crappie fishing without electronics?

Since I moved to near Savannah, I haven't been able to catch crappie like I used to fishing the banks of ponds I knew around Atlanta during April and that is a shame because it is by far my favorite freshwater fish.
Now I have a small jonboat with trolling motor but no fish finder (wouldn't know how to use it/read it if I had one).
So my question is HOW to find crappie in a pond or small lake without use of a electronics...esp after the spring spawn when they are now longer along the edges of the bank.
I'm going to restrict my fishing to small lakes/ponds that hold crappie. I usually use a jig tipped with a minnow or plastic that I cast and slow retrieve back to me or retrieve back bouncing off the bottom.

I see we frequent the same forums.

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Originally Posted by outdoorman

Since I moved to near Savannah, I haven't been able to catch crappie like I used to fishing the banks of ponds I knew around Atlanta during April and that is a shame because it is by far my favorite freshwater fish.
Now I have a small jonboat with trolling motor but no fish finder (wouldn't know how to use it/read it if I had one).
So my question is HOW to find crappie in a pond or small lake without use of a electronics...esp after the spring spawn when they are now longer along the edges of the bank.
I'm going to restrict my fishing to small lakes/ponds that hold crappie. I usually use a jig tipped with a minnow or plastic that I cast and slow retrieve back to me or retrieve back bouncing off the bottom.

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that's a good way to find them casting around and in ponds small lakes not that many places to look so you hunt em up.

We usually threw out a few corks with some minnows and trolled around when we had no electronics.

thanks

Get you 3 or 4 rod holders and put out that many rods with minnows under corks and slowly "bump" around. You'll find 'em.;):)

Once you get to know the place you fish, there really isnt much need for any electronics. You will simply bump around to the places youve caught them. But today, good devices can be had new for $100, even less for a good used one.
You wont need a big battery in order to run it either.
A small gel cell battery stored in a small ammo box will run one for several days without recharging.
And a small charger will fit into the same box.
It will shorten the learning curve considerably by eliminating some areas immediately.
Not much point to trolling around in 2’ of water, when just over there is 6’ of water.
And you wont know that without having even a basic depth finder.

Look at topo maps of the area you plan to fish to get an idea of what the lake looks like before hand. Even if water doesn’t show up on the map you can identify areas to fish and travel routes the fish should be using.

I like to fish a marabou jig under a cork when I fish ponds. I tight it 18-30 in below the cork. I'll cast it as far as I can, and then use a pull and stop retrieve. Leave it sit for a five or six count before pulling a foot or two at a time back to the boat. Good luck.

Sent from my SM-J337VPP using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

when they stack up shallow, I can smell em. I know it sounds crazy, but I can

Like others said try the same method but use a cork. Crappie like eating what's above them vs below. And they normally school in groups, if you catch one most likely others are with it. If you're not familiar with the ponds, normally the larger ones (5 acres and up) are needed for crappie, if not they normally over populate and are small. Casting small spin baits like beetle spins often are successful. Good Luck!