To biologists, “sunfish” is the family name for several species, including bass, crappie and bluegill. However, to most anglers, “sunfish” is a collective term for bluegill, shellcrackers (redear sunfish), pumpkinseeds, green sunfish, longear sunfish, war-mouth and other similar species that southerners call “bream.” These are the most numerous and widespread of all panfish. They are willing feeders, which makes them easy to catch. They’re also scrappy fighters, and they’re delicious to eat. This is why sunfish are extremely popular with beginning anglers. It’s a safe bet that a sunfish was the first catch of the vast majority of North American fishermen.
Sunfish live in warm-water lakes, reservoirs, rivers and ponds throughout the U.S. and southern Canada. They spend most time in shallow to medium depths, usually around weeds, rocks, brush, boat docks or other cover types. They feed mostly on tiny invertebrates, larval and adult insects, worms, small minnows and other prey.
Sunfish are capable of reproducing in great numbers. One adult female will produce tens of thousands of eggs in a single season. Because of this, many smaller waters experience sunfish overpopulation. The result is lots of little fish that never grow large enough to be considered “keepers” by fishermen. However, in waters where there are enough bass and other predators to prevent overpopulation, some sunfish species will average a half-pound in size, and some individuals can exceed a pound.
The bluegill is the most popular sunfish. The world-record bluegill was caught in Alabama in 1950. It weighed a whopping 4 pounds 12 ounces!
Crappie are widespread and abundant in many waters, and they’re prized for their delicious table quality. They average larger in size than sunfish, and they are fairly easy to catch. These are reasons why millions of anglers target these fish each year.
Bluegill Sunfish
Black Crappie
White Crappie
Yellow Perch
Actually, there are two crappie species: white and black. Differences between these species are minor. One apparent difference is as their names imply. Black crappie have darker, blotchier scale patterns than white crappie, which usually have dark vertical bars.
Both these species live in natural lakes, reservoirs, larger ponds and quiet, deep pools of medium-to-large streams. Crappie occur naturally from southern Ontario to the Gulf of Mexico in the eastern half of North America. They, too, have been stocked into numerous lakes and rivers in the West. Black crappie are typically found in cooler, clearer lakes, while white crappie inhabit warmer lakes that are dingier in color.
Traditionally, most crappie fishing occurs in the spring, when these fish migrate into quiet, shallow areas to spawn. When the water temperature climbs into the low-60° F range, they begin laying eggs in or next to such cover as reeds, brush, stumps, or man-made fish attractors built and sunk by anglers.
After spawning, crappie head back to deeper water, where they collect in schools and hold along sunken creek channels, weed lines, standing timber, sunken brushpiles and other areas where the lake bottom contour changes suddenly or where deep submerged cover exists. Expert crappie anglers know that these fish can be caught from such areas all year long, though they must employ some fairly specialized techniques to do so.
Crappie feed mainly on small baitfish and invertebrates. In some lakes, they average a pound or more in size; crappie over 2 pounds are considered trophies. The world-record white crappie weighed 5 pounds 3 ounces and was caught in Mississippi in 1957. The world-record black crappie weighed 4 pounds 8 ounces and was boated in Virginia in 1981.
Along with walleye and sauger, yellow perch are members of the perch family. These fish average 6-10 inches long, though many lakes only have stunted “bait stealers” that are smaller than this average.
Still, yellow perch are very popular since they are delicious to eat. The world-record yellow perch (4 pounds 3 ounces) was caught in New Jersey in 1865.
The yellow perch’s natural range extends through-out the Northeast, Midwest and Canada (except British Columbia). It lives in all the Great Lakes and inhabits many brackish waters along the Atlantic Coast. Yellow perch have also been stocked in many reservoirs outside their natural range. These fish thrive in clean lakes, reservoirs, ponds and large rivers that have sand, rock or gravel bottoms. They also abound in weedy, mud-bottomed lakes, though these are the type spots where they tend to run small in size.
Yellow perch swim in schools and feed on minnows, small crustaceans, snails, leeches and invertebrates. Adults spend most of their lives in deep water, usually moving shallow to feed, mostly during daylight hours in areas exposed to sunlight.
These fish begin spawning when the water temperature climbs into the mid-40° F range (mid-50s in the southern part of their range). Yellow perch often make spawning runs up feeder streams; they also spawn around shallow weeds and brush.
Bluegill and other small sunfish are my choice for someone just starting out in fishing. These are usually the most plentiful fish in ponds and small lakes, and they always seem willing to bite.
In spring, early summer and fall, sunfish stay in shallow to medium-deep water (2-10 feet). In hot-test summer and coldest winter, they normally move deeper, though they may still occasionally feed in the shallows.
Small sunfish love to hold around brush, logs, weeds, piers and other cover. On cloudy days or in dingy water, these fish often hang around edges of such structure. This is true during the early morning and late afternoon. But during the part of the day when the sun is brightest, especially in clear-water ponds, sunfish swim into brush or vegetation, under piers or tight to stumps and logs. On sunny days, they like to hide in shady areas.
If possible, get out early to fish for sunfish in a pond or small lake. Take a long panfish pole or light-action spinning or spin-cast rod and reel spooled with 4- or 6-pound test line. Tie a fixed-bobber rig with a long-shank wire hook (#6 or #8), a little split shot, and a bobber.
(Remember to balance the weight of your split shot and bobber!)
For bait, try earthworms, crickets or grasshoppers. Thread a small worm up the shank of the hook, or use only a small piece of night crawler. A whole cricket or grasshopper is the perfect-size bite for a bluegill.
