AKA (Also Known As)

Slabs, Silver Sunfish

Food Source

Crappies main diet sourse comes from minnows, and schools of shad in your lake. They can also be found feeding on aquatic insects on the surface during late spring and early fall. They can also be caught on worms, grubs, grasshoppers, and crickets.

Growth Patterns

Both white and black crappie grow rather slowly compared to the other freshwater game fish. Black crappie live a little longer than whites sometimes reaching 10+ years. To reach 1lb can take from 5 years in the south to over 7 years in the north.

General

Crappie may be one of the most aggravating fish to chase. You may catch 150 fish in a single hole on Saturday and when you hit it on Sunday, you catch 10 and they are all tiny. Crappie move around the lake more than a lot of species. They also tend to be much more affected by the current weather patterns. Barometric pressure and the moon phases really seem to have more affect on Crappies.

Early Spring

• Main lake coves
• Break lines near spawning locations.
• Brush piles, fish attractor sites.
• Creek arms (secondary, non flowing)
• Mud bottom coves.

Spring (Spawn)

• Brushy coves (back end of cove or tributary)
• Marinas.
• Sheltered shorelines with firm bottom.
• Sheltered shorelines with submerged vegetation.

Summer and Early Fall

• Main river channel bends and intersection.
• Edges of main river channel.
• Wooded main points, steep banks.
• Deep rock piles.
• Deep submerged road beds or old foundations.

Late Fall and Winter

• Main river channel bends (the deeper the better)
  • Many Crappie fisherman swear the best fishing is when the water is 40 and below. That temp really concentrates the bait fish, and large schools of crappie are easy to locate on the graph).
  • Typically cold water crappie fishing is going to be best in the old river channel at the deepest locations.
• Deep main lake coves.

Crappie typically will start to move to spawning around 58deg and spawn is in full swing when the water temperature start to reach the upper 50's. After the spawn, crappie are generally the most active when the water temperature is between 69deg and 76deg. Above 80deg, the activety starts to decrease. In late fall when the water temp dips below 55 the activety falls off again, and below 50deg they feed very little. However, in the dead of winter when the water temps get down to 40 and below, the crappie can actually become easier to catch than any other time. This temp really packs the baitfish together in the deepest points and deep bends in old rivers channels. When this happens, you can go out and realy on your electronics to tell you where they are. Don't waste time fishing until you find the largest bait fish school in the lake, then get down to 20-30 feet with light line and swimmer shad or your favorite jigs.

many good techniques are used to catch slabs.. one good and always used technique is a minnow rig, drop a minnow by a tree or heavy brush and hold on.. the fish hang in close to these trees and brush piles for shelter and looking for passing food.. also a good technique used is dropping or casting tubes under and between trees and brush.. trolling for slabs is a well known technique, using several poles trolling will rack up the count number of slabs in your livewell, using jigs or roadrunners troll about 10 foot deep close but not in the brush..