Springtime Crappie
Fish Man-Made Structures
Editor’s
Note: You can catch some nice-sized crappie in the prespawn,
if you know where to look
for them.
Find Underwater Highways and Railroads - Many man-made
lake impoundments encompass underwater places where
railroads and highways once crossed creeks and rivers.
If you locate those old roadbeds, you'll discover plenty
of prespawn crappie holding on them. Too, underwater
bridges, bridge pilings and other vertical structure
will provide places for crappie to concentrate nearby
in almost any depth of water where they feel comfortable.
Also, remember the drastic water changes usually present
on either side of bridge pilings, since engineers often
construct pilings on the edges of underwater creek channels.
During the prespawn, you can almost always find crappie
holding somewhere on a submerged bridge piling.
Fish Concrete - Prespawn crappie will look for warm
water close to deep water. Concrete bridges, locks,
dams and piers catch the heat from the sun and transfer
that heat into the water. Often you'll catch crappie
where you find concrete. Many anglers have had success
taking crappie during the prespawn near a concrete loading
dock
on the edge of a creek channel. If you build a brush
shelter next to the concrete, you'll have one of the
most-productive spots on the lake or river to catch
crappie during the prespawn.
Catch Discharge Crappie - If you can locate a creek
or an area of the lake with a warm-water discharge coming
from a factory or a plant, you'll also find the most
prespawn crappie there. The fish will move into these
warm-water discharges because that's where they feel
the most comfortable and where they'll find the most
bait. Look for the crappie to hold in the first or second
eddy pool closest to the warm-water discharge yet out
of the current.
For more information about how to fish crappie, go
to http://www.nighthawkpublications.com/fishing/fishing.htm
and learn about John E. Phillips’ book, “The
Masters’ Secrets of Crappie Fishing.”
Tomorrow: Winning Crappie Recipes
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