This leads to stunted growth. In many lakes there are limited resources for a large portion of the population. Limited resources stunt growth. These fish likely have better genetics while also producing the largest percentage of eggs to support the population. The more big fish you let go, the bigger the fish you have to catch again.
So therefore, the number one way to catch bigger crappie during any season is to release the bigger crappie. So let the big fish go. Services About Contact Me. To display trending posts, please ensure the Jetpack plugin is installed and that the Stats module of Jetpack is active. Refer to the theme documentation for help. Share Tweet. Destinations Species Uncategorized Walleye Walleye. September 27, 0.
See all results. Note prevailing winds. Northside coves and bays are generally more protected, but check the south side, too. Reach crappies at the edge of emergent vegetation with spinning tackle and small jigs. Longer rods with light tip actions cast tiny jigs well, yet provide power to lead big crappies away from thick cover. Cast jigs into reeds and swim them back slowly, keeping your rod tip high to keep the lure moving along off bottom.
Marabou and hair jigs remain staples in white, pink and chartreuse, as are jigheads paired with softbaits like curlytail plastics and tubes in the same colors. Mini swimbaits are emerging as other top options. If crappies are shying from a fast swimming bait, try fishing the jig under a small float, either a slipbobber or fixed float, to keep the jig in the strike zone longer. Retrieve the float a foot to swim the jig then pause, letting the jig slowly settle.
Another float pairing is a minnow presented on an Aberdeen hook with a small splitshot pinched about 8 inches to a foot above the bait. Crappies spawning in interior sections of thick weed patches are often plentiful but hard to reach and overlooked.
To reach these crappies, use long rods, telescoping and multi-piece versions, to dabble jigs and livebaits into weed pockets. Position the bait beside individual reeds and on or near crappie nests. Methodically work over multiple spots, as bedding fish may not move far to strike a lure. Reservoirs are often too murky to see fish on beds, so search areas that should attract spawning crappies — water in the 2- to 5-foot zone with cover, along with protection from wind.
Keep moving until you locate fish. If you aren't catching crappies where you are, the brushpile or submerged tree 50 yards down the bank could be loaded with fish. Shoreline and submerged brush make ideal spawning cover, and stumps and snags also attract spawners. Traditional slipfloat methods using split shot to drop livebaits into brush and to vertically probe adjacent to snags and stumps with jigs are time-tested methods in impoundments.
Use a trolling motor to fish from stump to stump in upper reaches of timber-filled creek arms and bays. Swimming presentations also can be top options. A tough 6- to 8-pound line allows the hook to straighten when snagged. The flash from a small inline spinner or safety-pin style spinnerbait such as a Beetlespin can be irresistible to aggressive males. Fish them along weed- and woodcover and over brush.
Like other swimming lures, spinners make for excellent search lures over vast shallow flats, stumpfields, and for locating bedding fish along shorelines. Concentrations of spawning crappies combined with their aggressive nature this season often bring limit catches. Where crappies overpopulate, keeping what you catch is often best for the fishery.
Yet quality crappie populations can be vulnerable to overharvest, particularly in infertile waters and those with marginal habitats, or where a single strong year-class makes up the bulk of the fishery.
It's not unheard of for a crappie population's annual sustainable harvest to be surpassed even before spring ends. What's more, many of the daily bag limits for crappies today aren't low enough to decrease harvest enough in situations where it needs to be substantially reduced.
One more crappie in hand, and you're literally left "holding the bag" about which and how many fish to keep. Release the largest crappies, keeping enough smaller ones for a meal or two. It's all about selective harvest. It's all about the future of crappietime. To tell if a crappie is actively spawning, hold it on it's back and run your thumb and index finger from just behind the gills to the vent.
Use moderate pressure and repeat 3 to 4 times. Spawning males readily release milt, a milky white fluid. Females emit eggs only if close to ovulation or actively spawning. Prespawn fish look plump, but won't release eggs or sperm. Post-spawn fish look thin and ragged and may have swollen vents. Post-spawn females might secrete only an orange fluid.
Fecundity is a measure of egg production per individual. These are frequently four- to eight-feet deep and can run right up to the shoreline. The best spawning flats are often expansive, extending hundreds of feet away from shore, and are sprinkled with fish-attracting structure such as reed beds, weed pockets, stumps or artificial structures such as cribs or stake beds.
Now, draw or visualize a straight line connecting the basin to the flats—pre-spawn crappies will be found somewhere along that line. The colder the water, the closer the crappies will be to the basin.
String together a few warm, sunny days and the crappies will be up on the flats. When rain or cold fronts push pre-spawn fish off the flats, they will likely be located along primary depth transitions just outside the flats.
Or, if things get really bad, crappies might drift back farther toward the basin. However, once the weather stabilizes and the sun returns, look for crappies to rapidly reestablish their pre-storm positions and get back to feeding.
A classic tactic for targeting coldwater crappies is to dangle a lively minnow above their heads, often suspended from a bobber. Allow me to suggest something different this spring—instead of live bait, fish with subtle soft plastics.
Present these jigs using long, sensitive, panfish-specific rods, like the 7-foot, light-power, extra-fast-action St. Croix Panfish series rod , rigged with a series spinning reel and spooled with pound-test Seaguar Smackdown in the Stealth Gray color pattern. I strongly prefer a mobile approach all spring, including during the pre-spawn window.
This allows me to rapidly identify prime crappie-holding locations—which might change on a daily basis—while picking off the largest, most aggressive fish in the school. So, rather than anchoring up or drifting, I make use of the i-Pilot Link system in my Minn Kota Ulterra bow-mount trolling motor to pull me through typical pre-spawn holding areas while pulling my soft-plastic-tipped jigs behind the boat.
The optimum speed for this jig-trolling presentation is often 0. With the boat moving within this speed range, make a long cast behind the boat, peel out a little extra line and then engage the reel. While pulling your baits along, pay close attention to your sonar unit to lookg for signs of life. It can be helpful to experiment with different types of lures or presentation methods that might work better during this time period though.
Catching crappies at different times of the spawning cycle can be very rewarding, but it is often difficult to do well. It can take a lot of patience, preparation, and even luck to land that big catch during each part of the spawning cycle. They might have advice on what lures or presentation techniques would work best during certain parts of the spawning cycle and can be a great help when trying to find areas where they are most likely hiding.
We hope that your learned a lot about how to fish crappie and we wish you happy fishing. The Pre-Spawn Stage Source: howtocatchanyfish.
The Warming Stage Soure: kayakanglermag. The Post-Spawning Stage Source: fishingrefined.
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