I Am Frustrated. Can’t Find, Much Less, Catch Crappie

I have worked full time & a half for 47 years on limited pay and have finally retired at 70 years old. Now I want to spend some fun time catching Crappie. I live across the road from a large lake that is said to have a good Crappie population. I have a canoe with a square transom and an electric motor and a Garmin Striker fish finder. I used “Traditional,” “Clear View” (Down Scan) and Side View at various times. I have a neighbor who catches the limit regularly. He has told me where he fishes which is within easy reach with my boat. He has told me where the brush piles are and has told me what jigs he uses. Today I found some brush piles in the area that he told me about. But I couldn’t see any fish on the Garmin. I even tried changing the setting to display large, medium and small fish. The Garmin beeped like crazy when shad, etc, showed up on the screen but no fish. I put down marker buoys when I saw a brush pile and fished to them, but not even 1 bite. I fished around the balls of shad, but again, nothing. I was using a Slab Tail Jig in Ugly Green and a feather jig that is like a Gray Ghost, I think. It has a gray head, Emerald Shiner Chenille body and a gray feather tail, with a smaller black feather accent or “skirt.” I’m going to check YouTube now to see if I can figure out about the fish icons. What colors do you guys like for the Side View or Side Scan, I think it is, on a Humminbird? If you have suggestions for me on finding and catching Crappie, I sure would appreciate it.

Thanks

GF

Find the structure you'll find the crappie......

I'Il be releasing a vid this w-end that has 10 tips that will help you.......

Questions need be answered such as:
1. how large the water
2. depth range/ depth fished so far
3. structure - IE shoreline drops - how gradual, how steep, weed beds and types
5. bottom composition - mud, muck, rocks?
6. how many other lure types have you tried and with what presentations (IE steady retrieve or slow with pauses)
7. line used - IE type, test/diameter
8. rod type used - IE light or medium action?; length?
9. shoreline vegetation overhangs
10. time of day; weather (cloud cover, bright sun)
11. water clarity (semi-clear, murky after a rain)

Opinion - take it for what it's worth:
Sonars that show incredible detail are rarely much better than the cheapest sonar when used in water 15' or less. They are very important in finding depths fish are caught in and therefore location types (part of a pattern). In fact, sonar rarely finds fish that you do catch; your search-lure does that by casting hundreds of times in an outing to different depths and area types.

Question to ask and answer after catching any fish: what in the water is next to or near what? plus what vegetation if any?
Examples: a hump held fish to the side and were caught in deeper water near it but only to the south
a weedy point near deeper water held fish
a flat had isolated long-stem weeds that held pockets of fish
a cove fed by one inflow was next to deeper water which held fish

Asking and answering questions with sonar and lures put you closer to discovering fish that are biting vs those that aren't. How they're caught is also trial & error - somewhat - but usually good lure designs used the right way turn out to be more versatile whereas others have their - moments....

Where you fished and didn't catch fish answered your question of one location type. Since you have floatation to search other areas and sonar to indicate what water is near what, you're on your way to finding fish that will bite - the absolute first step on every outing/ in every location on a lake or pond. Most important: learn thy water! The more time learning a water, the faster and easier it will become to finding biting fish.

Note: lure design and presentation always matter. There are only 1000 to choose from......
Note: advice much of the time applies to a moment in time and must usually be taken with a grain of salt....

Spoonminnow, here are answers, to the best of my ability to your questions. Look for the double asterisk. **

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Spoonminnow

Questions need be answered such as:
1. how large the water

** Lake Hartwell has more shoreline than the entire state of California. I would say big water.
2. depth range/ depth fished so far

** Where I was fishing today was in 20 -25 feet of water but I fished from about 8 feet down to the bottom.
3. structure - IE shoreline drops - how gradual, how steep, weed beds and types

** I would say moderate to somewhat steep drop off. But no where near vertical. Not much in the way of weed beds. Maybe 1 or 2 very small patches seen today.


5. bottom composition - mud, muck, rocks?

** Pretty hard red clay mud bottom.
6. how many other lure types have you tried and with what presentations (IE steady retrieve or slow with pauses)
** I have tried a Storm King small minnow imitation. Don’t remember the name. They sell them at Walmart. Caught a small largemouth while trolling with it. Have also tried casting. Today I cast both jig styles to brush piles, also tried drifting and trolling them. My casting was with a slow retrieve.

