Spring crappie

[tbayboy]

Hey everyone - hope you're all enjoying this weather! One of my goals this year was to get out and try for the spring crappie I always heard about. I've been googling around and have some ideas about presentations and things to look for but I'm pretty sure the gang here can really help me out. Any and all tips would be appreciated. I'll be shore based most likely which limits things a bit . PatrickG and I were thinking about doing some exploring this weekend up Simcoe way - any comments on that area would be appreciated (or anywhere else - scugog?). PMs are fine of course for any that want to keep things from the lurkers.

 

Thanks in advance everyone - looking forward to adding a new species to the list (and maybe to the skillet -mmmm).

 

Sean

[GbayGiant]

I always use a trusty jig for everything but, your average 1/8-1/16th jig with a 2" tube/grubs or small live minnows all work great. I'm no pro crappie fisherman but if you know where the walleyes spawn they will be in or around them very close, shallower than summer and fall, 8-15 feet seems to be good up here in spring, they like early weed growth if you find any. Or simply use a plain hook and minnow with a little bobber just off bottom always works good too.

[PickerelHunter]

My go to crappie lure is a 1/16 or even 1/32 white, yellow, or pink maribou jig. They work awesome for crappies and 90% of my crappies are caught on this, both in Niagara and on Buckhorn. You can use a slip float with it with success as well. I'm trying to find a few spots up around Simcoe as well, I would guess any run off streams from the lake will produce in spring

[OhioFisherman]

Real hard t o beat a minnow and a bobber fishing for them, waters here they love emerald shiners. Small tubes, small jig and grubs, road runners, small crank baits. I have caught them on a lot of my regular bass tackle by accident, not the best way for numbers. They will spawn in a lot of the same areas a bass will and like cover, weeds, docks, wood in the water.

[ehg]

Hi Tbay, there is some crappie around Simcoe by Holland R. in the Welland Canal/River, even Frenchmans Bay, and

West Lake in Quinte area but not much right now.

Your best bet would seem to be to wait for the first couple of weeks of opening in the Kawarthas.

Scugog has a growing population and Pigeon, Balsam produce as well on the micro tube jig/ float combo.

A boat would be a real bonus, the fish go shallow in mud bottom bays, coves and are easily caught.

White with pink really seems to do well.

 

Good luck,

 

ehg

[Jen]

Hey TBay,

 

This is the first year I have been able to manage catching crappies... They bite really light so watch that line closely... Small minnows and a red powergrub on a small very sharp hook seem to work the best for me.

 

Once you get these fish in the frying pan you will wonder why you haven't targetted them sooner.

 

Enjoy and let us know how it goes.

 

Jen

[Mark Kulik]

Hi Tbay-yes I would wait for the opener, on the Kawarthas, Pigeon, Chemong all have good populations-float and mini tube is the best in spring, bring the polarized eyeware, they will sit in and around shallow cover, I wrote an article in the Extreme angler Annual on spring crappie-its at the printers as we speak-hitting the newstands real soon. Mark

[Billy Bob]

CRAPPIE is my favorite fish to catch and eat. I hunt them down like a beagle on a rabbit track

 

Seriously though crappie action can be spotty or balls to the wall action depending much on the crappie population of the lake you are fishing. Our best lake here for crappie is Chautauqua Lake which is about 75 miles west of Buffalo, NY and I make MANY runs to it when it's a good crappie year there, that meaning the lake has ups and down years depending on what kind of spawn they had in previous years. Also we need them to be 9" now and last year was a good population year but they were short with most crappies caught being in the 8 - 8.5" so this year should be a good year for keepers.

 

Catching them can be VERY easy or it may take a VERY finesse approach. When the bite is slow definitely use a 1/32 or even 1/64 oz White or Chartreuse jig that is hung from a cigar shaped small FOAM bobber. This is a very slow and finesse way to fish them when the water is cold and the bite is slow. Many times the bobber will give all the action needed to the jig if there is some wind and chop on the water. If it is real calm just twitch the bobber now and then and it will entice strikes.

 

Now if you are lucky to hit a good school of crappies that are feeding BEFORE their spawning starts (NOW) you can use a 1/32 or even a 1/16 oz jig and free cast it without a bobber. Just cast as far as you can (use 4# test line MAX) and keep your rod tip high and slowly swim the jig back to boat trying to keep the jig about half the depth of the water you are fishing. So if you are in 8 foot try to swim the jig back about 4 foot down. Speaking of depth they are usually caught in 8 foot or less all spring long but every lake is a bit different.

