A Fish for All Seasons

Anything these sunfish lack in size, they compensate for in numbers and the ease with which they are caught.
Its strike is often so delicate, it may be hooked before you know it. Seldom will one weighing much over a pound be caught. It puts up an admirable tussle on light tackle, but it’s not really a hard fighter. So why is the crappie such a popular gamefish?

There’s no single answer. Anglers laud the crappie for a combination of characteristics that make crappie fishing pure fun.

Crappie are found in hundreds of thousands of lakes and streams throughout the U.S. In-the-know anglers haul them in spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Anything these sunfish lack in size, they compensate for with sheer numbers and the ease with which they are caught.

Fancy equipment? No need. It doesn’t matter if you use an old cane pole or a $200 ultralight rig. Both catch crappie.

Good eating? Absolutely. Crappie have flaky, white meat suitable for a variety of recipes. Nothing is finer than crappie fillets properly prepared and cooked.

Crappie are fish for kids of all ages. Sure, trout are bedazzling jumpers. Catfish are superb dinner fare. And stripers are brutal battlers. For many anglers, however; crappie are the favorites because the certainty of some kind of fishing action is far better than promised battles that never come.

Black vs. White

Anglers seldom bother to distinguish between the two crappie species, black and white. Fishing techniques are the same for both. Neither is a more worthy quarry than the other. But if you catch a crappie big enough for the record books, it must be positively identified as one or the other.

The most reliable method of separating the two is counting the dorsal fin spines. Black crappie normally have seven or eight; whites usually have six.

Color is not as dependable, but white crappie are paler, and dark spots on the sides are usually arranged in regular vertical bars; blacks have irregular spotting.

Black crappie prefer cool, clear lakes and large slow-moving rivers. They’re slightly fussier about their environment than whites, which flourish in warmer, siltier waters. Some fishing waters have a preponderance of one or the other, but sage crappiers couldn’t care less. They’re after crappie, plain and simple.

Crappie have more aliases than a “most-wanted” criminal, over 50 in all. Some anglers call them specks, papermouths, white perch, or calicos. Other monikers include sac-a-lait (Cajun-French for “bag of milk”), bachelor perch, banklick, chinquapin, lamplight, speckled perch, tinmouth, and strawberry bass.

Crappie usually congregate in loose schools near woody cover. Young crappie prey heavily on insects, while baitfish comprise most of the adult’s diet.

Average size depends on local conditions. While 1/2- to 1-pound crappie comprise the usual catch, prime waters can yield ”barn-doors” in the 2- to 3-pound range.

A top-of-the-line crappie rod will cost you all of about $50.

A Fish for All Seasons

By applying information on seasonal preferences, you can locate prime crappie fishing areas year-round.

Summer and winter crappie form large, loose schools and usually hold near cover in 10 to 35 feet of water. In oxbows, look for fish near old river channels or the basin of the lake. Reservoir fish may concentrate in deep timber near channel breaks or humps. River crappie tend to hole up in deep backwaters. Using a sonar fish-finder makes the difficult job of locating these fish much simpler.

In spring, as the water temperature climbs into the upper 50s and low 60s, crappie move to their spawning grounds, usually in shallow, wind-protected coves with good cover. Most anglers find crappie near shoreline cover-button willows, cypress trees, blowdowns, stickups and weedbeds. Larger crappie may be farther out over shallow, main-lake humps or near channel edges adjacent to shallow flats.

During cold fronts, crappie may leave shallows for deeper water. Deep timber along channel edges or underwater humps is a favorite retreat. The more severe the front, the deeper the fish withdraw.

Locating autumn crappie is especially hard. Fish in 8-foot depths one day may move to 20 feet the next. They may hold over brushpiles in the morning and move to deep points by evening. The best advice this season is to keep moving until you find feeding fish.

Rods, Reels and Poles

Virtually any rod and reel combination or pole works for catching crappie. The outfit employed depends mostly on the type waters you fish and the depth crappie are holding.

When crappie are deep or in sparse cover, ultralight spinning or spincast combos spooled with 4- to 10- pound line are appropriate. This combination lets you get down where the fish are and allows pinpoint casts to open cover.

Using the pole approach is usually most efficient in shallow or snag-infested waters. Pole fishing permits you to fish brushpiles, treetops and other dense cover with fewer hangups.

The trusty ol’ cane pole is simple, inexpensive and efficient. But today, many dealers sell higher-quality fiberglass and graphite poles. Most are telescopic for easy transportation and have built-in line-holders allowing line length to be easily adjusted. Select a length and style that’s easy to handle.

The Well-Stocked Tackle Box

There are innumerable styles of tackle boxes on today’s market. The one you select will depend largely on how much crappie fishing tackle you carry on each outing, the type of tackle you use and, if you’re budget-conscious, the price.

The removable boxes are a boon when planning a trip where I’ll fish for bream, catfish, bass or other species in addition to crappie.

If you’re primarily a minnow fisherman, a small box that will accommodate a selection of hooks, bobbers, sinkers, and line may suit your needs perfectly. But if you fish both with jigs and minnows, you’ll probably want something a bit more elaborate.

I tried a variety of tackle boxes–cloth bags, over-and-unders, tilt-trays and more before finding my favorite. Most didn’t have enough tray compartments to organize my jigs. And those that had an ample number of compartments didn’t have space for larger tackle like spools of line and extra reels.

I finally settled on a model that opens at the front to reveal three slide-in, slide-out, worm-proof, plastic tackle boxes, each with dividers that can be custom-fit to create up to 24 compartments. That’s a total of 72 compartments, each just the right size for a couple dozen jigs and jig heads. And by purchasing more of the small slide-in boxes, I can organize additional ones to use when I change fishing tactics or fish for species other than crappie.

For example, in summer I often use small jigging spoons to catch crappie holding around deep structure. That’s the only season I do much spoon fishing, so I’ve organized a small box full of spoons that replaces one of the jig boxes on my summer outings.

The removable boxes are also a boon when planning a trip where I’ll fish for bream, catfish, bass or other species in addition to crappie. Slide out a box of jigs, slide in a box of bass lures. My tackle box also has an extra-deep top compartment for bulkier gear like stringers, line and reels.

Terminal Tackle

In the top compartment of my tackle box, I keep a smaller (4 x 8 inch) compartmented box for organizing the hooks, sinkers and bobbers I use when crappie fishing.

I prefer No. 1, 1/0 and 2/0 gold Aberdeen hooks. I keep several dozen of each size, mostly thin-wire models that do the least damage to fragile minnows and will bend enough to free from snags.

