im a newbie Norman Slabman

hi everyone,i live on Lake Norman N.C.and i am wanting to start crappie fishing ,i have been targeting catfish for the past few years.i have a 20 ft' SeaArk with a 150 johnson,equipped with a minnkota wireless co-pilot trolling motor and a Lowrance hd7 graph.I have great success power drifting for cats and white perch which i use for catfish bait.my questions would be do crappie always hang out with schools of perch or do they school by themselves from time to time.when i am perch fishing i usually pick up a couple of crappie,a couple of largemouth bass along with the perch.they are mixed in with the perch because i have caught all three species at the same time on a 5 hook sabiki rig several times.do i need to target different areas.the perch are almost always in the middle of the creeks closest to the main river channells.this is in the fall and winter months.

Welcome from Northeast Michigan..

Hey from Alabama. You might check in at the NC board and get some good info on the lake you fish.

Welcome from Mississippi

Welcome from Indiana
:)

Welcome from GEORGIA.

welcome aboard!!

Hey from Jordan Lake

Welcome from Missouri

Welcome to the site from Sanford North Carolina.

:welcomeFrom Texas too. And I might add, yes sir......as an old scuba diver, I did observe
the different species of fish to gain a little insight into some of their habits. My
observations tell me all fish are social. They will swim in the same waters, among each
species and they will go off into their own little groups and talk about each other and
other species. LOL! Depending on the nature of their moods and the time of the year,
they will do all kinds of interesting things. And no, I didn't learn any of this in school.
Enjoyed many interests and fortunate enough to have tried several. Retirement beats
everything else I've ever tried. Enjoy the forums.

Welcome from another Carolinian.