3/20/08
Now is primetime for shallow water crappie action
By Terry Madewell

Terry Madewell Photo

Jaime Madewell with a few of the many crappie she caught with her Mom and Dad in shallow water recently.

There are numerous signs that the crappie have moved toward the shallows and are being caught in good numbers by a lot of anglers. I can attest that this seems to be the case right now because I have experienced several of them myself recently. Not to steal to good idea from Jeff Foxworthy, but…

If some of these things happen, then it might be time to go crappie fishing…

If you go to a bait shop on the way to the lake hoping to catch a bunch of crappie and they are sold out of minnows … it might be time to go crappie fishing.

If you say, “that’s okay, I’ll take a dozen small green and chartreuse jigs instead,” and they say “we’re all sold out,” it might be time to go crappie fishing.

If you go to Wal-Mart to buy some fiberglass crappie poles and a bearded guy in a sleeveless white T-shirt and cut-off jeans is walking out the door with the last one, then it might be time to go crappie fishing.

If you’re desperate and can only find two-dozen minnows anywhere and half of them are already dead, but you still catch crappie on the dead ones, then it already been time to go crappie fishing for a while.

And if I go crappie fishing to relax and just drift around the lake, and end up working like mad for two hours to keep crappie rods baited for my family, then it might be time to go crappie fishing for real.

Basically all of these have happened to me recently. I’m going crappie fishing.

To state the obvious, it’s time to go crappie fishing if you enjoy shallow water action. We’re right on the March moon and with the decent weather we’ve had recently, this should be a prime time to find a lot of big crappie in reasonably shallow water. It has started now, and for the next couple of weeks, we may experience some of the best shallow water crappie fishing action of the year.

The crappie action has been so good that many bass fishermen report they are catching crappie on crank baits and jigs. Shellcracker fishermen are catching crappie by casting beetle spins around trees while waiting on bites on their red worms. If you’re actually fishing minnows or jigs for crappie … you’d better be ready to catch some fish.

When springtime rolls around and the crappie head for the shallows following the spawning urge, anglers follow the fish in droves. No bush, log, stump or brush pile is spared the onslaught of crappie anglers after their favorite quarry. Now is certainly a great time to fish lakes Marion and Moultrie.

When these tasty fish move to the shallows they are very susceptible to a variety of angling techniques. Even beginning anglers can catch a few fish during the peak of the spawn. However, just as during the majority of the year when the crappie are found in deep water, there is a select group of anglers that seem to consistently make the best catches.

What is the key to their shallow water success? Their magic formula is nothing more than keeping the role of structure and lure presentation in proper perspective, even in the shallow water situation.

Crappie do not evenly distribute their numbers throughout the shallows. There are specific areas in every lake that will hold high concentrations of fish compared to other areas in the same lake. The fish may not be schooled as dense as they might be along a deep-water drop, but you can expect to find numerous fish in a relatively small area if you know where to look. This is one of the keys to improving your success.

Another is lure or bait presentation. A critical factor to crappie success in shallow water is precise lure presentation. When in the spawning mood, a crappie will readily take a jig or minnow placed right in front of their mouths, but often will not move even a few inches to take the same bait.

Finding the most productive areas is often merely a matter of common sense. Some of the very best shallow-water crappie hotspots I’ve ever fished are those located very near a deep-water drop. When the fish migrate from their deep-water haunts during the winter, they migrate up the feeder creeks during the pre-spawn period. When it’s time to spawn they move to the shallows. When they make this move they don’t linger in open, unstructured water.

Many crappie move to the first cover they encounter and take up residence there. As other fish move in, the area will reach its capacity and the overflow fish will move to another area. And so on. It has always been my experience the farther I go from deep-water access across a large flat of water, the fewer crappie I find in any given concentration.

These are by no means the only spots to concentrate your efforts, but they are typical of the type areas you should look for. In a typical feeder creek there are going to be a few areas that have a high probability of producing a bunch of crappie, and largely unproductive areas between the hotspots. By keying your efforts to these specific high-production areas you will quickly become one of the most productive crappie anglers on the lake, especially if you present your lure or bait properly.

As is usually the case, right now both minnows and jigs will produce plenty of crappie. Different fishermen will have their preferred pattern for either jigs or live bait. I’ve seen both produce excellent results in the past two weeks.

Regardless of which bait or technique you use, it’s essential to keep moving, looking for a concentration of fish. Don’t linger at any one spot very long unless you are catching fish consistently. Catching one fish every five or ten minutes is not good enough.

Remember: concentrate on the areas that have the highest potential to hold large numbers of crappie and work each spot thoroughly before moving to the next area to repeat the process.

Once you’ve found several areas that produce consistently, catching all the crappie you want in the springtime can turn from a dream to reality.

And you will know for sure it must be time to go crappie fishing.