Spring is the season of maximum bounty for crappie anglers. When panfish are in the shallows you’ll catch more than your fair share. It’s often easy to catch dozens in a short time if you know where to look.
Spring Crappie Fishing Tips
During the spring crappie begin to invade the shallows for their spawning period. You can usually find them along the banks of lakes rivers and ponds. This makes them much easier to find and perfect for shore fishing. You should be able to catch more during the spring than during any other season. The following tips should help you improve your fishing success throughout the spawn.
Watch The Spring Weather
Nobody can predict spring weather so it’s important to know a little bit about how crappie react to inclement weather. A week of warm weather can lead up to a cold front which will affect their spawning location. Crappie will migrate from the deep water to the shallows and back several times throughout the spring. Once the weather finally settles they’ll settle into their spawning beds.
Fish The Warm Spells
The best fishing usually happens at the end of warm periods. If you see a cold front approaching start to fish the shallows. Both male and female’s go to the shallows looking for food before cold spells. It’s the perfect time to focus your fishing efforts near shallow water.
During cold fronts Crappie Migrate to deep water. They’ll typically hold close to defined bottom structures looking for cover. Look for areas of deep cover with very little light penetration. When the wind picks up and the suns out fish the medium depth structures. Wave’s caused by the wind should limit the sunlight moving fish closer to the surface. If weather remains sunny for a few days crappie will start to migrate closer to the shallows for their spawn. Warm rainy weather will quickly send them scurrying back to the shallows.
Remember Hotspots and Try Dam Tailwaters
As crappie are quickly caught and removed from their spawning beds other fish will quickly take over. Prime spawning locations will quickly be taken over every time a fish is removed. Fishing should stay good in the same spot throughout most of the spawn.
Fishing Tailwaters
River Crappie often move upstream during the early spring. In their search for the perfect spawning ground they’ll likely hang around a dam for a while.While they’re milling around you’ll have the perfect opportunity to catch a boatload of fish. A jig/minnow combination is the perfect spring combo. I like to use a lighter colored Eagle Claw Crappie Jig during the spawn.
Stealthy Anglers Catch More Crappie
Crappie are extremely skittish so be careful not to scare them off. Rolling up on crappie in a boat will often scare them off. Crappie in beds are notorious for getting spooked and quickly disappearing. If you accidentally roll up and scare them off they’ll most likely return in 15-20 minutes. A cheap marker buoy can be used on less crowded lakes, but you’ll want to go stealthy on busy lakes. The only downside to ordinary buoys is other fisherman beating you to the punch. I like to mark my spots with a piece of yarn in the weeds near the hot area so I’m the only one that knows my secret spots.
How to Avoid Frightening Crappie
There’s a lot of little tricks to avoid scaring off crappie. The following tips should set you in the right direction this fishing season.
Kill Your Motor
If you’re fishing with a small motor make sure you cut it off before getting to your fishing spot. You’re less likely to scare off fish if you turn off your outboard and drift into your spot. Drift into position or use a small trolling motor to cover the final stretch.
Don’t Use a Motor in Heavily Fished Ponds
In heavily fished areas even the sound of a trolling motor could scare away crappie. Avoid the noise of a motor by using a small paddle to move your boat into position. This is the perfect situation to pull out your 10-20 foot cane or jigging pole. Keeping a little bit of distance between you and the bedding areas might just be the advantage you need. Keep your distance to avoid scaring away these skittish fish.
Try Using a Slider
Any fisherman targeting spring crappie should consider using Charlie Brewer’s weedless crappie sliders. Paired with a small soft plastic grub, it’s perfect for fishing dense cover. When properly rigged it’s sure to catch a ton of spring Crappie. They can be worked through even the thickest brush without risk of snagging. Cast and retrieve your slider through stumps and other brush and work it like any other jig. Very few snag free lures can outperform this basic setup.
Don’t Weight Your Bait
When crappie seem especially fearful consider not weighting your bait. Fishing just a simple live minnow rig with the right setup should yield 50+ feet casts. Just hook the minnow through it’s back and cast into the most likely bedding areas. The minnow should struggle close to the surface at first and slowly drop down. The natural drop into spawning areas is sure to attract a bite.
Don’t Always use a Full Minnow
When your jig/minnow setup isn’t working try and change things up. Instead of hooking a full minnow, tip your hook with a small chunk of cutup minnow. The additional smell and taste of the minnow should attract a bite, where bulky jig/minnow combos scared them off.
Know When to Return to Deep Water
As great as spring fishing is at some point crappie will return to deeper water. Spawning should continue until the water temperature reaches approximately 70 degrees. Once the water temperature gets warmer shallow fishing will take a nosedive. You may still catch shallow feeding crappie in the morning, but it’ll never be as good as during the spring. Just after the springtime try looking in the same areas you had success just before the spawn. Once summer starts to roll around you’ll have to change up your tactics. Summer Crappie fishing is a whole other ball game.