Split shot are the primary type of sinkers I use. I prefer those with small “ears” for easier removal, and generally have 100 or more in sizes 8 to 3 in my box. I also keep a couple dozen trolling or bead-chain sinkers handy. These are useful when trolling or drifting for crappie.

I keep a spool of 4- to 8-pound-test for situations dictating light line.
Bobbers or floats are another important item of crappie fishing equipment. In addition to suspending the bait at the right depth and providing a visual cue that a fish has taken the bait, they also add weight so you can cast tiny lures accurately and the proper distance. I usually keep 15 to 20 in my tacklebox, including tiny, cigar-shaped floats of foam or cork, and several snap-on, plastic bobbers.

It’s also wise to keep extra line handy. I keep a spool of 4- to 8-pound-test for situations dictating light line and a spool of 17-pound line that I use when fishing heavy brush. I use a good premium monofilament and consider fluorescent green or yellow line best. These colors are much more visible, which permits the detection of the lightest of strikes.

Jigs and Other Lures

Jigs are by far the most popular artificial for taking crappie. There are literally thousands of styles and colors available. Jigs come with bodies of rubber, plastic, marabou, hair, rubber bands, floss, tinsel, chenille, and innumerable other materials. There are jigs with curly tails, ripple tails, broad tails and triple tails; jigs with lead heads, floating heads, diving heads and standing heads; jigs with spinners and without spinners; weedless jigs and those that aren’t; and all this in the colors of the rainbow and every combination imaginable.

To be prepared for any situation, carry several jig styles, colors and weights. Most crappie jigs range from around 1/80th to 1/8th ounce, occasionally up to 1/4 ounce. I stock my box with four primary sizes: 1/64, 1/32, 1/16-and 1/8-ounce. Ninety percent of them are 1/32-ounce, because that’s the size I find most productive in most situations. However, there are times and places where smaller or larger jigs prove more productive.

The best jig for you is the one in which you develop the most confidence. Try several varieties, and most likely, one will soon become your favorite. My personal favorites are tube and curlytail jigs, primarily because I can quickly change colors without having to cut off and re-tie the jighead. Speed and simplicity are important when trying to determine a pattern on crappie.

I also keep a variety of small safety-pin spinners in my tacklebox. These can be snapped on a jig to add extra crappie-attracting flashiness and vibration in stained or muddy water. In addition, I carry a small selection of other crappie-catching lures to use in situations where jig fishing isn’t productive. Among my favorites are 1/8- to 1/4-ounce spoons, mini-crankbaits that imitate baitfish, and small in-line and horsehead spinners.

Miscellaneous Equipment

The remainder of the equipment in my crappie box consists of these items: an extra line-holder reel that will fit any of my jigging poles, an extra ultralight spinning reel, two chain stringers, pliers, a small reel repair tool kit and reel oil, sunscreen, nail clippers (for trimming line), a digital fish scale, a fish-scaler tool, a fillet knife, and a ceramic knife sharpener. That’s it. I have everything I need for most outings, and it’s all together in a package ready for transport.

Of course, there’s no limit to the number of interesting items you can find to enhance your crappie fishing. Here are some of additional items you may want to consider:

* Bottom contour maps of your favorite fishing lakes.
* Lighted floats for night fishing.
* Electric fillet knife that runs off your 12-volt boat battery.
* Pocket-size rain suit.
* Fishing towel.
* Emergency rod tip repair kit.
* Small marker buoys.
* A portable GPS unit.
* Sheer pins and other spare parts for your outboard motor.
* A small flashlight, signal flares and waterproof matches for unexpected emergencies.

Setting a Pattern

Regardless of season or location, you must establish a fishing pattern to be successful. What cover are crappie using? At what depth? Are they hitting best early or late? On minnows or jigs? Yellow jigs or blue? Vary your tactics until you figure out what’s best.

In spring, fish visible shoreline cover first, moving until you find crappie beds. Deep-holding summer and winter crappie are harder to locate. Fish deep cover located with sonar or troll with several lines at different depths until you find fish. “Here today, gone tomorrow” autumn crappie require shallow- and deep-water searching.

Crappie seldom strike with the gusto of bass or trout. They may simply inhale the bait with no noticeable hit. When fishing “bobberless,” watch your line closely for a twitch or slackening in the line signaling a taker.

The nickname “papermouth” isn’t a misnomer. Set the hook with just a gentle flick of the wrist or by simply tightening the line to avoid tearing the fragile mouth. Keep the line taut, and slowly lift and swing fish into the boat.

With the right equipment, an in-depth knowledge of the crappie’s predictable habits and a little luck, you can hit the jackpot almost any place and time you fish.

A scrappy fighter. Abundant. Widespread. Easy to catch. Unexcelled table fare. Add up all the crappie’s virtues, and you can only reach one conclusion. Pass the cane pole and minnows, please.

written by Keith Sutton

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Live bait and artificial lures have characteristics that make one more desirable than the other in certain situations. However, sometimes combining live bait with artificials can be the key to unlocking tight-lipped fish.

Jig and Minnow Crappie

Patience and proper jigging technique will get big crappie to bite down greedily.

Every serious crappie fisherman out there has his own thoughts on what works best and why. The majority of traditional ice fishermen you see braving the frozen lakes and ponds stick to live bait with the belief that not much can beat the real thing. However, high-tech materials and phosphorescent paints have been changing the minds of anglers as to what catches the most fish.

Each bait type has its own advantages, making each seem better from one angler to the next. For instance, artificial baits such as jigs and micro twister tails can be fished faster and cover more water than live bait. These synthetics are very durable and can be used to catch more than just a fish or two. Moreover, if you plan on changing holes or your general fishing location, you can simply bring your bait to the surface, paying no mind about your bait freezing and dying.

Newer phosphorescent paints and scent dispersing technology allow artificials to attract the attention of fish, no matter how lackadaisical they seem. Another key reason that anglers choose to use artificials instead of the real thing is that these synthetics do not need to be kept warm to stay alive. Anglers can store synthetics anywhere without having to take any extra precautions to keep their baits in good condition. Artificials also save anglers from getting up extra early in the morning to pick up minnows at the bait shop before heading out fishing.

Natural baits like minnows or wax worms can produce amazing results for anglers who know where to find fish. Over the course of a crappies life, it has greedily eaten hundreds of minnows to stay alive, making your offering very hard to resist. As lifelike as the new artificial baits are, there is nothing that can imitate the action or scent like the real thing. Minnows swim and dance under the water driving fish wild and, in most cases, the biggest crappies are taken with live baits.

