Open Water Crappie

Can some tell me the best way to fine crappie in open water during the summer patterns using live scope? I have the fishing part down ok its the part of how to and where to look that I`m lost on.

Do I just go to points or try and find deep structure?

I mean it sounds easy but where do you start on a huge lake like Cumberland?
That's my lake of choice, I just don`t know how or where to begin and only being able to go a couple times a year I hoping for any guidance from other members to get me started.

Be safe and take someone fishing!

Thanks to any and all,
Steve

Can't tell you anything about your lake as I'm in middle Ga. but if there's standing timber and by that I don't mean that you can see with your eyes but submerged trees left when they filled the lake ideally in deeper water 20+ feet and topping out at 10-18' that's where they are going to be for the most part. They tend to stick pretty close to the " condos " thru the summer. Just got to put your time in to find the brush. Side scanning with a high quailty unit like humminbird mega models to waypoint the brush then turn around and scan them with livescope. Scott

Put down your trolling motor and look . Move around covering as much open water as possiable . I have a mapping unit (Humminbird1199) sitting right beside Garmin tracking every where I go . That way I know right where I find them and can concentrate on that area .:fish:twocents:biggrin

Navionics is a pretty good scouting tool. It will show submerged timber and such. Also show you water depth and features. Helps me to find some potential areas to go and look at with the electronics. Saves a lot of time

you might try this , once upon a time a fella told me to google map big lakes and look for the greenest coves and parts of the lake , the blue water areas would be avoided and the green areas would be looked over really hard.
his theory was that green waters would attract more bait and thus more crappie .....
never employed it as I remember but to be sure of this , he is a hard core really good crappie angler and competed in tournaments much of his life and did really well at it , long before the use of LS ....
that fella gave me a really good number of tips and techniques, and some of you may even know him ....
Robert @ Crazy Angler ....good guy and straight up for sure :highfive

Well, at cumberland it is a lot easier to catch fish on the upper end than the lower end of the lake. Look for 15 to 40 fow on drops up in creeks any kind of structure is pretty helpful. Find the shad and you will find the fish. Tip watch for gar hitting the top of the water and you will find the shad and the crappie...Also, check out the mouth cuts and coves and smaller creeks.

Thanks Slabeye….

Thanks Slabeye for the info. when you say mouth cuts do you mean where the Channel cuts across the mouth of a cove? Also, where would you consider Connelly Bottom as far as upper or lower?
Steve

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Originally Posted by steve telinda

Thanks Slabeye for the info. when you say mouth cuts do you mean where the Channel cuts across the mouth of a cove? Also, where would you consider Connelly Bottom as far as upper or lower?
Steve

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I'd consider Conley Bottom as being in the upper lake area (ie: more towards the river end) The "lower lake" would be more towards the Dam.

I believe what Slabeye is referring to as "cuts" are what most people call "pockets" ... not big like a creek or cove, but just a C shaped indentation on an otherwise straight bank. (I could be wrong, and he'll likely correct me if I am :bash :) )

Mouths of creeks and/or pockets off main lake areas are starting places for me. Good :fish

Side imaging covers the widest swath by far. Get it dialed in and you can find the schools in an area, drop a waypoint and come back around to pick it apart with LS.

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Originally Posted by Atimm693

Side imaging covers the widest swath by far. Get it dialed in and you can find the schools in an area, drop a waypoint and come back around to pick it apart with LS.

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Exactly get good with side imaging, many of our northern lakes Crappies are suspended out in the middle of no where. Might spend 2 hours using SI searching for schools in open water once you do find them it can be so much fun, and some times not. :bash Usually the biggest Crappies are the ones out in open water.

Use the wind direction from the day before you go to tell where all the big crappie will be on the day you go. The sun drives the wind and nights are mostly calm so they will be where the wind takes the baitfish food and the baitfish follow with the slabs following them . If the wind is out of the notheast before dark the baitfish will mostly be in the waters in the southwest the next morning. Any pockets with creeks coming into them on the downwind side of this plan is the 1st place I start. If you have 2 or 3 days of wind coming from the same direction this will get you a limit easy. Sometimes fish locations look random but its not when it comes to big crappie. They didnt get big waiting in a brush pile for a snack to swim by

Follow the main channels out of the creeks the fish spawned in. I'm catching them here in 30 to 60+ fow suspended down fro 15 to 30'.
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Side scan! Learn what they look like. That often means scanning an area, turning back and looking at it with the scope, then truthing it by trying to catch whatever you said. After that, you'll gain confidence in side scanning and it's a lot faster to find fish at 5mph than 1.5mph. I bought Roy's old Helix 10. He had it dialed in for him, but once I got it, installed it on my boat, I had to set it to my liking and what worked for me. YouTube is your friend for fiddling with settings and what they do. Time on the water after that, playing with it, and verifying what you saw with downscan or live scope.

I love side and down scan for finding fish on brush and docks, not so much individual fish in deep water. I turn my trolling motor up to 7 or 8 and get moving while scanning left to right with my AT2 till I see a fish out about 70'. I then slow down and get within casting range. Fish here are really spread out, this is what works for me.