Cold Weather Crappie Question!

Yes im a "Newbie" here! Kinda sorta been reading posts for a while now an got brave!! I have tons of Q's but this will help me and my dad more than others for now. We have a river up here in NE corner of state that we do pretty good in. We mostly fish with minnows and stop fishing when duck season gets here, but as you all know that story is going down hill fast around here! Needless to say the river looks perfect we just have never fished it during the cold months of year and normally its up and muddy. Do we need to change methods? Maybe try tight linning jigs and cover more area than we normally do? I know most of you fish lakes but me and pops love fishing this river with ok success! Any help would be appriciated. Never have fished it in Nov.-Dec-Jan, etc..

If its a good place to set some limb lines or some yo yos I would try that to at least locate some fish and play with different depths.

Try shallow cover and move deeper only if it don't produce. We have caught some good fish up river on Nimrod fishing the bank cover just like spring fishing this year.

Your method is still ok in the winter months,maybe change to smaller or larger bait and spit shots.

Yeah the river looks GREAT and relaxing just wished it looked that way year round.
I only use jigs but your minners will work the same way as a jig if worked the same way.I start looking for them in the eddies,usually start in the middle of the eddie.I cast a 1/16 and let it fall to the bottom,let lay for couple seconds and hop it 1 to 2 ft. off bottom and let fall back to bottom,repet 3 or 4 times.Reel in cast 3 to 4 ft. to the side of the area just worked,repet all the way to shallow and deeper water.If no takers try again with a 1/32 repet as above and do not to forget and change colors if no takers on the one your useing.
When useing jigs or minners this time a year a crappie nibble and or a spray on scent may be needed if the bite off limits.
Wednesdays bite was hair putting until I found what they wanted which took 3 hours with nothing in the cooler.In 30 mins. I was headed back up river with a limit of the prettest Ky.bass I've ever seen,thanks to the clear water.
Shad are dieing right now so a minner and small spit shot as to let it fall slowly to the bottom may be the right thing to do.Who knows what they want but I keep a pink crankbait tied on just in case they want something different....Meaning if you aren't catching do something different.
Catfish connection has crappie nibbles on sale 3.65 lg. jar.

Welcome aboard coolerfull. I wish that I could help, but just learning the ropes in this area myself. I have fished the Black River a few times, but that kind of fishing is very different from what I am used to. I am getting some weedless jigheads to try. Hope to figure out something coming year.

Thanks guys for the sugestions! Im just so stuburn on my methods and ways, but im coming around! Im a river fisherman! Ive seen how well yo yos work by all means but on this river i just dont know, but i may very well try. We have learned not to sink artifical structure because of the river levels and all can see. (very funny long story) Alot of hard work for everyone else. We have started tying onto dead falls on the bank and everything we can find in good areas and just pulling those into the river! Bigger the better and make sure to be aware of current flow! Charging my batteries soon as this rain gets alittle closer to usAttachment 51612Attachment 51613! Here are my last 2 trips this year on the Black!

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Originally Posted by coolerfull

Thanks guys for the sugestions! Im just so stuburn on my methods and ways, but im coming around! Im a river fisherman! Ive seen how well yo yos work by all means but on this river i just dont know, but i may very well try. We have learned not to sink artifical structure because of the river levels and all can see. (very funny long story) Alot of hard work for everyone else. We have started tying onto dead falls on the bank and everything we can find in good areas and just pulling those into the river! Bigger the better and make sure to be aware of current flow! Charging my batteries soon as this rain gets alittle closer to usAttachment 51612Attachment 51613! Here are my last 2 trips this year on the Black!

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How far up the Black do you fish? Nice catch.

We mainly fish the Brookings Area North of Delaplaine, but also like to fish down around the Schaffers Eddie Area too which is South of Biggers! We did real well in late summer and fall when river stabilized at around 2 foot on Corning River Stage which is where its at again and thats whats got me kicking the idea of trying to give it a try.

Of all the places I've fished in our great state, I've never fished the Black. Cut my teeth on the lower White and can tell you w/out a doubt that a dry winter like this can offer some awesome crappie fishing on that river. I say go give it a try! Never know til you go!

Couldn't find but only 3 crappie that liked my lure and they had a slow heavy lazy head shake coming in.I knew it was going to be a battle trying to get them to bite.SO I decided to catch a limit of Ky.bass b/c they like all green crap are suckers for anything that moves.Caught several white bass that thought they owned that part of the river b/c they sure wanted to look things over before they looked inside my boat.Throwed all them back with a few choice words as to fooling me in thinking I had monster Ky.bass.Attachment 51726

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Originally Posted by coolerfull

Yes im a "Newbie" here! Kinda sorta been reading posts for a while now an got brave!! I have tons of Q's but this will help me and my dad more than others for now. We have a river up here in NE corner of state that we do pretty good in. We mostly fish with minnows and stop fishing when duck season gets here, but as you all know that story is going down hill fast around here! Needless to say the river looks perfect we just have never fished it during the cold months of year and normally its up and muddy. Do we need to change methods? Maybe try tight linning jigs and cover more area than we normally do? I know most of you fish lakes but me and pops love fishing this river with ok success! Any help would be appriciated. Never have fished it in Nov.-Dec-Jan, etc..

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Hi---I fish in the rivers, lake Millwood and any creeks.--When the crappie around here complete their spawn they move back to the river or in deep water close to the river.
Myself I fish deep and see if they are there--plus I keep an eye on the spawning areas and try them also to see if they are spawning. Last season They spawned with the snow on the ground and I missed the main spawn.
Some of the biggest slabs I have caught has been in 12-18 inches of water around brush. The backwaters is great places to locate crappie. I use Goggle map to locate the feeder creeks and areas that may be used to spawn----Needless to say when I first started---I explored a great deal to find areas.
Condos in deep and shallow water will help you catch them and give you a dedicated spot known to you and whomever.
Crappie have been known around here to spawn up into spring--like April--Once it gets hot---I fish the deep waters and that is the oxbows and the rivers.