7. line used - IE type, test/diameter

** 4 lb test fluorocarbon
8. rod type used - IE light or medium action?; length?

** Eagle Claw 6 foot light action
9. shoreline vegetation overhangs

** There are some overhangs but I didn’t fish along the bank. I’m pretty sure the spawn has passed. We have had a stretch of around 10 - 15 days in the mid to upper 90’s. Today when I was fishing was in the 80’s. Some scattered clouds, but a lot of sun.
10. time of day; weather (cloud cover, bright sun).

** I had limited time today, but I fished from about 9:00 AM until 11:00 AM
11. water clarity (semi-clear, murky after a rain)

** Hartwell, and least 20 miles or so from the dam, is almost always very clear.

Opinion - take it for what it's worth:
Sonars that show incredible detail are rarely much better than the cheapest sonar when used in water 15' or less. They are very important in finding depths fish are caught in and therefore location types (part of a pattern). In fact, sonar rarely finds fish that you do catch; your search-lure does that by casting hundreds of times in an outing to different depths and area types.

Question to ask and answer after catching any fish: what in the water is next to or near what? plus what vegetation if any?
Examples: a hump held fish to the side and were caught in deeper water near it but only to the south
a weedy point near deeper water held fish
a flat had isolated long-stem weeds that held pockets of fish
a cove fed by one inflow was next to deeper water which held fish

Asking and answering questions with sonar and lures put you closer to discovering fish that are biting vs those that aren't. How they're caught is also trial & error - somewhat - but usually good lure designs used the right way turn out to be more versatile whereas others have their - moments....

Where you fished and didn't catch fish answered your question of one location type. Since you have floatation to search other areas and sonar to indicate what water is near what, you're on your way to finding fish that will bite - the absolute first step on every outing/ in every location on a lake or pond. Most important: learn thy water! The more time learning a water, the faster and easier it will become to finding biting fish.

Note: lure design and presentation always matter. There are only 1000 to choose from......
Note: advice much of the time applies to a moment in time and must usually be taken with a grain of salt....

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set your unit if you can on the regular old sonar with fish symbols . let the computer take the guess work out of it .
big fish will be larger icons ,medium will be barely legal fish and lil icons will likely be baitfish
most of the units I have seen this holds true on the fish symbols
I only ran this setting on my boat when I ran a boat and it never slowed me down a bit
and I like the fish alarm as well , when you do find fish its really important to be real close to the top of the school of fish
its very easy to fish under a crappie and not get a bite .
know your rod length and use it to measure your line amount between the tip and the jig .
a 7 foot rod is a length and a half of the rod in line amount to drop it 10 foot deep with the rod tip 6 inches above the water .
try some live minnows if all else fails until your confidence level grows then switch over to jigs
or tip your jig with pcs of minnows and or a tiny minnow .
one thing for certain if the lake has a good number of them one or more of these tips will put crappie in your hands
luck to ya my friend

POST A CONTOUR MAP AND YOULL GET THE ANSWERS YOU SEEK.

Maybe ask to go fishing with your friend a few times? Friends help friends out right?

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Originally Posted by Central Minn

Maybe ask to go fishing with your friend a few times? Friends help friends out right?

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My thoughts exactly...or get a guide on that lake that fishes your area your interested in..Some guides are great catchers and teachers...it will cost a little more but Probably be money well spent..

Lake Hartwell is a massive body of water with hundreds of tributaries - too much of a challenge for anyone finding the best areas to fish or fish movements without a lot of time spent fishing there. Each tributary has its own character such as large boat traffic, depth contours, depth and flow changes based on rainfall. Like cva32 suggested, a guide can steepen the learning curve a heck of a lot on such a huge body of water. The other thing to consider are fishing forums or clubs specific to Lake Hartwell. When I fished with bass club anglers for the first time and saw different ones catch fish in different bodies of water on many different lures, that's all I needed to then concentrate on what I saw with my own eyes.

