Autumn months offer great chances to catch big slabs
Countless people enthusiastically fish for crappie in the spring when big females head shallow to spawn. Then, many of them forget about crappie until the following spring. If they do, they could miss some of the best fishing all year.
“People who only fish for crappie in the spring are making a huge mistake,” said Clay Blair with Clay Blair Fishing (662-501-0302, Facebook), who guides in northern Mississippi. “Fall is absolutely my favorite time on the water. The fish are more aggressive. The weather is usually more predictable. Leaves are changing and it’s beautiful.”
In the spring, anglers generally know where to look for spawning crappie. Anglers who only fish in the spring might return to their favorite places. Where they caught crappie in March might produce nothing in September.
“The biggest mistake people who like to fish in the spring make in the fall is fishing too shallow,” said John Harrison with John Harrison Fishing (318-278-3149) of Jonesboro, La. “Fall and winter are my favorite times of the year to fish for crappie. In the fall, we catch good numbers and bigger fish.”
By September, many sportsmen leave the lakes and rivers to go hunting. In many ways, chasing crappie in the fall somewhat resembles hunting. Hunters need to go where they can find game. That commonly means finding food sources. The same logic holds true when “hunting” crappie.
Shad are on the menu
Crappie won’t pass up an opportunity to eat shad at any time, but in the fall, they “feed up.” Crappie gorge themselves on high-protein shad to fatten up for the winter and the spring spawn that follows. Anglers who find shad concentrations will likely locate crappie.
Very sensitive to temperature changes, shad could die if water temperatures plunge below 42 degrees or if dissolved oxygen levels dip too low. Temperatures in deep water typically remain more stable throughout the year. In the fall, shad commonly leave the creek channels and head to the deeper water of the main lake. Anglers must keep up with the fish as the crappie move with the shad.
“In the fall, crappie eat everything they can to put on enough weight to get through the winter,” Harrison said. “They move from mid-range depths toward deeper water and pull out to the deeper edges and drop offs following the shad. Look for them at the mouth of creek channels where they run into the main river channels.”
The biggest crappie tend to follow right beneath the shad schools. With Garmin LiveScope and other forward-facing sonar systems, people can easily spot suspended fish and target specific individuals. Anglers can even watch a bait descend into the water and place it almost on a fish’s nose to see how it reacts — or not!
Try planer boards
Even with high-tech electronics, anglers frequently must explore considerable tracts of water to find crappie in the fall. To cover more water, try using planer boards, brightly colored floating blocks angled to run to the right or left when pulled behind a boat. These boards spread out the lines as wide as anglers wish. Theoretically, anglers could pull boards from shoreline to shoreline in a creek channel.
Under planer boards, anglers can fish multiple temptations at varied depths simultaneously. Some people pull jigs tipped with soft-plastic trailers or a minnow and jig combination. Others just use live minnows hooked through the lips and out the nostrils so they run straight when pulled through the water. People can also use spoons, jerkbaits or Road Runners, with or without the added enticement of live bait. Try various bait combinations in different sizes and colors at varied depths to see what works best at that time.
“Fish the ‘bite line,’” said Steve Danna, a crappie pro from Farmerville, La. “The depth might be 12 feet, but the fish suspend at 8 feet. That’s the bite line, but watch the ones above that depth. People might miss some floaters suspending higher in the water. I’ve caught crappie in 25 feet of water, but the fish were only down 8 feet.”
Anglers without planer boards can simply troll baits behind their boats with rods in holders on the stern. Like fishing with planer boards, this method covers vast tracts of water.
Bait presentation
By September, shad that hatched in the spring have grown to hefty sizes. Crappie and largemouth bass of similar sizes regularly feast on the same prey. A 3-pound crappie will eat about anything that might interest a 3-pound largemouth. When slab crappie key on large shad, use bigger baits.
When trolling or fishing with boards in the fall, try pulling shad-pattern crankbaits that could tempt bass. Bigger baits won’t produce as many strikes, but anglers could increase their average catch size. For numbers, downsize temptations. Tip jigs with scent pellets for added enticement.
“My go-to fall bait is a Bobby Garland Live Roam’R,” Danna said. “I also like a Bobby Garland Mayfly. It’s a small bait so I put it on a 1/8-ounce jighead. For fishing deeper, I’ll use a ¼-ounce jighead.”
After finding a fish concentration, slow down and more thoroughly probe hot areas with spider rigs. With multiple rods hanging off the bow, a spider rig resembles a giant spider web. When spider rigging, anglers can “push” baits at different depths.
“One of my favorite ways to catch crappie in the fall is slow spider rigging with live minnows,” Blair said. “When spider rigging, we can cover a lot more ground. I use a Capps and Coleman rig on 16-foot B’n’M PST poles. The rig is a pre-tied minnow rig with a hook at the top, a weight in the center and a hook at the bottom. With a live minnow on each hook, it’s a very deadly technique. When fishing multiple poles off the bow, I ease around cover at about 0.4 to 0.7 miles an hour. With eight lines in the water, crappie will wear us out when we hit a good spot.”
Target the drop-offs
Whether fishing with planer boards, trolling or spider rigging, use electronics to follow bottom contours. Crappie often hang just over the drop-offs. Keep the boat centered over the drop-off edge. Set baits to run on the deep side of the drop, the shallow side and right at the edge.
“When air temperatures get down to the 70s, crappie pull to the first bank of the channel and get on that main edge,” Danna said. “When the water temperature starts dipping down into the 60s or 50s, crappie start working their way back out into the main creek channels.”
Not every boat contains rod holders for fishing multiple poles. Many anglers prefer to use a single pole, or perhaps two of them. With one pole, anglers can drop smaller baits down through thicker cover where lunkers lurk in places where they couldn’t reach with multi-pole rigs.
“Before LiveScope came out, I would ease along in my War Eagle with a jig pole in each hand,” Danna said. “I’d tipped it with a hair jig or a Bobby Garland jig and stay on creek channel edge until the water temperature starts getting really cold.”
Points also make excellent places to find crappie. Points provide fish cover and gives them easy access to deep or shallow water. Any creek channel that makes a point when flowing into the main lake creates an outstanding place to fish.
In deep water
In the deepest water, try vertically jigging a 1/8- to ¼-ounce chrome spoon. The weighty offering sinks to the bottom quickly and flutters down like a dying shad. After it hits bottom, hop it up a few feet and let it flutter back down. With forward-facing sonar, anglers can even target individual suspended fish with spoons.
“When we fish the deepest water by the dams, we fish vertically,” Harrison said. “We drop a live bait to the bottom and reel it up two or three cranks and move along very slowly. Sometimes, we’ll use spoons. Over the years, we’ve caught many crappie on spoons.”
Of course, the old proven methods still work. A live minnow or a jig under a cork continues to produce good fish. Subtle movements on a tiny fly or hair jig suspended under a clear plastic float might entice even the most finicky crappie. Some anglers fish varied depths with slip corks. People can buy pre-rigged slip corks or simply tie something to the line above the cork to set the depth.
“Not everyone can afford the latest technology, but a cork and minnow still catches crappie,” Blair said. “With slip corks, add a weight to make it easier to cast. The slip cork slides along the line so people can fish multiple depths easily.”
Whether using the latest technology to find fish or going old school with a minnow and bobber, the fall offers endless ways to catch good fish under pleasant conditions. When hunting seasons open, dedicated anglers might find themselves alone over the best crappie honey holes with nothing but hungry fish keeping them company.
The post “Falling for crappie” first appeared on LouisianaSportsman.com.
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