Crappie Feedback

[ric lee]

I'm trying to get familiar with fishing Stockton Lake for crappie.  Like to fish Pomme de Terre out of Bolivar Landing and Table Rock near Bridgeport/Flat Creek.  I'm having trouble finding success at Stockton Lake.  Put in at State Park on Saturday.  Fished Maze Creek heavily with not one bite.  Fished along the bank as well as timber.  Used various jigs and color combos.  Any input would be great. I know Stockton is a great crappie lake.  Is Maze Creek not a good area for crappie?  Looked like great water.

[bassfisher]

Fish highpoint area this time of year

[Kramr]

Try Turkey Creek too!

[slab slinger]

In a couple of weeks about any gravel banked cove will produce spawning crappie. If your having trouble finding them on the bank just back out a little till you find them. They will be in the area. 

[slab slinger]

These are the Stockton patterns i have followed for years. They are not the only way to find or catch crappie but they seem to work year after year for me. 

WINTER CRAPPIE: These fish are hard for me to pin down. I haven't spent a whole lot of time putting a detailed pattern together on winter crappie but the ones I know that are sucessfull focus on shad balls with active feeding fish marked under the bait. Bait will usually be in deep water 40 to 60 feet of water. Find the shad and the fish will be there. Use either a tandem jig set up or jigging spoon dropped through the school of bait. The fish will usually be staged under the Bait.  

PRE SPAWN: Look for fish hanging out on channel ledges and swings in deeper water. You will find fish on deeper brush piles as well. These fish will not be over active but will bite with slow presentation and patients. Around the first week of April the crappie will start to stack up staging in spawning coves. These fish are usually suspended in open water and are prime targets for spider rigging and long line trolling cranks or jigs. But you can also slip float the fish if you have there location pinned down well enough. You may find some fish shallower in evenings after the water warms all day. 

SPAWN: The time everyone waits for to crappie fish. When the fish are on the bank look for areas that have gravel or rock banks for spawning beds. During this time the Males are spawning and guarding nests. These fish are extremely agressive and will bite about anything that is close to the nest. You can get alot more spawn action if you follow it down the lake toward the dam. Spawning will start first in the upper stretches of the lake first and will usually move down the lake every two weeks or so. The whole lake doesnt spawn at once. Males will be shallow and females will be staged out off bank in a little deeper water. I use mainly jigs due to fast action and not having to mess with live bait is a plus. You can cast and retreave or use a jig and float. 

POST SPAWN: This is my favorite time to crappie fish. The spawn rush of boats is over and you can really enjoy your time on the water. Plus the fish bite well after the spawn. The fish will still be in the same spawning coves just suspend in open water. You will catch some really nice crappie post spawn trolling cranks. The bigger bait will produce some real slabs plus a bonus eye on occasion. I really rely on my electronics for this time of year. Finding concentrations of suspended crappie and either spider rigging or trolling through the fish. 

SUMMER: Sorry...I usually switch to Truman lake during the summer. Great hot weather crappie bite on that lake. 

FALL: This is a mother great time to crappie fish on Stockton. The fish will be scattered in deep water and shallow water as well. I usually make the transition to bow hunting during this time but do manage to fish a couple times for crappie. I target the shallower fish in the upper lake/river areas. Pitching jigs toward any visible cover and letting it swing back to the boat. 

Again this is not the only ways to catch crappie. This is simply the patterns and approach I use and will continue to follow. Hope this helps with your question. Good luck to all. 

[nomolites]

Great stuff!  (Except the trolling cranks, crappie don't bite crank baits, and never, ever, bite UV bright Wiggle Warts)

Mike

[blacknoseddace]

 

Great stuff!  (Except the trolling cranks, crappie don't bite crank baits, and never, ever, bite UV bright Wiggle Warts)

Mike

How true.  ?

[bassfisher]

They sure do like the uncle Rico in the flicker shad.

[ric lee]

Thanks so much for the great feedback.  This will definitely help. 

[Kramr]

"The bigger bait will produce some real slabs plus a bonus eye on occasion. "

We were there last year in early May and found this to be true. We even called them "bonus walleye". When we fished for walleye we couldn't find them but managed to boat 6 - 8 while we we're there fishing for crappie.