 

My boat is ready to go and should be on the lake come Monday for my favorite fish the CRAPPIE, KING of the Pan Fish.

 

BTW many will use minnows but I haven't use a minnow in over 20 years crappie fishing. Once you become good and confident with SMALL jigs on crappie you will definitely out fish those using minnow especially if the bite is on because they have to keep baiting up while I just keep reeling them in.

 

Bob

Edited April 4, 2008 by Billy Bob

[tbayboy]

Thanks for all the tips guys and gals really appreciate it. The only problem with the Kawartha opener is that they don't help me deal with cabin fever this weekend

[Weeds]

I caught my first Crappies last spring on Chemong, trolling for walleye with 20 lb braid and a half ounceish glass shad rap I think. Probably not ideal tackle by any means but they didn't seem to care. Can't wait to get back out come Season.

[lunkerbasshunter]

great info here guys! i too am going to try crappie fishing this spring.

 

cheers!

[mbac31]

There is nothing goin on at Frenchmans bay as of yet. Most of the bay is open though. Should be good there next weekend.

[jdmls]

CHECK PM

[tbayboy]

Hey again everyone, just wanted to follow up with a thanks for all the advice both here and in PMs. PatrickG and I got out today after a quick pit stop at Bass Pro for some last minute floats, jigs and micro tubes and then we started our tour of the holland marshlands. Our plans for today were really just to drive around a wash some lures and get a lay of the land. Neither of us really had any experience in the area so we weren't too concerned about actually catching fish.

 

That turned out to be a good thing since our first spots while looking promising (you could tell by the number of lines hanging up on the power lines and trees) but we didn't find any activity. I also managed to give my donation to the fishing gods - After laughing at all the other lures hanging from the wires I decided to try and make one of those 'get it in between these two branches and I'll be in a great spot' casts. If anyone wants a nice new float and a jig I can tell you where to take your boat

 

We then hit a popular spot and saw boaters doing well but the shoreline wasn't going very well and was a bit more busy than we liked so we kept going.

 

After a quick snack and a couple other bridge stops we went up to the end of Bathurst street and saw the weirdest thing - there's a marinia there in the middle of the flooded fields not 100 yards from the wide open river but inside the marina there's 10 guys huddled on piece of ice by the docks ice fishing - definitely a weird juxtaposition.

 

Anyhow, after a few more nice spots that failed to produce we went back to the popular spot only now the shore fishers were catching. We quickly got our lines in and sure enough Patricks float went down and the skunk was over

 

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emosworld/2393911939/" title="Patricks Crappie by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2024/2393911939_6e507fc9e0_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Patricks Crappie" /></a>

 

A few mintues later my float give a little up down up down and I gave it a mighty heave and after what seemed like hours of fighting it finally happened - my first ever crappie! What a slab!

 

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emosworld/2393913095/" title="First ever Crappie by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3137/2393913095_fe8eedfeae_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="First ever Crappie" /></a>

 

 

Ok so its not going to set any records but it was nice to get the first softwater fish out of the way and cross a 'never caught' off my list.

 

Unfortunately after all of our wandering around all the good spots had been taken so while we watched the guys in the boats clean up and 3 or 4 shore spots do well we had to settle with just a couple crappie and a nice perch. But hey we accomplished what we set out for - we caught some fish and scoped out a bunch of nice fishing spots. Sure beat sitting around the house.

 

So thanks again to everyone here for the tips (I've still got more places to try that we didn't get to today). I'll be out again soon.

[ehg]

You ended up accomplishing what you set out to do, that could be seen as successful.

You will have many more opportunities for crappies over the next month or so.

 

cheers,

 

ehg

[danc]

You do know that there's Crappie in the Kam, eh Sean??

[radar]

check yer PM

[tbayboy]

The Kam eh Dan? Hmm 18 hour drive vs 45 minutes? Then again the Kam also has year round smallies not to mention walleye so maybe next weekend if the gas prices come down.

[PickerelHunter]

Good stuff Tbay...nothing better then checking out spots and finally being rewarded. Thanks for the pics too

[Abberz]

Back bays and 60-65*F surface temp have done me pretty well over the years.

 

First two of 2007

 

13 inch crappie are generally easier to clean.

 

Can't wait to get out in a couple weeks!

Edited April 8, 2008 by Abberz