to hot right now, they are deep give it another few weeks will be in 70's in 3 weeks

 

Even in the water I was in where the max depth was 18? They have to be somewhere, unless they go through the pipe into the main lake right?

 

It takes a lot of time to learn crappie in the summer. They typically like main lake areas in 12 to 20 FOW.
Over the last several years I got pretty good at finding and catching them on the lakes I know. This year I haven’t spent much time on the water and I’m struggling to catch them.
Also I’ve noticed the fish this time of year are very finicky, they only want what they want, when they want it, how they want it. That’s part of the trick. I catch more crappie on Bobby Garland style baits.
cast it out, count it down to the right depth, crank slowly( one second per revolution). Feel the thump, give them some slack and set the hook. Now here’s the real trick, follow the crappie. You know where they are in the spring so keep track of them . Before the spawn they stage in deeper water outside of the bays then they move in. After the spawn they start moving deeper, follow them. Over summer they typically stay deeper until fall when they start their journey back into shallower waters. They’ll stay shallow for a short period and head deeper in the winter only to start the cycle over. STAY WITH THEM, that’s my advice.

 

This is very helpful. Do you figure out the fall rate so you can count it down by just testing how long it takes to fall to a known bottom depth?
Looking forward to finding them so I can stay with them. Makes perfect sense.

 

This year was the craziest crappie year I've ever seen.

 

How so? This is my first year back in Ohio after a few years away, and I wasn’t around for the spring

 

Couple tips.

1. I’d avoid being so specific about where you are fishing, people work hard to find areas just like you did and there are 1,000’s of people waiting to mooch a spot off the internet. You never know whose honey hole you are blasting to the public.

2. Whenever you are learning a new crappie spot, minnows are almost always the best option. After you learn the area you can go back and improve your skills on artificial.

3.Specifically when talking about a location where fish can’t come and go as they want you have to consider rainfall in order for them to enter that area. New fish have not entered that area for at least 4 months now, meaning that every fish someone harvests is one less in the “pool”. You likely are fishing an area that has had 100’s if not thousands of crappie taken out since the last influx of new fish.

 

1. I’d avoid being so specific about where you are fishing, people work hard to find areas just like you did and there are 1,000’s of people waiting to mooch a spot off the internet. You never know whose honey hole you are blasting to the public.

Point taken. I certainly realize the drawbacks of giving away fish location on the internet and how quickly a place could get ruined and do not wish to ever make that mistake…

thanks guys for the tips. I’ll pick up some minnows surely. I wasn’t aware that they changed locations between now and winter. Looking forward to following them back to the shallows for the fall.

 

Yes that’s how I count them down. It’s just so I can be consistent. If I’m consistent and it works I keep doing it, if not I change it up a little.

 

Live Bait Minnows under a Float upright structure Bridge pillars will hold tight to Under docks More lkely to get more hits at these places

 

Late fall is my favorite crappie fishing time!they come in shallow and r hungry!

 

I try to target deep structure in summer, but that being said its been real tuff in sw Ohio for us. Finding the fish isnt a issue for me ( side scan and livescope) getting them to bite is the issue. I try down sizing my jig, tipping with nibbles or minnows, straight minnows with split shot, swimming it past them for s reaction bite none have worked well this year. As someone said wait till the water temps come down.

 

Don't forget to try very shallow in hot weather. Sometimes crappie will be a foot under the surface even in very hot water as that is where the bugs are. You may be fishing to deep sometimes.

 

Wow, are they the fish I see eating bugs off the surface in the evenings on open water in the lakes around here? Always assumed they were minnows or something

 

If they were deep used to put a float on the 1st one I caught and let him loose to show me if the school moves, er, I mean my buddy told me about that

 

The crappie were in 7 to 10 FOW yesterday and pretty hungry and they wanted minnows.
This is a picture of my live scope. My bait is on the left side with a crappie getting ready to attack.

 

The crappie were in 7 to 10 FOW yesterday and pretty hungry and they wanted minnows.
This is a picture of my live scope. My bait is on the left side with a crappie getting ready to attack.

Live scope looks like a blast. Hope to use it one day when I can upgrade from the yak to a boat

 

Kinda random and I'm not really a crappie guy after the spawn other than I used to hit the slam dunk shallow BL bite in the fall. Can't recall ever targeting them in Aug... By all means if a fellow fisherman using a live scope suggests 7-10 fow, I'd pay attention. If that doesn't pan out, it's good to have options. I'd consider targeting good marks above thermocline below bait. Thermocline likely deeper than Alum upper pool depth.

Alum - Post spawn and fall, if I see scattered but numerous suspended marks around 18 ft it's pretty much a given I can troll up crappies on small Reefrunner ripshads. If you could only buy one, I'd use fussy math and buy a blue/chrome and chart/white for crappie, with black/gold for a back-up. 120, even 140 ft lead using 8 lb dia. line. That bait is only running about 15 ft with that lead so those fish are swimming up. Next size up goes a little deeper and is good too. Shad rap runs a lot shallower. Try 1.8 to 2.4 in warm water, give 1.3 to 1.8 a try in colder water. Zigzag, s turns, speed changes can be good.

I've only targeted them in the far se corner of Alum over 30ish fow in fall and just up in the west channel/creek in the middle pool around June, early July but those fish were prob 12ish ft down (70 - 80 ft leads) Your not going to catch tons because long lead trolling is not efficient but you should keep busy enough to not be bored and get dinner. Never caught big ones, just decent. By all means target marks below baitfish schools.

