Proven Night Crappie-Fishing Methods
Drop-Offs and Docksides
Editor’s Note: Any time a writer mentions where
crappie will be at a specific season, he only can be
sure he’s explaining where some of the crappie
will be found. During both the cold winter months and
the hot summer months, I’ve caught crappie at
2-feet deep and in 20 feet of water on the same day.
In the spring of the year during the spawn when the
crappie usually are shallow, like you, I’ve taken
crappie in 1-1/2- and 15 feet of water. The truth about
crappie fishing is there are no absolutes. The suggestions
I’ve made this week produce crappie for me most
of the time in most of the areas I fish at night in
hot weather. Hopefully, they’ll do the same for
you.
River ledges and creek ledges can produce hot, summertime
crappie action even when the daytime temperatures are
100 degrees or higher. To find and take plenty of big
crappie in the hot summer months, determine where the
fish are located and where the anglers are not. Night
crappie fishermen usually will concentrate where the
most crappie fishermen fish. By avoiding the obvious
and pinpointing crappie hot spots away from the crowd,
you’ll often take more and bigger crappie than
most other anglers. Study a lake map. Search for places
where creek channels run into underwater river channels.
In most regions, these sites will be in the middle of
the lake where few other anglers will fish after dark.
Once you’ve located these points on your depth
finder during daylight hours, tie a weight to a length
of monofilament, attach a stick to the other end of
the monofilament, and drop the weight into the water
to mark the point before dark. Notice a tall tree or
some other landmark you can watch for on the bank and
recognize after dark. Then when you’re ready to
fish, use that landmark to return to your stick, anchor
down, and catch crappie. You can use your GPS (Global
Positioning System) to mark these spots as
waypoints.
Some anglers use trolling motors that also include
a multi-function LCD display giving the fishermen bottom
depth, surface temperature and other information. The
angler can press: depth track to use his trolling motor
to keep his boat in a certain depth of water for the
best fishing; shore track, which locks on the distance
to the shoreline and then tracks and maintains this
constant distance, regardless of contour, for fishing
riprap and flats; or creek track, which senses the location
of a creek or a river channel and then positions the
boat directly over the edge of the channel. Perhaps
an easier way to fish points is to find them before
dark and either start fishing or mark them as waypoints.
In many lakes, bass anglers and daytime crappie fishermen
have located these same spots and will have sunk brush
on them, which will make the underwater drop-offs even
more productive.
Anglers who fish for bass at night often fish around
docks and piers. Many of these same docks and piers
hold crappie too. However, the most-productive crappie
hot spot may not be under the docks and piers but rather
in front of them. Motor back and forth in front of docks
with your boat to pinpoint submerged brush piles with
your depth finder. Then you can
anchor-down and fish the brush at night. Oftentimes,
the best places to fish will be in front of docks where
brush has been piled-up on the edges of creek channels.
Fishing in front of docks seems to irritate residents
far less than fishing directly under their docks at
night.
Usually the longer you sit on a site with your lights
on at night, the more crappie you’ll generally
catch because the crappie will concentrate under the
lights. However, when you’re fishing docks for
crappie, crappie either will be on the brush when you
get there and may bite all night long, or you’ll
catch very few crappie on a spot. I only may fish an
hour on each of several different brush piles, until
I pinpoint which dock has brush in front of it that
holds the most-actively-feeding crappie. When I’m
dock hopping, I like using floating lights better than
my usual Coleman lantern. Then I can drop the floating
lights in the water and fish the spot. It I don’t
get a bite, I move to my next place.
My favorite
lights to fish are those on docks that are suspended
out over the water, 2 to 5 feet above the water. Many
lakeside residents use dock lights to attract bass and
crappie at night. I believe the best way to fish these
dock lights is to use light line like 4- to 6-pound-test
and small fluorescent corks on ultralight rods and reels.
If the water below the dock is deep, and you believe
the crappie to be deep, then utilize a slip cork. A
slip cork will allow you to cast the cork and the bait
out. The line will slide through the cork until it reaches
a knot in the line that’s tied at the particular
depth you want to fish. Using this tactic, you can anchor
well-away from the light, easily cast to the edge of
the light and let your bait hold in the depth of water
where you expect the crappie to bite. The further you
can anchor away from the light, the less likely you
are to irritate dock owners.
Even though I usually fish only with minnows for crappie
at night, I also carry a wide variety of colors of 1/24-
and 1/32-ounce crappie jigs with me. Two other essential
pieces of equipment for fishing hot weather with live
bait are an air pump, which will keep the water in your
minnow bucket highly oxygenated, and an ice pack. A
sealed ice pack can be frozen and put in the minnow
bucket to keep your minnow water cool without adding
chlorine or other chemicals found in ice to the water,
which may injure live bait.
Tomorrow: Bridge Pilings
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