Shallow Water Crappie

[Greg B.]

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.  

[fishinwrench]

Water color, surface disturbance, and the amount of sunlight penetration has alot to do with it.    

The water temp may have read the same... but think about the temperature of the dash of your truck on a cold sunny day.   You can easily melt a Snicker's bar in mid January.   

[DADAKOTA]

Bait may have moved shallow.

[Lance34]

Yes that’s normal. Back in December of 2016 I kinda stubble on this.  Caught fish in 9 fow or less that whole winter season.  Stayed on that shallow water pattern until the big flood that April in 2017.  Same thing for half the winter of 2017/2018 until floods came again.  Ever since then I haven’t experienced it until this past weekend.  It’s all about lake level.  The last two winters you be in the bushes.  Keep your fingers crossed the lake stays down.  Been hoping for this again for a awhile.  It’s a lot of fun.  And the quality of fish will be eye opening.  Still to this day my biggest beaver lake crappie came out 7 fow in 37 degree WT.  You won’t see them on the graph or even LS.  Just know that they are there.  

[Greg B.]

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.