Well this last week I definitely put on some miles and got the opportunity to fish some new waters. 6 different lakes this last week, some larger bodies of water and some smaller ones. One thing that all these had in common is these crappies are moving shallow! Regardless of stained color water and even a few super clear lakes I have found the fish in a lot shallower than previous weeks. Now water temps with the nice weather we have had I have seen jumping up into the 50’s. Thats generally my magic number to start looking for these fish shallower. One thing no matter what body of water I was on is there needs to be some sort of weed growth happening. Crappies and gills seem to love the new weed beds of milfoil coming up. On one particular clear lake I visited this last week I literally was able to set up off these secluded milfoil patches in 5 feet of water. Now these patches maybe 6’X6’ were filled with slab crappies. Along with those patches I found some fish starting to push in along reed lines as well, biggest factor is look for the warmest water you can find this time of year. What that does is makes it easier to find where the weed growth should be the furthest along.
Now as far as presentations this week I changed it up between dragging small 1/16oz jig and Slip bobbing with 1/16oz on the days with more wind down to a 1/32oz in calm or super shallow areas. Now with this the fish I found deeper in that 7’-10’ range I was able to get fish better dragging than using a slip bobber. As far as the super shallow crappies I found 1’-5’ throwing slip bobbers was the best approach. I was able to pin point where these fish were and cast into that area and get bit every time! Now as far as types of baits I used everything from crappie minnows, crawler chunks and plastics. They all had about the same results, minus more bluegills on the crawlers. What this tells me from crappies regardless if its live bait or plastics these fish are ready to eat! Fish clear lakes use your trolling motor on super low to creep into the shallow areas with muddy bottoms and look for the patches holding fish.
Hope you all were able to get out this week with the amazing weather we have had. I predict to see some crappies especially the bigger females moving up super shallow to spawn if this weather holds consistent. Just a reminder to folks who do find these true giants up in the shallows to practice selective harvest, let the bigger females go to make big crappies for everyone in years to come. Fishing opener is fast approaching as well, I’m hoping with the way things are leaning I may be able to guide again come that time. Once I’m able to, I’ll contact all the cancelations and they will have first choice on dates and then I will open it up to everyone else. I will not take any booking however until I get the for sure ok. Thanks everyone for their ongoing support and reading my reports, I truly do hope it helps you find that fish of a lifetime!
