Proven Night Crappie-Fishing Methods
Night Crappie Fishing
Editor’s
Note: At this time of the year, you’ll have more
success fishing for crappie at night rather than in
the daytime and enjoy cooler weather. Years ago, the
night was dark with no moon. We saw nothing around us
but darkness. My cousin, John Henry Berryhill of Pleasant
Grove, Alabama, and I didn’t even know in which
direction the bank was.
A good friend and avid crappie fisherman led my cousin,
John Henry Berryhill and me after dark out to the middle
of Lake Martin in central Alabama, and said, “If
you’ll fish here all night, then by daylight,
you’ll have all the crappie you want to clean.
Below you is a point where a creek empties into the
main river channel. In the hot summer months, the crappie
migrate up and down both the river and the creek channels.
At some time tonight, the crappie swimming in both directions
will create a traffic jam and school-up on that point.
Then you’ll catch plenty of fish. I’ve never
been able to predict at what time during the night the
crappie will start biting. But if you’ll stay
all night, you’ll catch numbers of fish.”
After several hours had passed, and we still only had
caught five crappie, John Henry and I wondered if my
friend was like the friend who had told us about a sure
bet on the stock market that failed the one who had
in his possession the treasure map to the Lost Dutchmen’s
gold mine that no one ever found or the acquaintance
who had given us the tip about the best hamburger joint
in town that produced burgers that tasted like cardboard.
But at 3:37 am, just as our buddy had predicted, the
crappie went on a feeding spree. Every rod and pole
on our boat pretzeled under the pressure of pound-plus
papermouths. We caught crappie
so fast that our minnow bucket emptied faster than our
cooler filled. At 45 minutes before daylight, I recycled
the last minnow for the fifth time. The sun peeking
over the horizon found our arms weary, our backs sore,
our cooler full, and our minnow bucket empty. We had
experienced the greatest evening of night fishing for
crappie ever, and you can too this summer
Tomorrow: Drop-Offs and Docksides
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