I'm struggling to find crappie through all the bluegill

Hello, i want to catch crappie and everyone tells me is so easy, but I'm finding it hard. I fish a private community lake that's about 135 acres. Most residents are real tight lipped about the hot spots and while i own property in the community i don't live there so i don't talk to many other anglers. The lake says there is crappie, but i have never caught one. Catching a whole mess of bluegill is a daily occurrence, but I'm really wanting to catch crappie. Anybody got advice to help me out. Anybody else have this issue? I'm usually a live bait kind of fisherman, but I'd love to be better with artificial lures because i think it's less time consuming and less messy. Thanks in advance for your advice.

If you are using minnows and have never caught a crappie. Well I would say there are probably not a lot of crappie if any in the lake. I would say try using minnows with corks try different depths with the corks in different depths of water mostly deeper water as the water is getting warmer and summer is coming. Crappie have big mouths so if you try artifical try 2" artificial baits because they will be too big for most bream. Now are you bank fishing or using a boat as this makes a big difference also. Crappie are farther from the bank and deeper this time of year also.:twocents

Welcome to the site. You can try using bigger baits....something the bluegills might leave alone. Crappies will regularly try to eat things nearly as big as themselves.

I have had blue gill engulf a 3" slab docktr

Since your looking for advice, I was wondering what kind of live bait are you using and how deep is your bait in relationship to the bottom?
As mentioned, minnows are great for crappie. Bluegills do not go for them as much from what I have seen unless you are using very small minnows. The reason I ask is becasue the bluegill I find are bottom oriented and you need to fish very close to the bottom for them. Crappie hold at a certain depth depending on the water clarity, sun and food availability. You need to find underwater structure that crappie like to hold to. You can also look for shaded 10-15' spots near a point or in a cove. Best bet is to try trolling if there are no underwater structures. This way you can cover more area with more rods to find them. Use jig tipped with minnows to find them and once on them you can try just jigs. Try different depths but focus on 8-15 foot down in 20-25' of water this time of year. Hope some of this helps.

The Bluegill appear to be in an overabundance, seems to me. They may even be spawning, right now. :dono

Personally, I don't care what size minnow you use ... Bluegill will peck at it or grab it and run off with it !! When using jigs & 1.5" plastics, you will still get a lot of Bluegill hits ... and may even catch one, now & then. When casting ... I usually distinguish a Bluegill hit from a Crappie hit, by the number of "thumps" I feel when they hit. A Crappie hit is usually one single "thump", while a BG hit is several quick ones or they grab it and run off fast. I usually don't bother setting the hook unless I get that ONE thump (or see the line jump once, or go slack).

The lake is big enough to have a population of Crappie, but they're likely already through spawning & out roaming around in deeper water. I'd be looking for them in 12-18ft of water, and around some kind of cover (tree, stump, hump, brushpile, ledge, etc.). They will almost always be 3-5ft below the depth where your chartreuse colored jig disappears from your sight, and that is determined by the water clarity and sunlight penetration. Crappie prefer shade, and seek it whether it's from an overhead object, a tree line, or depth. Even clouds &/or a little wind chop on the water's surface can make Crappie come shallower, & suspend over the cover ... where a calm, sunny day will put them down "into" the cover or at greater depths.

... cp :kewl

Thank you. I'm using crickets and minnows mainly. Haven't dabbled in artificial to much

Cp, thanks, so i need to get away from the banks and find structure out further into open water? I've not done that before, il have to use my sonar and do that

Thanks! That's probably my problem, I'm boat fishing but I'm spending all my time on the banks. I

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Originally Posted by bluenoteben

Thanks! That's probably my problem, I'm boat fishing but I'm spending all my time on the banks. I

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Common mistake, for newbies and even some "old school" Crappie anglers.

And yes, getting away from the bank is a start. Leaving the crickets at home might be another option, as Bluegill are definitely going to go after them, more so than Crappie (unless a mess of Bluegill are part of your plan). Even if you take crickets, fishing them deeper will likely catch you larger Bluegill, as the "big boys" only come shallow to spawn ... while the little guys stay shallow most of the time.

Use your electronics !! Even an old b/w 2d sonar unit will show you drops, brush, trees, etc. ... and the Crappie will generally be around those places more often than not. If you have GPS capability in your electronics, scan the lake for awhile and mark 5 or 6 such spots, THEN work your way from one to the next ... drifting over the spots with minnows just a foot or so above the highest point of the cover ... or slowly trolling artificials over or beside the spots ... or casting jigs across them. You don't even need to actually "see" fish on your electronics, as they may not be on that piece of cover at that particular time ... but, you will eventually have run across those "hot spots" that the tight lipped home owners fish, and have a "milk run" of spots to check out on subsequent trips.

The only time I really concentrate on fishing close to the bank, except during the spawn, is when there's a downed tree coming off the bank, that tops out in at least 12-15ft of water. And I usually try to hit those spots while the shade is still on the water above them. Even then, I expect the fish to be somewhere from the middle of the tree to the deepest end. They may be "under" the tree (negative mood or high pressure day) or suspended "above" the tree (feeding mood or low pressure day) ... or not there at all, in which case I will go to the next closest, shaded downed tree and work it over, and so on & so forth along my "milk run" of potential spots. If none of those produce, I go to deeper submerged wood cover.

