When I do crappie long-lining seminars I always tell folks that this time of year "the crappie are not orienting to structure." Yesterday was classic example!
From daylight to about 10 or 10:30 we trolled Wolftever Creek Channel, following breaklines and along flats, etc. We caught 11 keepers. We moved out of the creek into open water. I first start along the deep water break lines (you see on the map below) but as time went on, I realized I was catching fish mostly when I wavered out away from the breaklines. Finally I ended up Just roaming wide open water, 20-23 feet deep. But long-line trolling 1/16th 0z. jigs at 0.8 mph, lures were running maybe 8-10 feet deep.
And we smacked 'em!
arty: We quit with 46 crappie, a ton of yellow bass, a few bluegill and the ever-present drum... plus a 4 lb. kicker largemouth!
It was a classic prespawn pattern when crappie are roaming wide open water following bait schools and fattening up before they head for shallow water to spawn. They are NOWHERE NEAR ANY KIND OF STRUCTURE!
You can cast and maybe catch a few, but trolling works best because you put lots of lures down and cover lots of water... kind of like shooting a shotgun versus a rifle. I expect this pattern to hold up until at least the first week of April.ray:
BTW, Crappie Magnets were the lure that produced. Color didn't matter, as long as it included chartreuse.
From daylight to about 10 or 10:30 we trolled Wolftever Creek Channel, following breaklines and along flats, etc. We caught 11 keepers. We moved out of the creek into open water. I first start along the deep water break lines (you see on the map below) but as time went on, I realized I was catching fish mostly when I wavered out away from the breaklines. Finally I ended up Just roaming wide open water, 20-23 feet deep. But long-line trolling 1/16th 0z. jigs at 0.8 mph, lures were running maybe 8-10 feet deep.
And we smacked 'em!
arty: We quit with 46 crappie, a ton of yellow bass, a few bluegill and the ever-present drum... plus a 4 lb. kicker largemouth!It was a classic prespawn pattern when crappie are roaming wide open water following bait schools and fattening up before they head for shallow water to spawn. They are NOWHERE NEAR ANY KIND OF STRUCTURE!
You can cast and maybe catch a few, but trolling works best because you put lots of lures down and cover lots of water... kind of like shooting a shotgun versus a rifle. I expect this pattern to hold up until at least the first week of April.
ray: BTW, Crappie Magnets were the lure that produced. Color didn't matter, as long as it included chartreuse.
