quik crappie question

[danielbasspro]

i know this is a bass fishin website but how can i catch a crappie. i dont know where to find them. i dont have a boat either. thanks

[mariner]

under bridges where it is deep

[Rodman_Rob]

minnow and small hooks. find the right depth and find where the fish are located. catch 100 crappie and call it a day. don't find the right depth or where the fish are and you won't catch squat.

[Mac2]

Under certain conditions, crappie will stack. They actually will stack with the larger ones hanging near the bottom and the farther upward you fish, the smaller the fish. At other times they will suspend over wood......I've marked them suspending at ten feet over wood on the bottom at 25 feet....if you can find bottom wood or brush, try there. They also move around following the bait fish, so give each spot a good try....they may be returning at any given time.

A number 6 tru turn hook is a good bet...hooking the minnows though the lips. Some use bobbers, some small split shot, others use nothing and just let the minnow swim free....they will almost always head for cover, a likely place to find bigger fish. At other times, the crappie will be out in the open waters....just have to keep trying different things at different times.

[robertmee]

Is there a 'time of the year' for fishing them? I fish in Lake Gaston (NC/VA), so if anyone knows specific to that lake, that'd be helpful. I'm up on the West end by Kerr Lake Dam. There are three bridges within a mile. I-85, the steel bridge RR, and the US1 overpass at the boat ramp.

[Jigger]

My favorite time to fish for them is in the Spring, either pre spawn, during the spawn or post spawn. They are shallow during this time and easy to catch on an 1/8 oz plain lead head jig with either a curly tail trailer or a crappie tube trailer. Blue and white combined is my favorite color but white or chartruese can be good too. I just go down the bank with my trolling motor casting to likely areas (gravel or sand or other hard bottom good for spawning) and cast to the bank and work the jig SLOOOOOOOWLY to the boat usually with a lift, wind, and fall retrieve. Sometimes they're right on the bank and sometimes they're in the deeper water waiting to move up and spawn.

In the Winter they will sometimes stack up in planted brush piles and can be taken by anchoring directly over the brushpile and fishing straight down with either a jig or minnows. If you fish a jig this time of year, just let it straight down in or near the brush pile and don't even move it. They'll hit it setting dead still. Of course it's not really dead still what with the rocking of the boat and all but the point is, when it's really cold keep it as still as possible.

I don't fish for them in the Summer because they're too hard for me to find. They get deep and scatter out and I can't find them in the numbers that I can in the Spring and Winter.

[woody]

My daughter and me located a school next to some stickups.
We were using minnys with just a little weight fishin straight down next to the stickups I had tied the boat off too.
At first she was fishin from the bow and me the stern.
I hooked the first one and then my daughter wasted no time moving in on me! LOL
Well, she caught the next 18 while I did all the work, I would'nt of had it any other way!

Here some pics

[woody]

I've caught them mostly in water thats a little deeper, say 10 to 15' range.
They tend to stack up near cover, I like to look for stickups (submerged trees)
Using minnows with a small hook and 1/8 ounce split shot sinker and since you'll be fishin from the bank, you will need a bobber. I'll start by fishin the bait near the bottom, then gradually, about 12" or so at a time, start raising the bait by adjusting the depth of your bobber until you find out what depth there in. Genrally if you don't get bit within a few minutes it's time to make a move.

One other thing, crappies have soft lips, so you can rip those hooks right out if your not carefull.