any crappie reports

[crappiecatchingbrad]

Was wondering if anybody had any news on crappie?

[slab slinger]

I haven't fished since turkey season started. Im about to start having withdraws from not feeling a slab thump a jig. I can tell you right nows tough for crappie. Everyone has been saying it's slow but i know exactly why. The fish ARE NOT on the banks right now. They are in pre spawn transition areas waiting for water temps to warm. This means they are in spawning coves suspended over deep water. Most years they will be im the middle of the cove or on a deep secondary point waiting it out. These fish are tricky to catch without the proper technique. Most long line troll cranks or tandem crappie jigs. This works great at times (post spawn)but not now waters to cold. Trolling creates a reaction bite from agressive fish and high 50s to 60 deg water temp not going to find many reaction bites. 65 deg and holding there or a little higher i start to troll. The best technique right now when fish are suspended over open water is spider rigging. Yes i said it. I know alot of you prob hate it or dog it but it shines on suspended crappie in open water. Its a super controlled presentation of baits thats deadly on pre and post spawn crappie. Those are the only 2 times i rig for them. Rest of the year im casting or vertical jiggin.

[crappiecatchingbrad]

What is spider rigging?

[slab slinger]

It's a multiple pole, super controlled, vertical presentation for suspended crappie. Just google or youtube it.

[Rick Baker]

Caught quite a few tonight around 6:30. Up lake from cc. It was windy but calmed down as it got closer to dark. Turkeys gobbling everywhere. I managed 15 short crappie, 3 small keepers(released them), and one very nice largemouth that gave me a nice ride. Minnows 4ft under a slip bobber. Ten feet off the bank in 12 fow

[Fishn' Addict]

Put on at cc this morning. Caught tons of small males in 6-10 fow, fished deeper hoping to find the bif females with no luck. Ended up with 7 keepers all caught right on the bank along with a bonus walleye and white bass.

[LoweSTX175]

Fished four miles north of CC launch off a flat from 3:30 to 7:30 PM. Two of us caught 12 keeper crappie to include three at 13" and another at 14.5". Also landed two white bass of decent size. All but one crappie were females. All of the fish were in 25 fow suspended at 10-15 foot off the flat. Trolled with flickershad the entire time. Temp was 65.5. Several other dinks to include two 14.5" walleye. Overall a decent afternoon.

[LoweSTX175]

I haven't fished since turkey season started. Im about to start having withdraws from not feeling a slab thump a jig. I can tell you right nows tough for crappie. Everyone has been saying it's slow but i know exactly why. The fish ARE NOT on the banks right now. They are in pre spawn transition areas waiting for water temps to warm. This means they are in spawning coves suspended over deep water. Most years they will be im the middle of the cove or on a deep secondary point waiting it out. These fish are tricky to catch without the proper technique. Most long line troll cranks or tandem crappie jigs. This works great at times (post spawn)but not now waters to cold. Trolling creates a reaction bite from agressive fish and high 50s to 60 deg water temp not going to find many reaction bites. 65 deg and holding there or a little higher i start to troll. The best technique right now when fish are suspended over open water is spider rigging. Yes i said it. I know alot of you prob hate it or dog it but it shines on suspended crappie in open water. Its a super controlled presentation of baits thats deadly on pre and post spawn crappie. Those are the only 2 times i rig for them. Rest of the year im casting or vertical jiggin.

You are correct Slab on the pre spawn. All of them today I caught were in pre spawn. I did see several on the finder on the bottom at 7 fow... never could get them to strike so I ended up back out on the suspended fish. I would look at moving to the north part of the lake in a few weeks to go after them up around Hawker area. The water will be getting into the 65 degrees up there about that time. Last year I was hitting crappie suspended in pre-spawn all the way up to mid-May around Hawker.

[Ralda]

What color Flicker Shad are you using? If you are willing to Share?

[LoweSTX175]

What color Flicker Shad are you using? If you are willing to Share?

We started out with three poles using three different colors to include red, purple, and the "slick mouse". "Uncle Rico" which has a hint of chartreuse and pink was getting hit as well as the "slick chartreuse with pearl" from the flicker shad pro series. All in the 7 cm. Trolled them between 1.96 to 2.1 mph. I became a trolling guy a couple of years back. I'll tie on the quick snaps and change out one just about every time I have to reel in until I find what I think is the hot color. I loaded up on flicker shad over the past couple of years. I bought three or four every time I ran into them until I had two to three of each one.