New to Crappie Fishing

I have been fishing since I was a child, but never much exposure to lake fishing. Mostly farm pond and the occasional trip to the lake, but that was few and far between. I am in NC and tried fishing Jordan Lake last weekend with very little luck. I caught some catfish, white perch and a few bass, but only one crappie. With water temps in the mid 80's, where do I begin to look? I did some fishing in 3-6' and then some 12-15' with about the same luck on each. I did not seem to have much luck finding the crappie. I was using beetle spins, various colored jigs, live minnows, and just about everything in my arsenal. Which being new I have not exactly found what works or what I need to add. At Jordan I did not see much structure other than the areas setup by wildlife personnel. I hope to get to Harris this week and see what I can find. Would love to have a small fish fry this weekend. I am not tournament fisherman, just looking to get started on the right path. I have a Lowe 2070 I am still outfitting to be a good fishing and hunting rig. Any help is greatly appreciated

Look for brush in 18 to 20 feet , right now they are on the brush.

I would suggest coming to the tournament weigh-in on Jordan on Aug. 1. It will give you a chance to meet and talk with a number of the guys. It will also give you a chance to look at their boats and how they are rigged. We had a guy come to the weigh-in last Saturday on Harris and he just wanted to meet the guys and watch the weigh-in. You can learn more in 30 minutes chatting with these guys than can ever be written on this website.

One other thing you can do is drive over to Liberty and spend some time with Monk. Buy some things from him and then spend time talking. He has a wealth of knowledge.

Another thing is to determine the way you will fish for crappie. Are you going to be a single-rod guy or multi-rod.? There is structure on Jordan in a number of the coves, you just have to find it. Charles and I tight-line and long-line, so we hate brushpiles. It breaks off our hooks and is a major source of pain on the water. Also, the fish move some from season to season. In the last year, by far the two best months for catching large numbers of quality fish was November and December. Summer is the most difficult, especially to catch the quality fish. If you are looking for a fish-fry, one way is to go night-fishing. My brother went a week ago on Jordan and caught at least a hundred, although only 20 were keepers.

Thanks for the info. I hope to get back out this weekend sometime and try some of these tips out. I never considered the weigh in thing. I just assume many are tight lipped. I do a lot of duck hunting and they are some of the most unsociable sportsman you can encounter. Tight lipped on everything. I enjoy meeting and talking with others, so I will certainly keep that in mind.

You'll find most of the crappie guys to be a nice bunch of folks. We are careful about giving out locations to fish because there are lurkers on here just trying to figure out where to go and fish. Most of the guys I know don't mind at all helping a new guy out.

I haven't fished Jordan or Harris lately but fished Falls last week and found fish near brush from 12-18 feet of water. Also lots of white perch mixed in with them. Throw everyone of those perch in your bucket as they make nice fillets or fertilizer. As Jordanlimit said there are some nice folks on here that will provide some advice to steer you in the right direction. Take it and then search for areas like what they are describing and you'll start catching more and better fish.

Go to search box and search ...Crappie fishing 101 for newbies written by Special K. This will fill your brain and give you the info you need to understand the Crappie.

Sea Dancer is right. Here is the first of I think ten articles for newbies from our own Special K.
http://www.crappie.com/crappie/content.php?r=287

I totally agree with JordanLimit about coming to the weigh in ,chat with and look at guys boats that ARE crappie fishermen and the way they are set up.That will help you out a lot.I have been fishing a different lake and the fish I've been catching are not tight on the brush.Theres member/sponsors on here that can get you everything you need to target and catch crappie..