Early Spring Fishing – Crappie

Early Spring Fishing – Crappie

By Ben Leal

Crappie… animals that forage for discrete, isolated resources are often characterized as either “ambush” (sit-and-wait) or “cruise” (active) searchers. Juvenile white crappie, Pomix annularis, search for zooplankton prey using a salutatory search (SS) strategy. Unlike ambush and cruise, SS involves…

Had all you readers going there for a moment didn’t I!? Well lucky for you this is not going to be an article about the biology and intricacies of what makes a crappie tick. We all know what makes em tick, don’t we? A nice big juicy minnow, or a nicely presented jig or soft plastic that entices these guys to bite. We’re talking about the spring bite. That magical moment when the water warms up and we read reports of crappie moving shallow and biting everything that is thrown out at them. For many anglers the spring crappie bite is one of the first bites that comes along after a long winter holed up inside, dreaming of landing some nice slab crappies. If you can find em, either shallow or out suspended over some sort of structure, they are sure to bring a lot of smiles to many anglers, along with some tasty morsels for table fare.
Now let’s have a look at the spring crappie bite and what it will take to have a few of these gems tug on your line.

Water Temperature
Crappie generally start their migration from their winter haunts in deeper water when the water temperatures start warming toward the 45-50-degree range. They will congregate around entrances of creek channels till the water temps start to hover around 50-55 degrees, where they will begin to make their way to shallower haunts. Males will start moving into shallower water fanning out spanning beds. Female crappie will hang out in deeper areas while the guys do all the work, congregating around structure close to drop-offs.

Crappie will use secondary creeks and bays, using the channels hidden beneath the water as highways. This is a great time to start trolling with small jig heads or casting a small Road Runner Crappie Thunder or the original Marabou. Colors that I tend to lean towards are black and chartreuse, and a pink jig head with a white body. Those two are my go-to bait colors, with the black and chartreuse being at the top of the incredibly shortlist.

Whether you find crappie shallow, or you lock on to a nice group hanging around some structure in deeper water, they will feed more aggressively as spawning draws near. As surface water temps reach the 62-65 degree range conditions almost become perfect for shallow spawning crappie. The females will move in and around brushy cover near spawning beds that have been cut out by the males. This is a great time to drop a live minnow below a bobber, enticing those nice slabs to latch on to your offering.

Cold weather fronts will set the whole process back a few days, even to a few weeks, depending on the severity of the front that moves through. Surface temperature changes as little as two degrees will affect the crappie and you may find that the fishing is off considerably. It may take a bit of scouting but if you are mobile and can use electronics to check water temps, in many cases you can find warmer water where the fish will be congregating. Check weather forecasts for wind and sun patterns. Even if the water temp has changed, you can locate the warmer water by hitting the sunny exposed side of a lake that has a warm southerly breeze blowing in. This can be enough to affect the fishing and make or break the day.

Tips and Tactics
Crappie can be voracious predators in the spring, which when one thinks about crappie you don’t consider them veracious yet alone, predators. They typically are preyed upon. However, the pre-spawn and spawning periods make these fish aggressive and hungry. Minnows in many cases are the go-to bait this time of year. One important key is to find the depth that these fish are feeding at. Once you’ve done that, tie on a slip bobber and get your bait down to the fish at the same depth every time.

One of the things that I continue to encourage in many of the articles that I write is to get kids involved, or even those that have never fished into the sport and there’s no better time than the spring crappie bite. These fish are aggressive feeders and for kids it is a good time to catch them. Grab yourself a minnow bucket full of those tasty little crappie candies and head out to the lake. This is where things can get interesting and there’s nothing wrong with Dad having a little fun. Designate your daughter as the “minnow lady”, just be careful as you hand that little lady her very first minnow. That little morsel will start to wiggle in her hand and suddenly there’ll be a high pitched squeal shrieking from her lips…the minnow will go sailing in one direction and the minnow bucket the other. All the while your son will be standing there wide-eyed having the time of his life watching this scene unfold before his eyes. “DAD!!! That was cool…do it again!”

Another great option during this period, especially if you like to wander the shoreline of many of the smaller bodies of water in Iowa, is to tie on two small jigs in tandem on light spinning gear. I usually tie on small tube jigs in this application. I’ll first start off with my preferred colors, one will be chartreuse and black jig, the second will be a white and pink jig. These can vary in size and weight but typically with a two jig system you’ll want to start out with the smaller size like 1/32oz or 1/16oz. This tactic can be a blast if you find yourself a nice pile of crappie that are bunched up and eager to jump on your bait. Toss your jig combo out there and see if you can’t catch a couple at a time. This really can liven things up if you have your kids with you. Remember Dad, do the casting, we don’t want any involuntary ear piercings when your son rips that rod around like he’s swinging for the fence. Your daughter will shriek again, your son will think it’s cool, but Mamma will NOT be happy…

Okay, beyond entertaining your kids and yourself because you know you had a good laugh at their expense, there are countless ways to fish for crappie. Trolling is an effective way to locate fish, however, make sure you have a way of marking where you get the bites. GPS works great, but in a pinch throw out a marker so that you have a general idea of where your boat position was when you started catching them. You can use swimbaits, jigs, and inline spinners. If you prefer to use a slip bobber and a minnow you’ll have to experiment with the depth.

Once you’ve had consistent hookups you’ll know where to set your bobber. You can also use a small jig and minnow combination under a bobber to find active fish. Again you’ll have to experiment with the depth, but when fish are shallow this is a great way to find them.

Crappie are an abundant resource that we all can enjoy catching every spring. Remember that the large fish tend to be the females, release those so that the fishery remains healthy. Limit your catch don’t catch your limit and take someone new fishing, this is always a great time of year to introduce new anglers to this great sport we all enjoy. Take care of the resources we have today so we that our kids and beyond can enjoy them tomorrow. Tight Line All!