Ice Fishing Crappie

Large crappie taken by a jig tipped with a minnow.

As good as these two types of baits are individually, they can be even deadlier when combined. In most cases, artificial baits catch more crappie, while natural baits catch the biggest. Combining these two methods should give you the best of both worlds. This combination is great for fishing heavy cover areas such as sunken trees and weed beds. While the action and flash from plain jigs and spoons attracts fish, these baits get tangled and snagged by the heavy cover. The addition of a minnow helps protect the hook from these potential foul ups. Additionally, this combination has an exceptional way of drawing attention in all types of water conditions.

Combining minnows with fluorescent red, yellow and chartreuse colored jigs is great for dark or murky water conditions; cream, tan and white jigs seem to work best in clearer waters. If you are fishing deep, low-light conditions, glowing jigs tipped with a minnow can be your best bet for taking more fish. It’s also a good idea for anglers to charge their jigs regularly so that they will give off as much light as possible when put down deep in dark colored waters. Start off trying a few different colors and see what works best for the depth and clarity of water that you’re fishing.

Not only is the color of your jig important to finding fish, but so is the live bait you are tipping your jig with. The scent from the minnow helps draw fish into your bait. The flash and brightness of the jig combined with the scent of a minnow — a match made in heaven — will make it easy for crappies to find your bait.

The scent of the minnow isn’t the only benefit of combining live baits with artificials. The action and buoyancy of live minnows is key in getting fish to bite and bite down hard. When a minnow is hooked onto the jig, the buoyancy is changed, allowing it to float more and fall slower through the water column. Live prey does not dart up and down throughout the water column so the more subtle your bait, the more realistic it will look to fish.

When you hook your minnow to your jig, hook it through the head rather than through the back below the pectoral fin. If you hook the minnow through the lower lip and out the top of the head, your minnow will sit in a more natural upright position and crappies will freely engulf the whole bait.

To fish these jig and minnow combinations, start by lowering your jig to the halfway point between the surface and the bottom, and then slowly lower the jig to the bottom. Keep a taut line while lowering your jig minnow combo and see how the fish react. If you have good electronics, you can watch the fish move closer or farther away from your offering. If you don’t, just keep a closer eye on your line.

Ice Fishing Crappie Jigs

Having a wide assortment of micro jigs will help in finding what finicky fish are keying on.
The most aggressive fish are the ones that come up and bite your bait on the initial drop and the first few lift and fall regimens. After you have weeded out a few of these gluttons, you can slowly work on getting the real lunkers out of the pack.

With the minnow and jig combo, anglers should always err to the side of using a more subtle jigging approach rather than exaggerated motions. Sharp vertical jigging will provoke a fear response in the same fish you are trying to lure, so avoid this type of motion, especially around finicky fish. Slowly lifting and dropping your presentation with short pauses in between allows the swimming action of the minnow to take over and will produce the best results. Just be patient; many times it takes a little while to excite fish into biting. But once you get them going, you’ll have a steady bite for hours on end.

Many anglers have had those exceptional days on the ice when, no matter what you lower down the hole or how it’s presented, the fish seem to gobble it up with reckless abandon. Unfortunately, not all days are like that, and many of us have to work a little harder to get consistent bites. Both jigs and minnows have been used with great success across the country for crappie. But instead of trying to figure out when to use each one, try combining these two techniques to put more and bigger crappie on the ice.

written by Jason Akl

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Improve your angling know-how by learning to identify and fish different types of cover.

Cover Fishing Basics

In dense populations, emergent vegetation will hold a variety of species. Thick growth can be difficult to fish beyond the short-cast tactics of pitching and flipping.

Learning to effectively fish cover is a fundamental angling skill. In this article, I’ll overview some common types of cover found in lakes and river systems and share tips on how to fish them for a variety of species.
Cover versus Structure

These two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but they are not the same. When you get down to it, structure refers to the physical characteristics of the water body, such as points, reefs and islands. Cover, on the other hand, is the add-on features, such as docks, fallen trees and vegetation. A good way to remember the distinction is that if you were to drain all the water from a lake, the structures would not move.
Why Cover is Important

Fish relate to cover for shelter and security from the sun and predators. At the same time, cover provides predators with hiding and ambush areas. Elaborate and large areas of cover are like “aquatic neighborhoods” with each stage of the food chain present. From insects, to pumpkinseeds, to largemouth, cover serves as a place where fish come to feed, or hide-out in an effort to avoid being eaten.

Three Types of Aquatic Vegetation

As noted in the above example, aquatic vegetation is prime fishing cover. A good way to talk about weeds is by classifying them into floating, emergent and submerged categories as each has slightly different features for fish.

Floating Vegetation: Many anglers affectionately refer to floating vegetation as “slop”. Slop is often sought-out by largemouth bass enthusiasts. Slop is a combination of thin, strand-like algae and other floating vegetation that is mixed with emergent plants (like lily pads and coontail). In bays with limited water movement, slop sticks to other types of weeds, forming a large, floating mat that attracts largemouth. In deeper bays, slop will also hold pike and muskie.

Fishing slop is extremely fun when the fish are on and you have the right tools. Wander into a slop-filled bay with a spinning rod and eight-pound test and, to loosely quote the movie The Untouchables, “You’ve brought a knife to a gun fight”.

Slop requires heavy-action rods and heavy line (with 17-pound test monofilament or fluorocarbon and 30-pound test braid being recommended minimums). Lure choices include weedless soft-plastics or surface baits. Some of my favorite lures to use to fish slop are lizards or paddletail worms teamed with heavy sinkers to punch through the thick mats. Floating frogs such as Bass Pro Shops’ Tender Toad or Snag Proof Bobby’s Perfect Frog or toads such as Mann’s HardNose Swim Toad and Gamber’s Cane Toad are also great slop baits. When a bass explodes on one of these, its sends both weeds and your heart rate soaring.

Emergent Vegetation: An emergent plant grows in the water with some of its top extending beyond the surface. Reeds or bulrushes are an example of emergent vegetation. In dense populations these plants will hold a variety of species. Thick growth can be difficult to fish beyond the short-cast tactics of pitching and flipping.

Reeds and bulrushes are a prime largemouth spots in certain conditions. My favorite time to fish reeds and bulrushes is when they are being pounded with a warm, summer wind and waves. This pattern has held for me on numerous outings, and tossing Colorado-bladed spinnerbaits or Texas-rigged plastics have taken several largemouth aggressively feeding among the reeds.

