By Mike Frisch and the Fishing the Midwest Team
I love catching crappies. Most of my crappie fishing comes in spring and summer. During spring nothing beats watching a slip bobber slowly descend when a hungry shallow water slab inhales a small jig. During summer, I love the “tick” I feel and the impending hookset when slowly retrieving a Mr. Crappie plastic along a weedline. This fall, however, I “stumbled” upon some big crappies and have had lots of fun. Here is what I have been doing.
I was on a local lake, a small, shallow water with maximum water depth of 25 feet fishing walleyes. When moving to a new spot, I “saw” on sonar screen several small pods of fish, maybe 4 to 8 fish, suspended in 12 to 16 feet of water. Thinking they were crappies, but not having my crappie “stuff” with, I improvised by placing a portion of a nightcrawler on the same 1/16-ounce jig and slip bobber rig I have been using when targeting walleyes.
Using forward facing sonar (ffs), I was quickly able to relocate several of the small schools I had seen on 2D sonar. I did catch a few fish but was confident with more crappie-appropriate gear I could do better.
A few days later I returned with a new plan. I would fish for walleyes and then, armed with a full array of crappie jigs, lighter rods/reels, and crappie minnows, switch to chasing those fish.
The walleye bite was tough, so I eagerly headed for deeper water and, hopefully, the crappies. Using my 2D sonar and SideScan, I quickly found that the fish had slid deeper. They were now positioned in about 18 to 22 feet of water in what would best be described as the edge of the lake basin. This is a typical late fall into winter holding area for crappies. I also noticed the pods of fish were bigger, maybe 12 to 20 fish in each, and seemed to be fewer in number.
After marking some schools on my GPS, I dropped my trolling motor and ffs transducer and went on the hunt for one of the pods previously marked. It wasn’t long and I found one, pitched my crappie jig/minnow/bobber rig to it and quickly watched the bobber slide under the water. A 13-inch crappie was soon in the boat. I was able to catch two more fish from that pod before “losing” them. I was back on the move and back on the hunt and a bit later the scenario repeated itself. I ended up having a successful few hours, keeping a few fish for the frying pan, and releasing several more.
My setup was simple, I used the same small Mr. Crappie Shoo Shiner jig that I used in the spring. Because it was a bit windy, I used a bit bigger bobber than in the spring and added some split shot about a foot above the jig to keep the bobber riding low. A low riding bobber holds its place better in the wind and easily slides under water without spooking a wary, light biting fish. In the spring, I catch lots of fish without any live bait, but these fish seemed to want some “meat” so a small crappie minnow was lightly impaled on the jig.
The pattern that I employed has been successful on several subsequent trips and should stay good well into November. However, it does come with one caveat. These fish are very susceptible because, when found, they are schooled tightly and often very willing to bite. Forward facing sonar has made the “finding” process much more efficient, but also means that the fish are much more susceptible to overharvest. For that reason, I strongly encourage selective harvest. Also, once fish move into deeper depths on deeper lakes, maybe 25 feet and deeper depending on conditions, they become susceptible to dying from barotrauma, injuries that occur when pulling fish from deep water. In this case maybe keeping a few fish for a meal and calling it a day is the best advice!
A good day or two on the water yet is the goal of diehard anglers during this time frame and the pattern just described can help do that. As always, enjoy your time on the water and remember to include a youngster in your next outdoors adventure!
Mike Frisch hosts the popular Fishing the Midwest TV series. Visit www.fishingthemidwest.com to see more fishing tips and view recent TV episodes as well!
Photo – Scott Turnage with a fall crappie.
