Advice on Process of Finding Crappie

I am not new to fishing, but fairly new to crappie fishing. I have fished and caught them during the spawn and through the ice fairly consistently. Prespawn and postspawn fish are giving me trouble. I just want to know what thought processes go through some of you more experienced fisherman when trying to find fish?

• Is there a technique you use more than others?
• Do you start at a certain depth and work shallow or deep?
• How long do you stay at one spot before you move on?
• Are you more worried about structure or depth?
• Do you stick with seasonal patterns or try everything?

I know it is a loaded question but any help would be appreciated. Thanks!!

I start searching at depths normal for that lake and season with my electronics .

I generally try to do same thing as nimrod. I will ride around lil bit trying to find were they are. I rely on electronics alot. I look alot for depth and to tell what are crappie and not. I spent last season without electronics and it was tough. I think I came home mad as - - - - every day. Cudos toall the ol timmers that just had a boat and a fishing pole. What kind of tronics do u have? Side scan or down scan by any chance?

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How long do you stay at one spot before you move on? Crappie fish is not a patience thing they either bite or don't bite. I will stay somewhere for a short while and if I don't get bite I will move on and try other places till I do get a bite then later when the bite there goes south I will return to that other place if it looked good and retry there again. I would say a time period would be no longer than 15 minutes without a bite means to try somewhere else.

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Originally Posted by scrat

How long do you stay at one spot before you move on? Crappie fish is not a patience thing they either bite or don't bite. I will stay somewhere for a short while and if I don't get bite I will move on and try other places till I do get a bite then later when the bite there goes south I will return to that other place if it looked good and retry there again. I would say a time period would be no longer than 15 minutes without a bite means to try somewhere else.

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Agree 100%

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by scrat

How long do you stay at one spot before you move on? Crappie fish is not a patience thing they either bite or don't bite. I will stay somewhere for a short while and if I don't get bite I will move on and try other places till I do get a bite then later when the bite there goes south I will return to that other place if it looked good and retry there again. I would say a time period would be no longer than 15 minutes without a bite means to try somewhere else.

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Yup!

Blue raider you are receiving lots of great advice! I find it frustrating, when I find them but they won't bite.
Side scan is a tool, learn to use it.

I appreciate the advice. I do have a side scan but need to learn how to use it better. From the sounds of it I have been sticking in one place to long, sounds like I need to prove a spot quickly and if I don't get anything move on

Hardest thing for me was when I got my first SI unit I was all ways taught you can`t catch fish if your line is not in the water. Took me a long time to realize this is not totally true once I started using SI and understanding it now I will not drop a line in the water if I am not seeing fish even if it takes hours to find them.