Reeds are also a regular haunt for northern pike early in the season. Weedless swimming spoons can excel in average growth areas. These baits let you to quickly cover a lot of water in search for roaming northerns. Examples include Bass Pro Shops’ XPS Lazer Eye Weedless Spoon, Northland’s Jaw Breaker and Johnson’s Original Silver Minnow.

Lastly, reeds will hold panfish, like crappies and bluegills, in early spring. Slip bobbers and small micro jigs will easily take these pint-sized fish.

Submerged Vegetation: Submerged weeds make up a large percentage of fishing cover and will attract a variety of fish species. Weedflats and weedlines are two common examples. Walleye, bass, pike, muskie, trout and panfish are all drawn to weedflats and weedlines.

To work the edges of weeds, you can use lures like crankbaits, spinnerbaits or swimbaits. To fish the thick stuff, you need gear that’s fairly weedless. For walleye, consider a Lindy Veg-E-Jig. Largemouth and smallmouth can be fooled using soft jerkbaits or topwater baits. When it comes to pike and muskie, it’s tough to beat an inline spinner or a bucktail spinnerbait on a fast retrieve over the top of weeds.

If targeting trout in weeds, my best success has come when trolling wet flies over their tops. It’s a simple approach, but it’s fooled many rainbows for me over the years.

The Wonder of Wood

Wood is a relatively broad category when it comes to fishing cover. It can include sunken logs, standing timber, fallen trees (laydowns), beaver dams, docks and more. The point is, when you locate wood — fish it.

Fishing Cover Basics
Wood is less forgiving than weeds when you get snagged and it can be frustrating to fish if you aren’t used to it. Snags will happen if you’re not paying attention. Here are some tips for fishing the various types of wood cover.

Standing Timber: Timber can attract all types of bass and other game fish as well. Often common in reservoirs, working these trees calls for heavy duty gear and precision fishing. Straight retrieve topwater baits can shine during low-light and overcast conditions, some examples include Bass Pro Shops’ Sputter Ace Hardbait, buzzbaits, Heddon’s Wounded Zara Spook or Rapala’s Skitter Pop. Spinnerbaits will also work when the timber isn’t too dense. Flipping jigs or Texas-rigged plastics may be better to fish the thick stuff.

Fallen Trees and Beaver Dams: There are dozens of methods to fish fallen trees (also called laydowns). Most often associated with bass and panfish, I’ve also hooked muskie and pike from laydowns. Topwaters or big jigs with brush guards are two good options to fish these trees. These tactics will also work to fish beaver dams.

Fallen trees can also be phenomenal for brook trout as well as other trout species. Small inline spinners, spoons and flies will take trout around wood. Find a beaver dam on a trout lake and approach it with respect as it may hold a trophy speckled trout.

Docks: Docks are a beacon to many anglers, symbolizing a trophy’s fortress. To give yourself an edge, learn to approach and fish docks quietly. This ensures you won’t spook fish. If you can, work docks first with long casts, then move in and use short pitch and flip casts. Use snag-resistant lures to lessen your chances of snags, which dock owners will appreciate.

Other Types of Cover

Weeds and wood are the two main categories when it comes to fishing cover, but you may stumble on other fish-holding stuff during your adventures. For example, you may not initially think of tires as a good piece of cover, but these sunken circles will sometimes hold big largemouth bass.

When you find a new piece of cover, look at it in the context of the surrounding water features. Being inquisitive will result in you learning to differentiate between good versus bad types of cover and answer questions like: Why does this bay of lily pads hold bass but the other one doesn’t? Or why are all the rainbow trout relating to sunken logs on this side of the lake?

Consider cover in the larger context of the water body you’re fishing, and you’ll improve your angling know-how over the seasons.

Improve Your Sight with Polarized Glasses

What’s the one constant for shallow-water fishing around cover? Wear polarized glasses. They reduce the glare off the surface, letting you see easier through the water. Being able to see cover is critical to being able to fish it properly. Invest in a quality pair of sunglasses if you don’t already own polarized shades. They’ll make you a much better angler when fishing cover.

written by Tim Allard

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Fly fishing is an incredible pastime, but sometimes it can get a little too serious. When you’re worn out from hatch-matching for highly selective fish, panfish are there to remind you why you got into the sport in the first place — because it’s fun.

Panfish on the fly

“Panfish offer excellent opportunities for fly anglers — especially those new to the sport — to make the most of their fly-fishing gear and gain invaluable fish-catching experience.”
Some things go hand in hand — largemouth bass and spinner baits, northern pike and red and white spoons, walleyes and jigs, and panfish and flies. Yes, panfish and flies.

Okay, I’ll concede that more anglers associate panfish with cane poles and floats than five-weights and dry flies. But I believe that’s only because they’ve never had the opportunity to try what has to be the most stress free, productive and fun fishing out there — fly fishing for panfish.

In fact, there are so many reasons to take your trout rig to the bluegill pond, perch grounds, rock bass shores that I’m not sure I’ll be able to do them justice in the space of this article.

An Embarrassment of Riches

Let’s first acknowledge the fishing opportunities that panfish provide. They are arguably the most prolific and widespread gamefish in southern Canada and the continental United States, especially east of the Rockies.

Depending on where you live, the dominant panfish could be yellow perch, bluegill, pumpkinseed, rock bass, black or white crappie, or any of the other sunfishes.

Whatever your local species, they’re probably plentiful. In fact, most jurisdictions have extremely generous limits on panfish, if they have any at all. And most of us live within an easy drive of good panfish water too.

In other words, they offer excellent opportunities for fly anglers — especially those new to the sport — to make the most of their fly-fishing gear and gain invaluable fish-catching experience.

Going to School

In fact, I’ve always thought that immediately after learning the basics, every new fly angler ought to be directed straight to a body of water that holds panfish. And if you’re trying to teach a child about fly fishing, there’s no better classroom.

Panfish on the Fly

“A float tube or canoe will help you get close to spooky fish and are ideal for smaller lakes and ponds.”
Want to learn how to detect a subtle take? Try dead drifting a pheasant tail nymph through a school of Pumpkinseeds.  Want to improve your hook up rate with streamers? Cast along a rock bass inhabited shoreline with a Woolly bugger. And, if you need to refine your dry fly techniques, bluegills are only too happy to help — especially if you’re offering a foam spider.

