Summertime Crappie Tactics

Been fishing for crappie pretty hard here lately. Seems like the only way I can catch em is at night under float lights. Been hitting up lake brewer and catching quite a few each time we go. Fishing brush piles about 20 ft down. just watching the graph and adjusting fishing depth to whatever depth we see fish at. Catching mostly small ones tho. Thought about trying this out at lake conway just not sure if it would have the same effect. How is everyone else catching crappie during the heat? I also went to palarm creek this evening and tried lights there. NO luck. not even a bite. Im guessing crappie arent up in the creeks this time of year considering the part I fish is about 8ft deep at the most. Averages 5ft. Has anyone else been fishing with lights? Oh and if you want to have some fun with white bass, go sit with float lights under the bridges at Lake Dardanelle. You can catch as many as those things as you want. Only a few crappie unfortunately.

have tried it once this year. Caught just a few small crappie and a couple little fiddlers. I ain't give up though.

I pull crank baits during the summer, the hotter the better

Hey Creek, does puling cranks at night work as well or the same as pulling during the day???

How deep of water do u target pulling cranks? My 2stroke is prolly too loud todo this so i guess ill have to use my trollin motor. I know plenty of flats 15ft or so with winding creek channels all through it that drops to 25-30ft. Would this be a good area to sweep for crappie? Also i catch mostly small ones at night. Any tips for a bigger bite?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mcnewlane

How deep of water do u target pulling cranks? My 2stroke is prolly too loud todo this so i guess ill have to use my trollin motor. I know plenty of flats 15ft or so with winding creek channels all through it that drops to 25-30ft. Would this be a good area to sweep for crappie? Also i catch mostly small ones at night. Any tips for a bigger bite?

---

Brewer seems to be having an off year for size. If you are only catching small fish there, you probably aren't doing anything wrong, there just doesn't seem to be a lot of big Crappie to be had there this year. My past experience with that lake is that the bigger fish tend to stay shallower in the summer and the smaller fish will be a little deeper on the brush. I caught several 14-16" fish in buck brush and on the banks in the middle of July last year. Of course, the lake was about 10' lower than it is right now!

Nimrod gets better with the heat most years trolling or jiggging tops. Too high and muddy this summer.

I mostly pull cranks in the summer. Its been my experience that you need deep water some were nearby 20 or better. Just me. I also do some spider rigging in small local waters. Remember fish above the cline and move faster. The hotter the water the faster you need to fish. Good luck.

Lake Conway is not the lake you want to try and fish at night with a light, I guess if you were hungry and had nothing to eat it would be, the only thing biting at night on Conway during the summer months is bass, catfish, and mosquitoes. Heavy on the mosquitoes. Lake Conway is full of midges or as us Lake Conway fisherman like to call them stump gnats, they will keep you full and your appetite under control, they will swarm you and your boat at night, even more so when there is a light involved. They get so thick that you can't breath without inhaling a ton of them. Just run across Conway at night and try to carry on a conversation with your buddy and you will see why you will have no appetite.

I caught alot of good fish at brewer this year, I have not experienced any difficulties, but my sucess came in about 10 to 12 foot of water on brush piles with a spidder rig made up with minners.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by creekslick

I pull crank baits during the summer, the hotter the better

---

How do those cranks pull through brush tops though???

I find the brush and vertical jig around it myself and lot of the time use minners with better results. I know a lot of guys that bass fish who like to crankbait fish and about every trip they lose about $10 worth of tackle with those big treble hooks snagging up. It's hard enough at times to get your jig loose but since it's one hook and your not moving very fast with a soft tipped pole I can usually get them back and don't lose nearly as much $ if I do break a jig off, that's just me though.

weve taken minnows every time weve been out at night and it seems like they wont touch em. I mean we have caught 2 or 3 on minnows but jigs is where its at. just toss em out about 10 ft or so and let em fall slowly back under the rod tip and WHAM! Just orderd a few rod holders. Going to try and get my boat rigged up to drag a few jigs around slowly over the drops during the day. or even have more rods in the water at night while nitestalkin. Anybody tried fishing under lights at Greers Ferry? Thinking about going next week. Might catch a few crappie or hybrids or something. I tried conway at night. Not a nibble one. And yea...mosquitos were thick.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mcnewlane

weve taken minnows every time weve been out at night and it seems like they wont touch em. I mean we have caught 2 or 3 on minnows but jigs is where its at. just toss em out about 10 ft or so and let em fall slowly back under the rod tip and WHAM! Just orderd a few rod holders. Going to try and get my boat rigged up to drag a few jigs around slowly over the drops during the day. or even have more rods in the water at night while nitestalkin. Anybody tried fishing under lights at Greers Ferry? Thinking about going next week. Might catch a few crappie or hybrids or something. I tried conway at night. Not a nibble one. And yea...mosquitos were thick.

---

I stayed out all night last night fishing, didn't get a bite until shortly before daylight. I was using jigs but managed to catch a few shad with a Dip net as they circled my light, once I started using the shad we started catching fish.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lkconwayguru

Lake Conway is not the lake you want to try and fish at night with a light, I guess if you were hungry and had nothing to eat it would be, the only thing biting at night on Conway during the summer months is bass, catfish, and mosquitoes. Heavy on the mosquitoes. Lake Conway is full of midges or as us Lake Conway fisherman like to call them stump gnats, they will keep you full and your appetite under control, they will swarm you and your boat at night, even more so when there is a light involved. They get so thick that you can't breath without inhaling a ton of them. Just run across Conway at night and try to carry on a conversation with your buddy and you will see why you will have no appetite.

---

You tried vanilla extract for the gnats? That seems be working the best for us bow fishing at night time.