Autumn is easily my favorite season to fish for Crappie. You get the spring bite without all of the early season crowd. There’s nothing more relaxing than the fall leaves shimmering above the lake. Crappie are fattened from a summer of heavy feeding brings out some of the best strikes of the year. Read on to learn a few of my favorite tips for catching fall crappie.
Fall Crappie Fishing Tips
Fall offers some of the best fishing opportunities you can find all year. It isn’t going to be as easy as fishing during the spawn, but you’ll definitely catch your fair share of fish. By following a few of these tips you should catch a ton of fall crappie.
1. Fish The Bluffs
The first place I look for fall crappie is near steep vertical bluffs along the shoreline. They love holding wherever they can quickly go from shallow to deep water. The only downside is that during the fall they can be difficult to pinpoint. The easiest way to find crappie is to look at the water clarity.
Water clarity should show you exactly where crappie are hiding. Whenever the water starts to look discolored or the sky gets dark they’ll move into the shallows. Low light penetration makes crappie fishing easy. On the other hand if the water is clear and bright they are going to go towards deeper structure. First you need to fish around deeper cover than slowly work up closer to the surface. Try canvassing the area until you get your first bite and setup for the long haul.
2. Work Bream Colored Lures
During the fall I bring out all of my bream colored lures. During the summer crappie love to eat tiny bream and continue to look for them in the fall. Bring out all of your jigs with a combination of red, golds and greens to resemble bream. I’ve had a lot of luck using these Chartreuse/Lime Lindy Little Nipper Jigs to catch crappie. The Chartreuse/Lime color scheme is bright enough to draw them in without looking overly unnatural.
Instead of using a jig you can try a small crankbait or spinner. Choose spinners with gold blades and brightly colored bodies like this 3/4 Ounce Terminator Spinner. You can quickly work a lot of water without scaring away skittish fish. You can also try the 2 1/4 inch Live Target crankbait if you’re looking for a mid depth lure.
3. Use Some Scents to Lure in Shy Crappie
When the autumn cold front passes you’ll most likely encounter hard to lure fish. It’s going to be difficult to gain any traction when they run at the first sign of a boat. Make sure you cut your motor and slowly drift into position without making any wake. If you scare away the crappie leave the area and come back 10 to 15 minutes later.
Adding a little bit of solid sent products to your lures will bring the fish to you. I like to enhance my baits with a little bit of blood or a commercial product like Pro-Cure’s Crappie and Panfish Magic Super Gel.The sticky gel is extremely easy to add to any crappie lure and really draws in the fish. When crappie are finicky they should hold on longer to a scented lure increasing your chances.
4. Use The Soft Plastics
Crappie Fisherman often overlook the effectiveness of soft plastic minnows. Maybe they think “why bother with plastic when you have the real thing?” That really is a shame since lures like the Chartreuse Shad Berkley Gulp Minnows really work. The strong scent brings in the crappie while the glitter resembles descaling shad. I’ve actually found that these gulp minnows actually outperform live minnows in most situations. Berkley’s Gulp Minnows come in a wide variety of sizes and colors to suit your needs.
By far the best thing about using soft plastics is that they’re completely weedless. You can place them right into the middle of thick cover where crappie like to hang out.
5. Fish The Wind
When does one of the most important factors in finding early fall crappie. When will push tiny invertebrates downstream luring baitfish with them. Wherever you find baitfish your sure to find crappie. Keep an eye on the wind and hope for multiple days blowing in the same direction. If you have a westerly wind fish the eastern side of the lake and vice versa.
6. When Vegetations Dead Fish The Rocks
After the vegetation starts to die off you’re going to want to fish the rocks. During the early to mid fall crappie tend to move to deep rock piles. Using your fishfinder to mark underground ground structure is crucial to fishing the rocks. Look for rock piles along humps and outside bends where there’s prominent structure. Set up a minnow rig to fish the structures and drag it across the bottom near the rock pile. Once you find a good quarry position your boat directly over the structure and switch to a vertical rig. With a vertical rig you shouldn’t spook the more cowardly crappie.
7. Follow the Shad
Not all crappie like to stay near structure during the late fall. If you aren’t having a lot of luck fishing the rocks you can always follow the shad. Follow schools of shad back to the feeder creeks looking for shallow water. The best fishing is going to be around 5 feet of water near channel breaks. Look for large brush piles where shad thrive and you’ll be sure to find a ton of crappie. Work the brush using a basic minnow rig and slip bobber.
8. Spider Rigging Works
There’s no easier way to figure out what works than to use a basic spider rigging setup. It only makes sense that testing the water using up to 12 rods will work better than one. You’ll be able to cover a wide span of up to 30 feet and test multiple depths. Once you start to catch a few fish it’s time to adjust all your rods to the proper depth.
9. Go With Bigger Lures
Smaller crappie have had the entire summer to grow so they’re going to be a lot bigger than their spring and summer siblings. Just like the crappie the baitfish will most likely look a lot larger than they did during the spring. Adjust your fishing lures to accommodate the larger bait size during the fall. Try pairing 2.5″ bodies with larger quarter ounce jig heads to mimic the local baitfish.
10. Keep Moving and Come Back Later
Once you figure out the right combination of depth and presentation get ready to move. The second fish start biting it’s time to choose a different location. After a few minutes without a bite keep moving until you get some. If you aren’t catching any fish you might want to completely change areas looking for someplace new.
If a spot just isn’t working early in the day that doesn’t mean it won’t work later. Crappie are extremely temperamental and will change locations with the weather. If you happen to spook the shoreline fish leave them alone and come back a few hours later.
11. Southern Fisherman Should Stay in Deeper Water
There’s a big difference between northern and southern fisherman. When fishing southern reservoirs you’re going to want to stick to deep water brush. Look for cooler water that’s around 20 feet deep plus or minus a few feet. If you happen to find cover near this depth you’ll almost always find an abundance of crappie. The best cover is going to be some form of brush, logs, ledges and humps that offer natural shelter.
12. Don’t Be Afraid To Change Your Color
During the fall the sky’s going to be darker and light penetration will be much worse. Water color is going to make a huge difference in your lure selection. Check out my guide on lure color selection for more information. What works during the summer most likely won’t work during the fall. Few fish are as picky about color selection as crappie and slight issues could make or break your day. Make sure you stock your boat with a wide variety of colors that should cover your bases.