The point is simple: panfish, because of their numbers and aggressive nature, give an experienced fly fisher plenty of opportunities to experiment — something that few of us want to do on a trout stream — and a new fly angler some much needed insights on casting, presentation, fly selection and a whole lot more. These lessons come in handy when chasing trout, bass or any other less-forgiving fish.

The Gear

Some fly anglers downsize their gear when targeting panfish. Three- and four-weight (or even lighter) fly rods can make each fish more challenging and help when tiny, delicate flies are the order of the day. They’re also a whole lot of fun and can do double duty on the trout stream.

But a decent 5- or 6-weight rod will do just fine for panfish and most other species too. Add a balanced reel and a quality floating line and you pretty well have all the bases covered.

I like a 6-weight rod because it provides a fighting chance when the occasional bass enters into the fray — a common occurrence when panfishing. Heavier lines are also easier to cast on windy days or to spooky fish that are less approachable. Additionally, if you’re prospecting a lake looking to find the schools, sometimes the additional casting ranges of heavier rods can be helpful.

the other fly fishing accessories, including a good vest, can make an excursion more pleasant; but the one that ranks highest, in my opinion, is a pair of quality polarized fishing glasses. The eye protection (from the sun and from hooks) and the sight-fishing advantages they offer are simply indispensable. They’re a must, especially for those new to casting.

Lastly, a float tube or canoe will help you get close to spooky fish and are ideal for smaller lakes and ponds.

The Flies

Fly selection is really a matter of personal preference. I generally carry an assortment of flies that will cover the water column.

Having said that, I almost always start out fishing with streamers. They’re simple, efficient and productive, if the fish are on the hunt.

Panfish on the Fly

Targeting panfish allows new fly anglers time to practice newfound skills such as casting, presentation, fly selection and a whole lot more.
I have found size 10 bead-head Woolly buggers in white, olive, and black to be deadly on perch, crappie, and rock bass — the fish I encounter within my region. I’ll go with white on bright days and, if fish aren’t hitting soon, try olive, and then black. White, by the way, is an excellent and instructive color when streamer fishing because an angler can often see a white fly even when deeply submersed. If this is the case, set the hook as soon as the fly is bumped or disappears — this often signals a strike.

I’ve also had exceptional success with Muddler minnows, Silver outcasts, Black-nosed daces, and a slew of other well-known streamers. I prefer bucktails simply because they are more durable.

It should also be noted that Bluegills, Pumpkinseeds and the like can be taken on top water — a classic warm-water fly fishing scenario. If they’re willing to play, my go-to flies are small cricket and hopper patterns, foam spiders, balsa poppers or floating ants. Standard dries such as an elk-hair caddis or parachute Adam’s are also effective. Your best chance to encounter this type of action is early in the morning. As the sun or wind comes up they’ll go deeper and, as a rule, be less surface oriented.

When this is the case, I scale down to small woolly worms or, more often, go to a size 12 or 14 nymph under a strike indicator. Smaller streamers will work, but I have found that nothing beats a nymph set at the right depth (at the school’s level or slightly higher) if they are in a less aggressive mood.

I was reminded of this once again just two days prior to writing this article when nothing, it seemed, would work except a size 12 bead-head Pheasant tail nymph. But work it did. My catch rate went from two Pumpkinseeds in a half hour to a dozen in less than10 minutes. It was like flipping a switch. I’d have the same faith in a Gold-ribbed hare’s ear as well as a Prince nymph or Zug bug, just to name a few.

When it comes to wet flies, I like the simplicity of the Partridge and Orange or Partridge and Green patterns as well as Light Cahills, Alder flies and Black gnats. As long as they are size 10 or smaller and buggy looking, they’re worth a try and often very effective.

Finally, though panfish are generally easy to catch, there are times when the fuss factor is high. If that’s the case, don’t be afraid to try something new. A good panfish angler has a full bag of tricks.

Slow Things Down

With the right fly and the school located, it’s time to slow things down. Most panfish stalk flies deliberately and will almost always examine a fly before striking. Sudden movement often spooks them.

Panfish on the Fly

“Depending on where you live, the dominant panfish could be yellow perch, bluegill, pumpkinseed, rock bass, black or white crappie, or any of the other sunfishes.”
That’s why slow-hand twist retrieves work well with streamers, wet flies, and nymphs. Poppers, foam spiders, and dry flies, on the other hand, should be activated after being allowed to sit for a while after hitting the surface. It’s in those long pauses, when the ripples have almost died down, that you’ll hear the plop sound of a surfacing sunfish sucking in your lure.

Also, remember that panfish are cautious by nature, and you’ll do better using fine tippets of 4 pounds or less. Also, try not to cast over your target fish — nothing will spook a school like the shadow and splash of a line.

When a fish does take the fly, raise the rod deliberately and tug on the line. This isn’t bass fishing; huge hook sets aren’t required, but being alert and quick to respond is.

And It’s Okay To Keep Some Too…

If you need one more good reason to consider panfish, shore lunch just might be it.

While many fly fishers feel pressured to practice catch-and-release with trout — even when it isn’t regulated — with panfish, a fish fry is almost tradition. They are, as their name implies, tailor-made for the fry pan and their numbers are such that, in most places, they can sustain heavy fishing pressure. No one need feel guilty about having a feed of these tasty fish. If anything, thinning out numbers keeps a lake’s population from getting stunted.

It’s All About Fun

Fly fishing is an incredible pastime — but sometimes it can get a little too serious. So, when you’re worn out from hatch-matching or from trying to figure out what highly selective fish are taking, panfish are there to remind you why you got into the sport in the first place — because it’s fun.

Give it a try. I think you’ll see that panfish and flies really do go together.

written by Steve Galea

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Panfish are great fun to catch and delicious to eat. Learn how to properly prepare your catch for the table using the two most common fish-cleaning methods: filleting and pan-dressing.

Panfish are exactly what their name implies — fish small enough to fit in a pan — a frying pan, that is. Among these are such beloved species as bluegills, crappie, redear sunfish, redbreast sunfish and white bass, and lesser-known yet locally popular fish like yellow bass, rock bass, warmouths, longears, spotted sunfish and green sunfish. None of these fish gets very big — a few pounds tops, usually only a few ounces. But as a group, they’re among the most popular, most commonly caught fishes in the U.S.

Tools for cleaning panfish
Everything you need to prepare your catch for the table.