But I would also consider this: shallow ponds and smaller lakes. The lake can even be 3 miles long and still have very interesting contours/structure fish are attracted to. The less fished by others the better - especially during the week when everyone is working. Point is is to be able to learn a body of water the more time you fish it.
The best anglers on crappie.com can suggest things such a tackle and electronic settings, but without experience on a lake or pond, your starting from scratch which can be frustrating big time! For one trying to get a grasp of what catches fish by using it to first find fish is key. That's when sonar and record keeping (notes and photo logs) pay off because fish are repetitive in behavior to a degree, swimming to the same areas different years. The more areas you discover, the greater the odds of finding and then catching them.

Lake Hartwell is a massive body of water with hundreds of tributaries - too much of a challenge for anyone finding the best areas to fish or fish movements without a lot of time spent fishing there. Each tributary has its own character such as large boat traffic, depth contours, depth and flow changes based on rainfall. Like cva32 suggested, a guide can steepen the learning curve a heck of a lot on such a huge body of water. The other thing to consider are fishing forums or clubs specific to Lake Hartwell. When I fished a bass club for the first time and saw different angler catch fish in different bodies of water on many different lures, that was all I needed to concentrate on what I saw with my own eyes.

But I would also consider this: shallow ponds and smaller lakes. The lake can even be 3 miles long and still have very interesting contours/structure fish are attracted to. The less fished by others the better - especially during the week when everyone is working. Point is is to be able to learn a body of water the more time you fish it.

The best anglers on crappie.com can suggest things such a tackle and electronic settings, but without experience on a lake or pond, your starting from scratch which can be frustrating big time! For one trying to get a grasp of what catches fish by using it to first find fish is key. That's when sonar and record keeping (notes and photo logs) pay off because fish are repetitive in behavior to a degree, swimming to the same areas different years. The more areas you discover, the greater the odds of finding and then catching them.

You can do a username search of me and see how easy lure selection is with photo evidence. But unless I fished them where you fish, I would still be in the same boat (literally speaking) figuring out where fish pattern themselves on those waters.

Luck has little to do with it, but good luck anyway.

The best advice I can give you is to stop putting so much pressure on yourself... and (instead) try to relax and enjoy fishing as best you can.
To be sure there's nothing anyone else can do that you can't do too. I have found that negative expectations can and do influence outcomes.
It gets aggravating to everyone at times, but it sounds like you're asking the right questions and looking at the right things to turn this around.
Take heart my brother. I'll look forward to hearing a better fishing report from you real soon... I can just feel it in my innards.

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Originally Posted by river scum

POST A CONTOUR MAP AND YOULL GET THE ANSWERS YOU SEEK.

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OK River Scum, here is a picture of the part of the lake that I have access to. Granted, it's a very small segment of a huge lake, but with only an electric trollling motor and a 15 foot "Scanoe" (a canoe with a square transom where a small motor can be mounted) this is about as far as I feel comfortable going. I would hate to get too far and run out of "juice." Believe it or not, this picture is of the enlarged segment of the lake where I am located. This part, on the main map, is much smaller. We live right where the black line pointing to "Barton's Mill" boat ramp crosses the blue line that indicates our street. We live at the corner of Tugaloo Shores and Lake Point Rd. The black line cross right over that intersection. I keep my boat chained to a tree in the cove marked as "T 60." It's on Corps Of Engineers property. From there, across the lake to the Tugaloo Campground on the Georgia side it is about 3/4 of a mile at least, if not a mile. That's from T 60 to T 59. That will give you persepective on distance. The brush piles that I fished the other day are just out from the "Port Bass" boat ramp and to the right in that cove in about 20 feet of water. I hope I have jumped through all the hoops to insert the picture into this replyGF

I used to fish many SC lakes and will say the best bite on most is right from sun up until 9am. I used to go home by 930-1000am as there was no use once the heat kicked in. I would also try fishing those brushpiles with just a #4 red hook, minnow (hooked in the back), and split shot. That is also the most inexpensive way to fish brush and not worry about breaking off, just tie a new hook on. I also spent hundreds of hours on nearby lakes where i lived. No doubt you will learn the pattern if you put in the time. Don't get discouraged, good fisherman struggle crappie fishing that lake because its so big. I would first try fishing them earlier with minnows. You will need a bait bucket with aerator this time of year.

sun up when they come in from roaming is for sure a good tip and right when they get active in the afternoon , and on big lakes they are often in one area of the lake better than others because of the bait concentrations .
google map your lake and look for the Greenest coves and try to hit them ,algae blooms attract bait and bait attracts crappie .

