Winter Crappie Fishing Recommendations

Many crappie fishermen hang up their rods through the cold winter months, winterize their boats and sit back patiently waiting for spring. On the other hand, quite a bit of thriving fishermen continue to fish for crappie all winter long, and for very good explanation: acquiring crappie within the winter may be easier than it really is inside the spring and summer season.

To discover winter crappie, use your depth finder to appear for submerged creek and river channels in 15 to 40 feet of water. What you happen to be seeking for is brush or submerged trees along these channels. Crappie will probably be holding somewhere in or around that cover. Crappie, like bass and most other species, virtually always stage close to some form of cover, and they seem to favor brush-piles or submerged trees as their cover of decision. Underwater ledges subsequent to deeper channels may also be holding a few crappie, if there is certainly some kind of cover nearby. If a warm front comes by means of and the temperatures rise to get a few days, crappie may perhaps start to move as much as flats along the creek channels. If that happens, you could need to go back to slow-trolling, as the fish are going to be more spread out.

Often during the winter, wind can be a challenge for fishermen. If you possess a great trolling motor, you could hold your boat positioned over the cover and drop jigs into and around it. I hate fighting the wind, so I generally use an anchor to help keep my boat exactly where I want it. When I discover the cover on my depth finder, I'll drop a marker buoy over it, then figure out the wind path. I circle the boat about, and when I'm upwind and off towards the side of your buoy, quietly drop my anchor. When it hits bottom, I let the boat drift alongside the marker buoy, and then tie off the anchor rope. I'll then be capable of concentrate much more on fishing than regularly repositioning the boat.

Now that I am in position, I am able to fish. But what bait do I use? Little, lightweight jigs is definitely the answer. Try to remember that within the cold water, the crappie are moving slower, and they are not going to chase a lure quite far. So use light jigs and fish them slow. Use a 1/8 or lighter jig on a lightweight or medium-light rod, and when you noted any fish in your depth finder, drop the jig just over them and be ready to get a strike. Move the jig slowly up and down, or use quite light twitches. You will not get the aggressive strikes like you do inside the spring and summer time, generally you will only really feel a slight tug or perhaps just a bit pressure. That is where the light tackle comes in. Light-weight rods and 4 to six pound test line will allow you to really feel these subtle strikes. For those who know the crappie are there, and your jigs are just not functioning, try adding a crappie nibble or in case you can, tip it having a smaller minnow. That should go here from time to time entice a strike from finicky fish. At times you are able to use a bobber to keep your jig in position, but typically this time of year the crappie are too deep for bobber-fishing to be practical.

Marabou and feather-type jigs might be extremely successful for winter crappie, along with "umbrella" variety jigs. The slower rate-of-fall seems to be the trick with these. What ever sort of jig you decide on, just keep in mind to fish it incredibly slow.

On a clear, sunny day use light colored jigs, and on cloudy days you may go having a darker color, but I favor a white, yellow, light green or chartreuse color. The identical rule applies to water clarity, in clear water use incredibly light colors or perhaps clear with some sparkle. In stained water, use a darker green or chartreuse. You will discover countless distinct colour variations these days it can be overwhelming trying to choose the "perfect" color. with colors like "bayou booger", "firecracker", "woodpecker" and "electric chicken", everybody right now appears to possess a distinct favored. The way I do it truly is attempt a few diverse color combinations at first, fishing with three or four separate rods, and when I look to be catching more crappie on a particular color, stick with that colour.

When ice fishing for crappie, fish over the deeper brush piles you located within the spring, summer time or fall. The crappie are going to be holding tight to this cover, Their reduced metabolism in the cold water suggests they won't venture far from it when foraging for meals. This also means that they may typically readily inhale a jig once they see it, not passing up an opportunity to get a morsel of nutrition. The trick right here is, when you catch some crappie and then the bite stops, move and drill another hole over an additional brush pile.

In the dead of winter, in February for instance, you could discover that the crappie have moved to even deeper water, and are staged along the edges with the deeper channels. In these locations, they will ordinarily suspend just a foot or two off in the bottom. When they are this deep, I've had excellent results using a bottom rig. Tie on

a barrel swivel in the finish of the line. Then tie on a three foot section of line having a bass casting sinker or perhaps a cannonball sinker on the other end in the swivel. Typically a 3/4 ounce sinker will do, but if there is a lot more present you'll need to use a heavier one particular. Then tie on a 1 or two foot section of line on the swivel having a hook and minnow at the end, or a jig tipped using a minnow or crappie nibble. Drop this straight down beneath the boat, and when it hits bottom, reel up just a smidgen. I have caught nicely more than 50 crappie in 1 spot employing this approach, in just a couple of hours.

In case you are making use of any of those solutions and are catching lots of crappie, but all of them are little and not keeper size, visit a larger jig. From time to time the larger fish will only strike at larger baits, letting the small guys eat up the tiny stuff. If I am catching practically nothing but small ones, I will switch to two inch jigs. Typically that may get the "bigguns" to react.

I hope that by utilizing these winter crappie strategies you could go out and catch oneself a good "mess" of crappie, just bear in mind to adhere to the game and fish laws, slot limits, everyday limits, and so on. A further issue to don't forget is usually to bring adequate clothing for the temperature, maintaining the wind chill factor in mind. You don't wish to be miserable when out on the water, and also you can usually take off a layer of clothing when you get as well warm. Verify the weather forecast before you go, pay focus to the wind speed, and dress accordingly.