Greg B.

I feel ya. I’ve located a TON of small fish. The larger fish seem to bite in the first and last hour of the day so I know they are there. It’s just hard to find a good pattern this time of year. If I do I’ve lucked into it usually.

I live very close to the white river so that’s why I do most of my fishing there. I do prefer jigs most of the year but I’m sure they can be caught on cranks many times as well. For one, it’s much cheaper when you drag across a tree :). I find that they will inhale a jig in the hottest part of the summer down to the gills. When that starts happening I know they are aggressive and I’ll then switch to cranks to coax a few of the bigger fish. In September when the water starts cooling I go back to jigs and stay with them all year until next summer. Probably mostly personal preference.

One long cast plus a few pulls of 6 lb test gets my jigs where I need them. 1/16 run 5 feet or so at my speed. 1/8 down to 8-10 depending on speed. I try to stay at or above the level of the fish on my sonar. I also pull cranks and should have made the switch by now. It’s hard to switch because I troll jigs all year and have confidence in them. I do find that bandits and picos catch bigger crappie on beaver once the weather gets hot. hope that helps!

Sorry for my absence lately. This summer has really kicked my rear end and I've not had a lot of time to get online. Just wanted to post a bit about my crappie experiences on Beaver for the last few months. I long line troll jigs mostly up the white river arm. Last summer I found some large schools and stayed with them a while, but this summer has been different. I've located some large schools but getting them to bite has been difficult. Most of my trips have been between the 412 bridge and War Eagle Marina. I'm currently finding crappie suspended at different depths in 13-20 FOW. Most fish are between 7-10 feet deep of late. I'm reaching them with 1/16, 3/32, or 1/8 jigs trolled at about 1mph. I find that they like the jigs a bit faster in the summer so I'll often vary speeds up to about 1.4 to see what kind of mood they are in. My son and I have had a few good trips and several slower than average trips, but I think we are about to settle into a decent pattern and hope to move things in the right direction. Good luck out there!

Nice report. Glad you caught a few and one really nice one!

Yes. On that trip I was pulling 1/16 oz jigs. Mostly the Bobby garland ahead with the little flipper on the tail.

Thanks, Lance. I was hoping to hear from you on this as I know you fish all winter long. I guess its my lack of experience in the winter, but I certainly did not expect to find them where they were (no cover, shallow flats). I always just assumed most of the crappie went to deep cover with a cold front. I suppose the bait may have moved to the slightly warmer water and the crappie followed. If I had more time, I would have stopped trolling altogether and thrown jigs up in the shallows, maybe even under a cork. The fish I did catch there were certainly hungry and fat. They were feeding very aggressively for sure. I couldn't see them on my down scan for sure, but did finally see a few on side scan up in the shallows (not a very good picture and I likely would have missed them if I didn't already know they were there). I'm happy to have stumbled upon this. I enjoy the learning process and seem to pick up something new every time I go. I will certainly be trying them shallow next time out.

Thought this was a strange occurrence, at least for me. Thought I'd share it. I was patrolling my usual spots long lining 16th ounce jigs in about 10-15 feet of water yesterday. Although I've been catching crappie regularly at this location, suddenly they were gone yesterday. Water temps had dropped nearly 5 degrees from last weekend and I'm sure that had a lot to do with hit. Me still being fairly new to this winter crappie thing, I figured maybe the fish moved deeper, so I moved deeper. Now I could see fish on brush occasionally, but still no large schools as I've been seeing. Fished nearly 2 hours with only a few fish. I ran into another local I talk to regularly and he told me his fishing was slow, but he said he had caught his only two keepers while setting his lines up in shallow water. I was running out of free fishing time, but thought I'd make a pass into some shallow flats for the heck of it. Mud flats with zero cover. I reeled lines up and went trolling though 4-6 feet of water. Suddenly, BAM, started catching a few good fish. These fish were still really spread out and there weren't a ton of them, but they were larger and were absolutely slamming the baits. I made two short passes and picked up some nice fish before having to load up and head home. I am still a beginner when it comes to winter crappie fishing and learning things every time I go. I would never have trolled through 4-6 FOW if my friend hadn't said what he said. Never dreamed the fish would be there, but they were. I didn't notice the water temp being much warmer, if at all, but it must have been just enough to get the bait and fish moving shallow. Just thought I'd share this as it wasn't at all what I was expecting yesterday.

Nice work again. The fish I Caught Saturday sure were aggressive. I had several that just inhaled my jigs. Must’ve been hungry and getting ready for that long cold winter.

Ok, switched spots and went back to long lining. Fished from 8:00 -10:30 this morning. Caught over 30 crappie but most were small. Kept 7 with two thumpers. Caught all fish on something with bright yellow or chartreuse. Literally zero on natural colors. Strange but I suspect it was water color, overcast skies that did it. Fish were on channel drops but were high in the water column.

Yeah good job, Lance! I’m hoping for an outing in the next few days but work and the weather forecast for the weekend aren’t playing fair.

Yeah on that. I’ve not seen a Lance report without a white bucket in a while. Well, I guess that makes me feel better. At least I’m not the only one struggling.

I’ve fished here most of my life. Moved to the lake area a few years ago and have more immediate access now. Crappie in spring and summer I can usually do. After that I’ve got a lot to learn

Everyone deer hunting or what? It’s been awhile since I’ve seen anybody posting their fishing stories. I’ve been out a few times trying to relocate the crappie but don’t have them figured out yet. I tried dock shooting for the first time on Sunday. Not easy in the wind. I fired those jigs pretty much everywhere but where I wanted them. Finally gave up and went back to just trying to cast jigs near the docks. Not much luck but I think it was more me just trying to learn something new. Located some new structure near War Eagle but the wind was aweful. Decided to go upwind and try to float some minnows on corks over the brush. Got a few bites but just couldn’t stay out there with the waves. Hard to watch a cork on two foot waves. Gave up and came home. Still trying new things. I’ll eventually get a pattern dialed in. I’m thinking of hiring a guide or two this winter in an effort to learn new tricks. I figure a few hundred on a guide may save me several weekends of trying stuff that’s not working. In any event I sure am having fun trying.

Not much luck today. It’s been awhile since I’ve been out so I thought I’d post anyway. Fished from noon to three to hit the warmest part of the day. Long lined jigs and jig heads tipped with very small crappie minnows. I found lots of fish bunches up on the sonar and some really massive schools of shad but couldn’t get many bites. Caught three decent crappie but that was it. Water temp was still between 61 and 64 in most places. Most fish were in deeper water but suspended. 15-20 fow, fish were 7-10 feet down. wish I had a better report but I suspect the cold front has things a little bit off today. Maybe once things settle down a bit again I’ll get back in em.