Panfish are great fun to catch and delicious to eat. Before the eating begins, however, anglers must know how to properly prepare their catch for the table. Two basic ways — filleting and pan-dressing — are commonly used, both of which are illustrated in this article. Tools you need include a sharp knife (fillet knife, electric fillet knife and/or plain blade); a cutting board, fillet board or other hard, flat surface (use plastic or glass to reduce bacteria); a spoon or fish scaler, if you’re pan-dressing the fish; a container in which to place the prepared fish; and some newspaper, a trash bag or a bucket for disposal of waste parts. Also recommended is household bleach for clean-up.

After the fish are cleaned, they can be cooked and eaten, or you can store the fillets or pan-dressed fish in the freezer until you’re ready to prepare them. To avoid freezer burn and preserve freshness, it’s best to immerse the prepared fish in water when you freeze them (either in zip-seal plastic freezer bags or plastic containers) or better yet, to vacuum-seal them using a product such as the Tilia FoodSaver. Be careful that the sharp fins on pan-dressed fish aren’t positioned in such a way that they could puncture the wrapping or container.

How to Fillet a Panfish

Nowadays it seems most people prefer to fillet their catch to produce boneless, skinless pieces of meat ready to cook. Here’s how to do it, quick as a snap, with an electric or fixed-blade fillet knife.

Panfish Fillet

1. Lay the fish on a cutting board, fillet board or other flat, hard surface. Grasping the fish’s mouth, take the fillet knife and position it just behind the side (pectoral) fin. Slice downward to the backbone, keeping the rear of the knife blade up. Be careful not to cut into the fish’s backbone.

Panfish Fillet

2. Turn the knife blade toward the tail and continue cutting, staying on top of the back and belly fins. You’ll feel resistance as you cut through the rib cage, but be careful not to cut into the backbone. It’s better to cut too shallow than too deep. Continue your cut toward the tail, until you have almost, but not quite, cut the scaly fillet off.

Panfish Fillet

3. With the fillet barely attached to the tail, flip it away from the fish. Position your knife on the narrow portion of the fillet, and while holding the fish, slice between the meat and the skin to remove the fillet. To obtain the maximum meat, cut very close to the skin. When the fillet is removed, place it, with rib cage still attached, on a sheet of wax paper. Then flip the fish over and fillet the other side.

Panfish Fillet

4. To finish, take each fillet, and with the tip of your fillet knife, carefully cut out the rib cage. To retrieve the most meat, angle your knife and slice close to the ribs. After you rinse the fillets, they’re ready to cook or store.

How to Pan-Dress a Panfish

Some connoisseurs prefer their fish pan-dressed — with skin, tail and bones intact — to facilitate the most thorough enjoyment of these scrumptious wild treats. They don’t want to miss a single morsel, and pan-dressing eliminates the loss of the small meat pieces sometimes left behind in the filleting process. You’ll have to separate meat and bone as you eat pan-dressed fish, but many panfish gourmets believe this method of preparation produces a more tasty result.

Panfish Fillet
Panfish Fillet

1. Begin by placing the fish on a cutting board, fillet board or other hard, flat surface and scraping away all its scales with a regular table spoon or scaling tool. Scale from the tail toward the head, being certain you remove all the scales on both sides of the fish.

Panfish Fillet

2. Using a sharp, heavy knife, remove the fish’s head. Angle the cut from just behind the top portion of the gill cover to the rear edge of the pectoral and pelvic fins, removing these fins along with the head.

Panfish

3. Remove the entrails, rinse thoroughly with clean water inside and out, and you’re finished. Leave the remaining fins, the tail and skin on. These are delicious and enhance the already wonderful flavor of the fish.

written by Keith Sutton

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Establishing cover is hard work. But as guide Harold Morgan puts it, “It’s like taking out a crappie insurance policy.”

Tennessee panfish guide Harold Morgan sinks hundreds of crappie attractors annually.
Legendary Nashville crappie guide Harold Morgan knows the haunts and habits of this gamefish better than any angler I’ve fished with. In my many trips with Morgan, I’ve been constantly amazed at his ability to catch crappie when other anglers on the lake are shooting blanks.

Morgan has refined his live bait and lure techniques over decades of crappie fishing, yet insists that without painstaking preparation well before the crappie season begins, even the most sophisticated rigs and presentations cannot produce to their full potential. For Harold, this preparation means sinking crappie cover in his home lakes, Priest and Old Hickory reservoirs.

“Most fishermen think dropping a Christmas tree or two in the lake is all it takes to ensure good crappie fishing, but there’s much more to it than that,” Morgan insists. Here, for the first time, the guide reveals his secrets for sinking cover — secrets you can use to greatly enhance crappie waters near you!

But first, a word of caution: Sinking brush, trees or other types of cover is not legal everywhere. Check state and local regulations first.

Why Sink Cover?

Morgan says if you’re serious about catching crappie year-round, it’s important to sink cover. He lists several reasons why:

Aging reservoirs –   “As our reservoirs get older, their submerged wood cover disappears,” Morgan said.   “Trees and brush rot away, get broken up by wave action and scattered by anglers who hang lures and anchors in it, or wash away in current. No new reservoirs have been constructed in years, so the cover in our aging reservoirs needs replacing.”

Wood cover disappears from reservoirs over time — a good reason to sink your own.
Baitfish magnet –   “Wood cover draws baitfish. They feed on the algae which coats the wood, and find shelter from predators in the shadows of the cover. More baitfish means more crappie.”

Current break  –   “In rivers and river-run reservoirs, wood cover provides a current break which can draw in scores of crappie.”

Spawning aid –   “Crappie spawn around submerged wood. I’ve seen females press against the forks of branches to help them lay their eggs.”

Secret spots –   “By sinking cover and carefully noting its location, you can have your own secret honey holes and catch fish even when other anglers are hauling water.”
Which Wood Works

In their attempts at luring crappie, some anglers plant stake beds; others sink brushpiles; still others drop Christmas trees. Morgan uses dead trees or large branches for crappie cover. But, according to Morgan, not any trees will do.

“I prefer sections of hardwood trees, plus willow and fruit trees,” he says. “These all last a long time in the water — I’m still fishing some trees today that I sank over 12 years ago.”

Christmas trees and cedar trees? No way, Morgan insists. “The single biggest mistake I see crappie anglers who are sinking cover make is relying too much on pines and cedars. I believe these trees put out an aroma that can repel fish. Their bushy branches get mired down with silt so the tree gets pressed down flat; this explains why you often can’t locate the Christmas tree you sank last winter once spring rolls around. And their branches are so full, fish cannot move freely within the tree, and you stay hung up constantly when fishing them.”

Never put out any tree or large branch with its leaves still attached, the guide warns. “The leaves stay there for a surprisingly long time, and grab silt like a catcher’s mitt.”