We don't have much in the way of vegetation in my local lakes, so wood cover is the primary holding spot that produces most of the time, and even Black Crappie are forced to utilize it.

... cp :kewl

I'm not sure the average depth of your lake, bottom compositions (hard, soft), weed types and distribution, water clarity, time of year and day you fish for crappie, type of weather you prefer (though maybe not the fish's), mid-lake structure (humps, weed patches) and other information that the contributors on Crappie.com could fine tune your presentation.

Like any predator fish, crappie follow the food source much of the time. Find the small fish and crappie should be pretty close up to 10 yd.s away. Sonar finds those fish and the bottom type they are swimming over. Sonar is important regarding deeper fish holding depth after the spawn. Bluegill typically are bank fish; crappie are typically school fish and school much of the time by size in open water.

Get away from live bait and for good reasons:
1. you can search far more open water with lures, whether they be soft plastic, hair or others.
2. speed of retrieve and variations in retrieve can make all the difference along with depth of retrieve - a factor of major importance. Live bait has one speed - dead in the water. The only lateral motion is zero which is fine for ice fishing but a waste of time searching large areas far from and around the boat.
3. lures provoke a strike of pure aggression versus live bait which provokes a feeding strike. I say this because many times a fish will hit three or four times on one retrieve and then hook itself in the same place on the second cast.
4. less time consuming to find fish depth. Try different depths in an area using the lure's weight to reach the most productive one and then stay at the depth until you move the boat. Much of the time I've found fish at a certain depth range and over the same bottom types everywhere in the lake. KNOW BOTTOM HARDNESS VIA YOUR SONAR!
5. finesse action lures are usually better than those without the type of action that provoke the bully in fish. Besides, finesse action lures can be fished at most speeds, allowing time for a neutral fish to become instantly aggressive before it goes back to just swimming along minding its own business, .

Line test can make a difference in lure performance. GO LIGHT AS POSSIBLE, though not because fish are line-shy, a fallacy IMO, but because lures should appear and act on their own as if not connected to anything. Heavier line can impede that action and the action an angler imparts. 4-6# are good tests for most species - even bass - and allow better lure action at all depths.

I hope your using a light action rod; too heavy a rod action and you'll miss most strikes and hook sets. Jig size can be important. I like 1/8 oz or less - less being for the shallow bite either near shore or over deeper water nearer the surface.

All bodies of water are different and once you've surveyed shallow to deep and caught fish in those areas (depending on season and water temperature), patterns can be found that hold year after year. It's always a good idea to take someone fishing so as to locate fish faster as well as get an idea of what is working. One size rarely fits all but it happens.

Just some opinions of an old timer that averages over 40 crappie and other species per outing on most lakes that have a good population of fish.....

If there are any docks on this lake, find the ones with the deepest water under them, the shade from the docks will keep the water temps a little bit cooler and the crappie may hang out under and around the docks.

learn how to read your electronics
try long lining
keep it simple in the summer
it will pay off big time

Get a dozen minners and a six pack bud and some tokes. Cast out a minner under a bobber, then break out a butt and try to light it. Crappie will bite immediately. Also works with wen you crack the bud can open.

Always workd for me.

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Originally Posted by Cane Pole

Get a dozen minners and a six pack bud and some tokes. Cast out a minner under a bobber, then break out a butt and try to light it. Crappie will bite immediately. Also works with wen you crack the bud can open.

Always workd for me.

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This might be the best advice.....EVER!!!!:Rofl

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cane Pole

Get a dozen minners and a six pack bud and some tokes. Cast out a minner under a bobber, then break out a butt and try to light it. Crappie will bite immediately. Also works with wen you crack the bud can open.

Always workd for me.

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Whaaaaaat:dono

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Originally Posted by Tony the Tiger

Whaaaaaat:dono

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:Rofl ... in other words, do something, anything but watch your poles or floats !! Happens to me all the time, too. I'm watching forever, then when I look away or start to do something that takes my attention away for a few seconds ... bam !! I look up and rod tip is in the water, or I can't find my float :Doh:

... cp :kewl

If I'm not getting bites I get my cell phone out and call my wife to report in, works every time. " Let me go I gotta a fish on " :Rofl

If you don't like bluegill, then ditch every pier you come across, especially if you are bait fishing. The juvies eat everything.....

Dude, listen to bluenoteben! He has a grip on it. a word about bait. I usually fish bobby garland plastic the little skinny tail minnow like lures in cajun cricket or bluegrass. If they're finicky tip it with a live minnow. I try to use a #2hook in 1/32 or1/16 oz. very seldom you have to go to 1/8th. Youre better off lighter than heavier. Plan on losing jigs its the cost of doing business with crappie.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cane Pole

Get a dozen minners and a six pack bud and some tokes. Cast out a minner under a bobber, then break out a butt and try to light it. Crappie will bite immediately. Also works with wen you crack the bud can open.

Always workd for me.

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Also when relieving ones self...