Like bass, patterns do happen for crappie.
Yesterday I took a friend fishing on a local lake I hadn't been fishing in over a year. Crappie location based on my last time there this time of year I assumed to be different based on big changes in shallow cover, above average rainfall and the effect of the recent hurricane experience. But regardless those three factors, one thing usually doesn't change - general fish location this time of year near the end of the spawn.
In my experience on this lake, post spawn depth changes from 2' to between 4-6'. After that some stay shallow, some go deeper. We tried shallow water and got no bites. The fish we did catch were out from shore near small islands of long stem pads in 4-6'. My sonar revealed these to be on mini-humps surrounded by slightly deeper water on large flats, which occurred in the north and south ends of the lake; whereas the western wetland area only held a few scattered fish. In fact these mini-humps over 50 yards away from shore also revealed bass, perch (y and w), sunfish and a pickerel.
The prong-tail design grub produced the best along with the thin flap tail grub (next to it) and Crappie Magnet for all species.
https://i.imgur.com/Y2kqPfl.jpg?3https://i.imgur.com/2Sxp76a.jpg?2
Maybe the 6lb test fluorocarbon leader helped, tied to a small diameter braid that allowed a long casting distance of 1/32 and 1/24 oz jigs, but it didn't hurt. Seeing as how the day was overcast and quiet, finesse lures at a slow speed was necessary. But when fish were located, we usually caught 5 or 6 fish per spot and then moved on.
We saw other anglers fishing very shallow water and doubt they had much luck even though the bass spawn is about this time of year. Better my partner and I did catch over 60 fish in 3.5 hours - a decent amount of 11"-12" crappie for the pan, than fish for a few bass near the wetlands. The bass we did catch near crappie averaged between 1 3/4-2.5 lbs. - every one of them netted and released, none breaking the leader.
As a few more boats started following us after seeing us boat doubles, I knew it was time to leave (close to noon) and repair the damage left by the hurricane last week (chop up and get rid of fallen trees, repair a pop-up garage, etc.). Nice thing about retirement is not having to plan anything and be able to be active on a whim - like going back on the lake today when everyone is at work! LOL
