HOT - Where did they go and what is best way to find and catch them

Sorry for all my posts but I am learning and this forum is huge help. Our water temp jumped from 66 to 78. I tried night fishing last night and only caught some small walleye on my 12' poles with minnows.

Fishing same depth anywhere from 12 - 16 ft around brush, I tried to sit still and move. I was using LED lights and it worked good to see the poles.

Thinking about going out this afternoon around 6 and just fish till dark.

I am wondering did they move deeper and do they still stay around brush. Should I stay with my 3/4 egg sinker and minnows which was working in 65 water.

Should I go buy some trolling weights 2 oz and try pushing bandits - I am running 6 lb test line.


We have super hot temps in the 90's all weekend and continues all week

thanks for any ideas and help

Sounds like your weather and water temp is about the same as here in Central IL. I think you are fishing to deep at 12 -16 ft. I caught a lot of fish from the bank down to 7 feet this weekend. Most I caught were aroude 6 - 7 ft deep. Id concentrate a little shallower. I was using 3/8 oz weights slow trolling. The females I caught still had eggs in them so I wouldnt go full bore post spawn just yet.

Any water near the spawning grounds with 6 to 10fow with structure should hold your better females.... should be easy pickings with those conditions.... vertical jigging the structure will do you better than minnas....

theysaid! Your water is like it’s been in a lot of places this year but a lot of folks hasn’t considered how cold of a winter that we have had therefore it’s going to take a while for most the water to warm up .if you drop a thermometer down a couple feet or more you going to have a lot colder temps than the surface unless you are in real shallow water!

I always had a good time and good success trolling cranks during and after the spawn. I fished deeper than the spawning area down to where the thermocline usually is and looks for balls of bait. Always kept me busy in the warmer months.

Thanks for the replies, going to give it a try tomorrow. We are still very hot with some storms rolling around today so I stayed off the lake.

All I can add is that it's been a cold spring here in the N.E.. I think most of the crappie are still up in the shallower water because of it. If you've had a cold spring with slow warm up, it may be a similar situation. Here we are battling cold front after cold front. It's 90 degrees one day and 60 the next! Quite challenging! :)

by weeks end the water temp is likely to soar ....just saying
I would go to a full blown summer pattern if I was you ...
post spawn fish didn't hang long this year in these parts .

Still gotta consider the thermocline which will hold the feesh shallow even with the higher water temps....I know nature holds its own but I've gotta believe those crappie are as confused as we are with this strange weather.....

Made it out yesterday and water temp was 78. I fished my spots where I had really good luck with water temp at 68 and did not catch any. I then pulled up my lines really short and tried to get in the shallows. I did catch one male doing this. I then switched over to a gold jig and minnow trying to catch walleye or anything. Caught a female casting in towards shore. Talked to a few at the ramp and everyone had a slow day. I lost my confidence for sure, I think I am going to wait this out for a bit before I go again. I have found brush piles in 20' water so I am thinking they will be there later.

Thanks for replies, I will take more help for sure

Did you fish any structure in the shallower waters?
What electronics are you running?

I have a Helix 5 at the helm, it is small but I use it the best I can. I have a small Garmin up front that is pretty old. I am looking to upgrade the bow unit, have another thread I started also. I am still learning, I was so shallow I do not think the Helix would pick anything up I could see the bottom had some gills chasing my minnows.

When it gots hot here I head straight for the bridge pilings. I always start with the pilings right off a creek channel and work my way toward shallower water. Crappie love this hangouts in the summer and the overhead cover keeps the sun from beating down on me.

I have another lake I can try that has bridge pilings, it is a reservoir and is currently high water but coming down. There are crappie in this lake, we had some luck last year at spawn. The only issue is lake level and power boaters, they do not care about fisherman and run right by you.

I might try that lake next week after work when less people