Morgan’s Method

Morgan searches for wood on the banks of Priest and Old Hickory when these reservoirs are at their lowest level, usually from December through late February. “Two winters ago we had a massive ice storm, and we’re still picking up dead branches and entire trees that were downed. There’s usually plenty of dead wood on the ground, so never cut down live trees,” Morgan says.

Wood cover  will attract crappie over a wide area.
Although it is often necessary to trim a large branch to make it more manageable when dragging it to the water’s edge, Morgan always leaves at least a couple of primary limbs attached. “These elevate the trunk off the bottom, so crappie and baitfish have plenty of room to roam about freely underneath. A tree whose trunk is elevated will produce far more fish than one laying flat on the bottom.”

Morgan uses a bow saw to cut downed wood into a manageable size; they prefer trees and branches from 18 to 22 feet in length. “This is small enough to be easily handled by one or two persons, yet long enough so that when you sink it, you can position your boat parallel to the tree and everyone in the boat can fish the cover,” Harold points out. “If you sank a 10-foot. tree, the angler in the back of the boat may not be able to reach it.”

Once a likely tree or branch is located, Morgan drags it to the water’s edge. Next, they cut two 6 ft. sections of stout nylon rope and attach one near the middle and the other at the thickest end. “These lines are used to connect your weight to the tree,” Morgan explains. “Nylon rope lasts a long time and holds a knot well. The tag end of each rope section is tied into a loop or ‘pigtail’; this makes it easier to attach the weight quickly.”

A longer piece of rope is next tied near the end of the trunk; this is attached to a boat cleat.  After double-checking all connections, Morgan slowly backs his boat away from shore and drags the tree into the water. Then Smyth pulls the tree closer to the boat and uses the short pigtail ropes to snug the branches close to the side. A plastic tarp or old blanket is used to prevent the limbs from scratching the fiberglass.

With the tree secured alongside the boat, Morgan idles to the spot where he wants to drop the tree; this location has been previously marked with a marker buoy. He attaches a heavy concrete block to one of the pigtail ropes, drops that end of the tree into the water, and repeats this process with the other end.

Where to Sink Trees

Morgan says knowing the best places to sink cover can ensure great crappie fishing 12 months out of the year. “The first factor you must take into account is the difference between low and full pool at your local reservoir. Priest Lake, for example, is 5 to 7 ft. higher at full pool than during its lowest drawdown point in winter. If I want my tree to be in 15 ft. of water in spring once the lake level rises, then I’ll have to sink it in 8 to 10 ft. of water in the winter.”
towing cover to spot

Harold Morgan idles his boat to an underwater hump where he’ll drop tree branches for crappie cover.
Shallow trees are easy targets for other anglers, Morgan has found. “If I want to fish a tree in 8 ft. of water in spring, this means I have to sink it in only 1 to 3 ft. of water in winter; some of the branches will stick above the surface before the lake fills up, making it easy for my competition to spot.” Although most anglers may prefer to fish shallower cover, Morgan has found trees in the 15 to 17 ft. range will produce crappie nearly year-’round, while remaining hidden from other anglers.

The guide carefully plans where and how deep he sinks his trees. “I vary my ‘drop spots’ so I have good year-’round coverage,” he says. “I presently have over 300 trees out in Priest Lake alone; some produce in spring, others in fall, still others in summer and winter.” Here are some places Morgan recommends as prime spots for sinking cover:

* Deep points — “These are terrific summer spots; suspending crappie will move onto points when feeding. Avoid sinking the tree on the very tip of the point, for this is a frequent casting target of bass fishermen, who will hang their worms and crankbaits in the branches and quickly break up the cover. Instead, sink it on the deepest side from 15 to 20 ft. deep.”
* Creek channel drop-offs — “Crappie use narrow creek channels like highways when moving around the reservoir. Sink some trees on the high side of the drop-off 10-15 ft. deep, and others with the trunk in the channel itself and the branches angling up to the top of the ledge. Use two cement blocks on the deep end of the cover or it may wash away during floods. Always sink a few trees all the way down into the channel; these will produce in the dead of winter.”
* Flats –  “Flats with sand and pebbles on the bottom are good spawning sites, and a well-placed tree in this area will draw a ton of fat spawners. Drop a few trees from 10 to 20 ft. deep near the very edge of the flat, close to a channel drop-off.”
* Humps  –  “These will pull crappie in during the summer and fall. Bass fishermen usually hammer the top of the hump with their lures, so keep your trees on the deeper sides and ends. This is a good place to angle a tree from deep to shallow water for maximum depth coverage.”
* Boat docks  –  “A single tree sunk in 15 to 20 ft. of water near your boat dock can produce plenty of crappie spring through fall.”

Preparation Pays

Sinking cover is hard work. But as Harold Morgan puts it, “It’s like taking out a crappie insurance policy. A few trees in the right places will help guarantee success for years to come.”

written by Don Wirth

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Crappie After Dark

When summer temperatures peak, crappie often feed more actively at night, and anglers who plan their after-hour junkets properly may catch dozens of good-eating slabs.
For many anglers, summer crappie fishing conjures up memories of the whip-poor-will’s call and starlit nights. You can catch hot-weather crappie during daylight hours, especially during cloudy periods or when water is muddy. But the odds for success improve if you fish the hours between dusk and dawn. During summer, many crappie work the late shift, and crappie anglers should, too.

These tips can help you score on nighttime slabs.

Plan For Action

Thorough pre-trip planning can spell the difference between a good night-fishing trip and a bad one.

First, plan where you’ll fish. The best night-fishing lakes are generally deep, fairly clear and exceed 500 acres. They’re fertile, support abundant baitfish and have a good mix of structure and cover with areas of open water adjacent structural elements.

In small, shallow waters, summer crappie fishing is generally poor. Crappie have no cool, oxygen-rich depths to which they can retreat. If water conditions are really bad, they become semi-dormant. They may scatter to conserve oxygen. Fishing suffers.

Picking a good lake using these guidelines isn’t foolproof. But by coupling this information with a few questions to the right individuals (state fisheries personnel, crappie anglers, tackle shop owners, etc.), you can narrow the field to a few choice waters.

You also should plan for the unique conditions encountered when night-fishing. Make sure running lights on your boat are working properly. Carry a flashlight or spotlight to signal your presence to other boats. Wear a lifejacket and kill switch.