The remainder of this is specific to where I've done it but could apply at Alum. Frankly, as a long time canoe guy in my younger days, if I was a kayak fisherman and just wanted to catch a few crappie, I'd prob go to Hoover. You can prob troll ripshads about anywhere and catch a few.

Hoover - Again early summer, post spawn. There are typically suspended schools of crappie off nearly every main lake point on east side. They will be 18-20 ft down over deeper water under schools of bait. You can slip bobber back hooked minnows, vert jig, or just vert fish minnows. On calm days, use your electronics to see bait and fish. Try the flasher mode on that Helix. Your ice fishing out of boat. Trick is keeping a 1/32 oz jig and minnow or minnow/little split shot in cone angle. Bonus tipping jigs with minnow (or waxworm). Fish are on small side but they are some keepers. This would prob apply along points on Alum espec west side of main lake.

Gravel pits - I used to fish a few clear water gravel pits a lot in my youth. We would count down spinners or slip bobber around 20 deep entire summer during day over very deep water in coves. Med Mepps Black Fury w/yellow tail or small white or yellow Rooster Tails. As the sun set, light penetration was reduced and they rose up in water column. We would follow them up. Walleye on erie do same. After dark, we'd catch those gravel pit fish by lantern light on minnows/bobbers 2 ft down over deep water. Fast action but when it was over for the night, it was over.

Prob ought to touch on the light penetration thing. Old school is put your bait just deeper than you can see a submerged white coffee cup in spring. This is different. Plankton migrate up in water column at night, baitfish follow, then crappie. Good luck

 

Kinda random and I'm not really a crappie guy after the spawn other than I used to hit the slam dunk shallow BL bite in the fall. Can't recall ever targeting them in Aug... By all means if a fellow fisherman using a live scope suggests 7-10 fow, I'd pay attention. If that doesn't pan out, it's good to have options. I'd consider targeting good marks above thermocline below bait. Thermocline likely deeper than Alum upper pool depth.

Alum - Post spawn and fall, if I see scattered but numerous suspended marks around 18 ft it's pretty much a given I can troll up crappies on small Reefrunner ripshads. If you could only buy one, I'd use fussy math and buy a blue/chrome and chart/white for crappie, with black/gold for a back-up. 120, even 140 ft lead using 8 lb dia. line. That bait is only running about 15 ft with that lead so those fish are swimming up. Next size up goes a little deeper and is good too. Shad rap runs a lot shallower. Try 1.8 to 2.4 in warm water, give 1.3 to 1.8 a try in colder water. Zigzag, s turns, speed changes can be good.

I've only targeted them in the far se corner of Alum over 30ish fow in fall and just up in the west channel/creek in the middle pool around June, early July but those fish were prob 12ish ft down (70 - 80 ft leads) Your not going to catch tons because long lead trolling is not efficient but you should keep busy enough to not be bored and get dinner. Never caught big ones, just decent. By all means target marks below baitfish schools.

The remainder of this is specific to where I've done it but could apply at Alum. Frankly, as a long time canoe guy in my younger days, if I was a kayak fisherman and just wanted to catch a few crappie, I'd prob go to Hoover. You can prob troll ripshads about anywhere and catch a few.

Hoover - Again early summer, post spawn. There are typically suspended schools of crappie off nearly every main lake point on east side. They will be 18-20 ft down over deeper water under schools of bait. You can slip bobber back hooked minnows, vert jig, or just vert fish minnows. On calm days, use your electronics to see bait and fish. Try the flasher mode on that Helix. Your ice fishing out of boat. Trick is keeping a 1/32 oz jig and minnow or minnow/little split shot in cone angle. Bonus tipping jigs with minnow (or waxworm). Fish are on small side but they are some keepers. This would prob apply along points on Alum espec west side of main lake.

Gravel pits - I used to fish a few clear water gravel pits a lot in my youth. We would count down spinners or slip bobber around 20 deep entire summer during day over very deep water in coves. Med Mepps Black Fury w/yellow tail or small white or yellow Rooster Tails. As the sun set, light penetration was reduced and they rose up in water column. We would follow them up. Walleye on erie do same. After dark, we'd catch those gravel pit fish by lantern light on minnows/bobbers 2 ft down over deep water. Fast action but when it was over for the night, it was over.

Prob ought to touch on the light penetration thing. Old school is put your bait just deeper than you can see a submerged white coffee cup in spring. This is different. Plankton migrate up in water column at night, baitfish follow, then crappie. Good luck

Xtackle still has some of the 200 series ripshads available.

 

Wax worms! I always forget about wax worms after ice but I’ve often thought they should work on stubborn crappie. I’m going to try that next time.

 

There great for early spring and late fall .I tip hair jigs with them

 

Thanks JCarp for the thoughtful reply. Very helpful information that should help eliminate a chunk of learning curve

 

I've had a few 20 plus crappie days at hoover over the last month or two so you can definitely still catch them. That's all from the bank too so I bet you'd have an even easier time if you rolled through on the kayak

That being said there were many days where I struggled to catch a single one with hours of effort.

They only really start biting right at sunset and the bite usually stays good until I decide to leave. I pretty much only use white crappie magnets on a 1/64 jighead with a very slow retrieve

Hopefully the cool weather makes it easier, good luck!

 

Isaac02 - Over the years I have fished in those areas you are talking about during the summer and never really done that well for crappie in the summer - Not saying you can't find them but there are lot better spots on the main lake that you can find crappie ready to eat.