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Black crappie woes

Posted: Sun May 01, 2016 1:12 pm
by FireFox
Hi all,

The spring crappie hunt is something that I had not pursued in earlier springs, but this year I was convinced to try it out.

I was out on the Miss R at Appleton this past Saturday looking for some of these guys, and while the weather was fantastic for the first trip out, not a single crappie was willing to bite. We fished from 10am - 4pm, tried from the very shallows ( < 2') with the stumps and fallen wood, fished across shallow flats where you could see the lilly pads were starting to poke up, and then the deeper edge areas (8-12') - found some OOS critters out here, but no crappie. For baits we were mostly using 1/16 jigheads with assorted small (1.5 - 2.5" plastics) either under a float (2-3' down) or without the float for some of the deeper sections. Worms were tried as well (got some small perch on those) We were primarily trying to stay out of the current areas and find warmer water but no dice. Surface temps were in the 55 - 59 F range according to my sonar unit .

A few questions for the group :

- Was this too late for the crappie bite : Did I miss the window ? Wait again until next year ?
- I have caught crappie on this area of the river in the summer as incidentals while bass fishing, but perhaps there is not a good population on this region of the river ?
- Is the bite generally better in the afternoon/evening or morning for these little guys.

Any other tips / suggestions would be welcome.


Thanks

Fox

PS: Its been quite a while since my last post, but glad to see that the site is kicking along. Congrats to RJ & Luke for keeping it running.

Re: Black crappie woes

Posted: Sun May 01, 2016 2:40 pm
by steve_rauch
Expert I'm not... but I would say that you are not late. I will be heading back out again several times this week(hopefully) by looking at the warm Temps for this week I'm sure things will be rocking again. I have been using some bright coloured 1/32 jig heads with berkley 3 inch power minnows. No float, just bouncing off of stumps and cover. Everyone will have there own go to crappie stuff I'm sure.
If you are around that area maybe just head to miss. Lake where you may have better luck finding them there.

Re: Black crappie woes

Posted: Sun May 01, 2016 4:31 pm
by EagleEyesFlash
Still early, guess some are up creeks or more active more south of us from reports.
Just managed 3 last night and they where still deep ( Rideau between Kemptville and Smiths Falls ).
They will be moving into know spawning spots the next heat wave.

Re: Black crappie woes

Posted: Sun May 01, 2016 7:36 pm
by RJ
The best Crappie fishing is yet to come. Once vegetation starts to emerge they will been drawn to it.

There are some fish in that stretch as you've seen in the past so it's only a matter of timing.

RJ

Re: Black crappie woes

Posted: Tue May 03, 2016 5:21 am
by fatluke
Don't lose hope yet dude. This has been a very strange year weather wise and the water is just starting the get "crappy". Be sure to write up a report once you find them, it's just a matter of time.