Organize gear before leaving home. Clean out unnecessary equipment. Have poles rigged and ready to go. Organize your tacklebox. Recharge batteries for sealed-beam lights. Carry extra lantern fuel and mantles, anchors with an adequate length of rope to hold your boat stationary, marker buoys to pinpoint fishing holes and insect repellent.

Plot The Right Spot

Know exactly where you’ll fish when darkness falls. Prospect during daylight hours, and be sure you can find each fishing spot after nightfall if you leave and return. Select alternate sites in case of a change in plans.

If possible, study a bottom-contour map of the lake. Most summer crappie congregate in deep, open water near breaklines (areas where there’s a sudden change in depth on the lake bottom), so look for elevation markings indicating deep-water ledges, creek and river channels, points, ridges and humps.

The map directs you to a likely position, then a sonar unit pinpoints breaklines. The drop-offs are then checked with a fishfinder to locate crappie-attracting cover (stumps, treetops, brushpiles, etc.) and the crappie themselves.

After spotting crappie on sonar, use buoys to mark the site. This enables you to fish in the most productive water without straying off.

Structure Your Success

Crappie in most prime summer lakes will be near deep underwater structure. Some structures, however, are better than others.

Inundated stream channels are among the best. Start at the mouth of a major tributary, then troll back and forth across the area, using sonar to follow the edge of the channel drop while looking for humps, points, bends, lines of timber and other structure that concentrates fish. Outside bends and junctions of two channels are blue-ribbon hotspots.

Summer crappie also orient to pilings and submerged riprap beneath bridges crossing deep water. With sonar, you can ease along the piers and spot fish concentrations while also pinpointing the depth of the fish. Without sonar, it’s still a simple matter to pinpoint fish around bridge structures by fishing various depths and structures.

Bluffs and steep points also rate high for night-fishing. When moving from deep water to shallower reaches at night, crappie prefer sticking close to structures leading from one area to the other. It’s like a blindfolded person grasping a string that serves as a guideline. Without the string, there’s no reference point when moving around. Bluffs and points are crappie’s after-dark guide lines and almost always prime night-fishing spots.

Although usually in shallow waters, lighted docks and marinas are also first-rate night-fishing spots. Overhead lights attract flying insects and baitfish, and many dock owners place crappie-attracting brushpiles nearby.

Follow The Fish

When fishing during early and late summer, track crappie’s movements. Immediately after spawning, crappie usually are on structure leading from shallow bedding sites to deep-water summer haunts, structures like secondary stream channels and long sloping points. As summer wanes and day-length shortens, they make short forays between deep and shallow water, again using travel lanes like points, but also using shorter routes on humps, bluffs and other steep structure. In mid-summer, they’ll be near the thermocline adjacent deep structure.

Follow the fish. Know where they’re likely to be when you start your search.

Use The Right Night Light

Some night-fishing anglers use only fuel-powered lanterns like those made by Coleman. Others use only floating or submersible fishing lights. Smart anglers use both and use them correctly.

Hanging lanterns attract insects which attract baitfish which attract crappie. This isn’t an instantaneous process, of course, so give it time to work.

Use at least two lanterns positioned on the same side of the boat so insects don’t fog around your head. Hang them close to the water’s surface from a boat-mounted lantern holder or tied to overhead objects. This provides light for tying knots, hooking bait and unhooking fish.

Sealed-beam crappie lights have a styrofoam flotation ring. They’re an added attraction for fish but not bugs because the headlight-like beam points down in the water. The light helps concentrate baitfish and crappie. Power is from a pair of alligator clips to the battery or a cigarette-lighter plug. Position each light so you can fish in or around the beam.

Submersible lights are made to sink beneath the water’s surface and light up the depths below. These, too, are good additions to your night-fishing setup.

Black (ultraviolet) lights are another useful night-fishing aid. They make fluorescent monofilament glow, allowing easy bite detection. Several models that run off 12-volt systems are available.

When you start fishing, it’s hard to tell where crappie are in relation to your lights. Having several rigs in the water (where law permits) helps pinpoint them.

Place one rig near a light and others spaced along the length of the boat. Often the best area is near the light. At other times, crappie bite better on the fringes. This may indicate there’s structure near the place they’re biting and none where there’s no action. Moving the lights or boat to get positioned more directly over the fish may help.

Get Down But Not Out

Until you determine the crappies’ preference, set baits at different depths using water clarity as a guide. If the lake is clear, crappie may be at 20 to 30 feet; in stained water 10 to 20 feet, and in muddy water 5 to 10 feet. Remember, however, your lights will draw the fish closer to the surface. The key is to get your bait down to the level where fish are feeding but not beneath or above the strike zone. If you start with rigs at different depths, figuring the pattern is easier.

Look At Your Hook

The biggest mistake most crappie anglers make is using a hook that’s too big or one with a strong, stiff shank. When these hang on branches or other cover, you disturb fish in the cover and may break your line trying to get unsnagged.

Light-wire hooks not only keep minnows alive and active, they also hook crappie firmly and can be straightened when they hang. Carry plenty of fine-wire Aberdeens in different sizes for a range of bait and crappie sizes.

Mark For The Dark

The biggest problem when night-fishing is seeing your equipment, but a can of fluorescent paint can be used to mark equipment for easy visibility. You’ll be surprised how much easier it is to see a bright yellow bobber than a white one. A splotch of glowing paint in a tackle box compartment eliminates the painful experience of sorting hooks by Braille. A stripe of fluorescent color on black needle-nose pliers thwarts their usual invisibility. Painting a black rod tip helps in detecting light biters.

The benefits are compounded when you use black lights. Look for special paints at craft stores that glow under ultraviolet.

Serve A Buffet

Jigs and minnows are the best crappie baits, day and night. But at times it pays to vary the menu for discriminating nighttime diners.

If crappie are feeding on shad attracted to your lights, shad may outproduce minnows. Where legal, catch them with a dip net or cast net, then clip the tail or fins to give them an erratic, “crippled” action. Crappie can’t resist.

Swarms of mayflies may be attracted to your lights. And at times, crappie gorge on the mayflies while refusing baitfish. Be watchful for such phenomena and act accordingly.

Among artificials, small jigging spoons and spinners compete with jigs. When allowed to fall on a slack line through schooling baitfish beneath your lights, they’ll quickly garner a bite from opportunistic crappie.

In summer, crappie bite at night everywhere they’re found. The key to catching them is knowledge of their summer habits and versatility. If one location or tactic doesn’t work, try another. If that doesn’t work, try again. Sooner or later you’ll discover the true joys night-fishing offers.

written by Keith Sutton

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