Going Deep in Hot Weather for Crappie
Steve McCadams Concentrates Crappie to Have More Fish to Catch
 Editor’s Note: Even with technological and informational advances in recent years, crappie anglers have tended to stick with three misconceptions about crappie fishing: persons who fish for crappie are bound to the crappie-holding structure they can see; crappie anglers have to stop fishing when the crappie stop biting; and when a crappie fisherman finds a good location, he has to keep it a secret from other fishermen. But by using new information available to  anglers, these misconceptions don’t have to apply anymore. Today’s crappie anglers are catching more and bigger crappie than ever before by going deep for crappie, which takes planning, close observation and special lure techniques.
The fisherman who wants to take the guesswork out of finding and catching crappie can effectively do so, if he understands crappie behavior. The angler in search of crappie also has to be willing to devote time and energy to developing crappie habitat in an area where the crappie will bite. A common mistake many anglers make is they try to build homes for crappie in regions where they already have homes. Sinking brush tops and making beds are effective tactics for drawing and maintaining crappie hot spots, if these structures are sunk in places where the crappie have no other structure on which to hold.
Crappie guide Steve McCadams has to produce crappie for his clients all year. To be consistent every day, McCadams builds and sinks stake beds. “I sink my stake beds in open water away from the banks and not close to any other type of cover,” McCadams says. “I consistently can attract more crappie in an area  where there’s no cover than in a place where there’s plenty of cover. Crappie roam all over a lake. When they find cover, like my stake beds, they will stop and hold on them. Too, I like to put-out open-water cover because other anglers don’t find my stake beds and fish them to death. During certain times of the year, fishermen can keep the crappie caught off a good piece of cover, if they know about it. For that reason, I fish my stake beds and try to keep their locations secret. If other sportsmen want to consistently catch crappie as I do, they can make their own stake beds, sink them in open water and catch crappie all year.”
Steve McCadams guides duck and goose hunters as well as bass and crappie fishermen on Kentucky Lake. To learn more, visit www.stevemccadams.com, or call (731) 642-0360.
Tomorrow: Making Homes for Crappie |
