Slabmaster II
Fall crappie question
Since I don't normally crappie fish much in the Fall, I got some questions for the experts on here. How far up the creeks and in about what depths do the crappie normally go this time of year? I read someone on here posted about long lining the flats, what depths would you look for? Thanks for any help. Water temp seems to be hovering around 70F right now and the main lake is turning over so about when will they make the move to shallower water?
Crappie.com 2K Star General
In spring and fall I look for water around 25 ft deep. It can be a bit deeper, it can be a bit more shallow but you need a flat bottom. Most of the time fish are at the bottom but set a few rods a couple cranks up, and closer to mid depth. This fall I haven't caught many fish on the bottom like usual, mostly around mid depth.
Crappie.com Legend
Look for bait and try different depths and speed, plus use different colors until you get what they want. Some of the guys here find the fish in shallow 9-18 ft. early and as the day gets later they can find them deeper. Good luck! Biggest thing is fish where crappies are. Find the bait.
Slabmaster
I have found crappies to be very structure oriented during the fall and very aggressive. Friday morning I caught 35 or so up until 12 noon all on brush ranging 12-31 foot of water with the majority of the fish 8-10 feet below the surface close to the top of the brush. I'm not saying this is the only way to catch them during the fall, but if you put out brush you will catch them no doubt.
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Welcome aboard slider08. You hit the nail on the head about brush! All the fish I have caught came off of brush so far this fall. They just are not on the flats yet but I'm sure they will move to the flats before winter temps hits our lakes. Longlining and spider rigging is working right now and if you are a single pole jigger you should be able to pull some good fish off the brush right now.Originally Posted by slider08
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Slabmaster II
Some really good advice on here so far and thanks for all of the great replies. Sounds like they are likely in brush mostly now but will be moving to flats with bait fish. If fish are in 20 ft of water or so near bottom, is tightlining preferred over long lining? I normally cannot get jigs that deep long lining.
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Yes you would have to drop some weighted jigs of hooks to the bottom. Tight lining seems to be the better style of fishing in the coldest months.
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IMO, usually it isnt the fish lying on the bottom arent the crappie you will catch as theyre not the agressive fish. I'd be looking for arches more in the 15' range and fish 1/8th jigs down around the 13' mark trying to get those "target" fish to bite. Again, IMO you can catch fish all winter long longlining but you have to study the graph to know where your jigs should run and keep moving around to find biting fish that are willing to chase jigs.
Now that said...tightlining is also a great way of catching fish as well as single pole fishing. I prefer longlining first but dont mind spider rigging live bait over top of marked fish using long rods. That's ALOT of fun catching 'em on those long poles. AND, during the cooler months it's easy to keep your bait alive on the hook and at home so youre always ready to go fishing.
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