Crappie also move alot, I also learned stained water will also attract a good number of crappie. No stained water? They will be tight on structure. You will be losing jigs getting into the brush to get them, better to use live bait and hooks.

Gill Fisher, I'm not the guy to answer your fishing questions. But please please make sure you're wearing a life jacket when you're in that canoe. Congrats on retirement.

wow that's a big water all rite. your spawn is probably over so your looking in deeper water by now(im assuming) look for wood cover next to shore in areas where the water is deep. a channel sweeping by a shoreline can make some great places for crappie. they can also roam open water in schools chasing shad in summer. below the word Tugaloo looks like a prime example of crappie hangouts. if there are trees falling in ater there probe them with a jig verticaly deep in the brush. it takes some practice to keep from getting hung and spooking them but when you get in tune to the wood feel and have light upswings, your snags will be less of a problem.

t56
t58
t54
t63
t65 all could be gold mines if timber is present.

I have found on my reservoir that the hog crappie are more like bass. they can hold on a stump on the channel edge just like a bass does.
the bait connection is a great point too. they will hold in sections were there is more food. I can run up my small river and watch sonar for bait schools. then fish the deep cover in that area to find fish. current is another big deal in a res. checkout the dam releases before and after you go and get to know what the current is like. they can turn on like a switch from the current changes! use 2" power grubs also. res. and river crappie like bigger baits. jump from brush pile to brush pile till you connect. that's how I do it every time out with a milk run of spots learned over the many years. jig softly in the wood so you don't hang and spook them.

I hope you find this helpful down there brother.

Gill Fisher .... you get over one of those brush piles, a stand of submerged trees, or any kind of vertical structure that you can stay close to, then you might want to try this : Crappie Pappy Article

Thanks Crappie Pappy, that’s a great idea. Now, to make sure I’ve got this right, the transducer for my fish finder is mounted to the bottom of my trolling motor, and the motor is mounted to the back of the boat. So, as soon as the structure barely begins to show up on the right side of my screen in sonar or the top of my screen in side view or side image, that means the structure is under the back of the boat or just behind the boat. If I drop a marker buoy as soon as I begin to see structure on the screen, that buoy should be somewhere close to the structure. I saw on a video that the cone of the sonar’s signal on the lake bottom can be as large as a circle 10 feet in diameter, but the buoy should be close to the structure. Is that correct?

Thanks

GF

Get the Livescope to go with your Garmin and see if the fish are there or not and if they are biting. Livescope is the future of fishing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gill Fisher

Thanks Crappie Pappy, that’s a great idea. Now, to make sure I’ve got this right, the transducer for my fish finder is mounted to the bottom of my trolling motor, and the motor is mounted to the back of the boat. So, as soon as the structure barely begins to show up on the right side of my screen in sonar or the top of my screen in side view or side image, that means the structure is under the back of the boat or just behind the boat. If I drop a marker buoy as soon as I begin to see structure on the screen, that buoy should be somewhere close to the structure. I saw on a video that the cone of the sonar’s signal on the lake bottom can be as large as a circle 10 feet in diameter, but the buoy should be close to the structure. Is that correct?

Thanks

GF

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Yes ... but, don't drop the buoy close to the boat ... pitch it to either side about 10-15ft away. You don't want the buoy weight crashing down into the cover.

Down View & Side View pings are narrow strips that go out to both sides at an angle, whereas 2d sonar pings are cone shaped. Depending on the degree of the cone angle and depth of the water, you could be picking up images under the boat or even in front of the boat. A 20deg cone angle gives a bottom circle that's 1/3 as wide as the depth ... so if you're in 21ft of water, the bottom coverage circle is 7ft wide. A 60deg cone angle gives a bottom circle that's equal in width to the depth of water ... so in 21ft of water, the bottom coverage circle is 21ft wide.

This pic shows the differences between ping coverage areas & shapes of DI and 2d ping beams :


https://i826.photobucket.com/albums/...newDIbeams.png