, a jig pole, some jigs you have confidence in and a bucket of minnows. I would do a lot of riding and looking a electronics. If I found a good looking spot I would fish it with a jig and minnow for no more than 10 minutes. Then move on to the next good looking spot. If you have GPS you can mark these spots, if not try to look around and get some thing to align on when you go back. Remember you are hunting now not fishing. That's how your going to learn this water and once you do that your fishing time can be better spent and way more productive.

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Thanks Cray....always helpful as usual!! I probably did have a little too much going on with the jugs, bream fishing, etc., and the wind was pretty bad as well. This spot may get more crowded in the spring but from what I hear no one really fishes it that much. Its electric motor only so that might deter a lot of people, but its only about 1 mile long or so. I don't have a GPS that I use. My electronics are a little older than most but I am still trying to learn how to use them properly. Hopefully I will be able to get over there some this fall and have some good results to share.

I've never seen a oxbow that didn't at least have some crappie in it and usually pretty good ones when you get em figured out. My first thought was you were pretty busy with all that and the wind. Depending on what the big river does you may of just found yourself a real honey hole. That electric only really will deter a lot of folks so I would figure traffic would be at a minimum even if it does get busy. While you are scouting it's a good time to learn your electronics. You will be surprised at what they will tell you once you learn how to interpret what you see. Spending time there this fall will sure have you more prepared come spring time. Good fishing to you. If you get into them shoot some pictures.

I'd treat all new waters the same as I would familiar waters of the same type & conditions. Just do what you would normally do, look for the same types of places & water depth you'd normally be fishing, and use the same baits & tactics that worked in the familiar waters (given the same time of year & similar water conditions). If the area is large, break it down into sections & work the most likely looking places in each section. What you're looking for is a "pattern" ... how deep are they, what size/color bait do they want, how fast do they want it presented to them, and what technique can you use to present your offering to them in the most efficient way.

You already KNOW what to look for ... bait, & shade producing cover !! Those two factors will likely dictate where the Crappie are most likely to be hanging around.

... cp :kewl

Don't forget to fish the wood along the shore....you mite be surprised.

Like Davedirt said work the wood with 1/32oz bobby garland with 4lb low vis.green line. The line is the key for me. If you can find some lay downs work every limb. Good polarized glasses are a must when working wood you need to see every limb.work the outside then get right in the lay downs. This works for me on small lakes. The 4lb line will get you more bites.