Next, adjust the bobber so your bait hangs mid-way between the surface and the bottom. If you can’t see bottom and you don’t know how deep the pond is, begin fishing 2-4 feet deep. If you don’t catch fish, experiment with other depths.
A fallen tree or log can form an ideal hiding place for bass, sunfish, and other species. Be sure to carefully scout a small lake or pond for such underwater structure.
Let’s say you think sunfish may be holding around weeds growing close to the bank. Drop your bait in next to the weeds. The bobber should be floating upright. If it’s laying on its side, the bait is probably on bottom. In this case shorten the distance between the bobber and hook so the bait will suspend above the bottom.
Be careful not to stand right over the spot you’re fishing, especially if the water’s clear. The fish will see you and become spooky. Sometimes it’s better to sit on the pond bank rather than stand. Wear natural-colored or camouflage clothing and avoid making any commotion that might scare the fish.
Sunfish will usually bite with little hesitation so if you don’t get a bite in a couple of minutes, twitch your bait to get the fish’s attention.
Carefully select locations to place your bait. Keep it close to cover, and if the fish aren’t biting well, look for openings in cover where you can drop the bait without getting hung up.
If you’re not getting bites, try something different. Fish around another type of structure. If you’ve been fishing in shallow water, try a deeper area. (Don’t forget to lengthen the distance between your bobber and hook.) If the pond has a dam, drop your bait close to it.
If there is an overflow, aerator or fish feeder, try around those.
Most anglers who pond-fish walk the banks, but you have two other options. You can fish from a small boat to cover more water, or you can wade-fish. This technique is especially good in ponds with a lot of brush, cattails or similar cover. In warm months, you can wade-fish in old pants and tennis shoes.
Remember to “think structure.” Don’t drop your bait at some random spot in the middle of the pond and then sit and watch your bobber for an hour. Keep moving until you begin catching fish. Then slow down and work the area thoroughly. Once you find a productive spot, stay with it as long as the fish keep biting.
A special opportunity exists during spring when sunfish are spawning. They fan nests in shallow water (2-5 feet deep) around the banks and especially in the shallow end of a pond. Often you can see the nests. They’re about the size of a dinner plate, and they appear light against the dark pond bottom. Usually, many nests will be clustered in the same area.
When you see these “beds,” set your bobber shallow and drop your bait right next to them, trying not to spook the fish. You’re probably better off casting into the beds rather than sneaking in close with a long pole.
There’s little difference in fishing for sunfish in small ponds or in large lakes. Catching them is a simple matter of figuring out their locations and then getting a bait in front of them.
In spring, sunfish migrate into shallow areas to spawn, so look for them in bays and pockets along wind-protected shorelines. Before spawning, sunfish hold around brush, stumps, weeds, rocks or other structure in 2-8 feet of water. Then, as the water temperature climbs into the mid-60° F range, sunfish will move up into 1-4 feet of water and spawn in areas that have firm bottoms - gravel, sand, clay.
Long poles or light-action spinning or spin-cast tackle will take these fish. Use fixed or slip-bobber rigs with wiggler worms, crickets or a small hair jig tipped with a maggot for bait. When fishing around cover, keep your bait close in. When fishing a spawning area, drop the bait right into the beds. (When fishing a visible sunfish spawning bed, try the outer edge first, then work your way to the center. This keeps fish that are hooked and struggling from spooking other fish off their beds.)
If it’s spawning time and no beds are visible, fish through likely areas and keep moving until you start getting bites. If sunfish are around, they’ll bite with little hesitation, so don’t stay very long in one place if you’re not getting any action.
After spawning, sunfish head back to deeper water. Many fish will still hold around visible cover, but they prefer to be near deep water. Two classic examples are a weedline on the edge of a drop-off and a steep rocky bank.
Ponds and small lakes are plentiful throughout north America, and many offer very good action on fish that rarely see baits or artificial lures. These diminutive waters are great places for beginners to learn the basics of this sport.
Besides a bobber rig, another good way to take sunfish is “jump-jigging,” which involves casting a 1/16-ounce tube jig around weeds or rocks. Use a very light spinning outfit. Slowly reel the tube jig away from the cover and let the jig sink along the edge. Set the hook when you feel a bump or tug. This technique requires a boat, since you have to be over deep, open water casting into the weeds.
Docks, fishing piers and bridges are good locations to catch post-spawn sunfish. The water may be deep, but usually the fish will be up near the surface, holding under or close to the structures. Don’t stand on a dock, pier or bridge and cast far out into the water. The fish are likely to be under your feet! Set your bobber so your bait hangs deeper than you can see, then keep your bait close to the structure.
Sometimes you have to experiment with different depths to find where sunfish are holding, and you should change location if you’re not getting bites. Once you find the fish, work the area thoroughly. Sunfish swim in big schools after spawning, and you can catch several in one place.
One special sunfish opportunity exists when insects are hatching. If you can find insects swarming over the water and fish swirling beneath them, get ready for some hot action! Just thread one of the flies onto a small hook, and drop it into this natural dining room.
Fishing for crappie in ponds and small lakes is similar to fishing for bluegill and sunfish. Always fish close to structure and stay on the move until you find fish. The primary difference is the bait you use. Crappie prefer minnows over other natural baits, and they readily attack small jigs and spinners.
Long poles are a favorite with crappie fishermen. Many crappie experts quietly skull a small boat from one piece of structure to the next, and use a panfish pole to dangle a float rig with a minnow or jig in next to cover. They ease their bait down beside a tree or piece of brush, leave it for a moment, pick it up, set it down on the other side, then move to the next spot. In small lakes and ponds, crappie scatter throughout the shallow structure, and this “hunt-and-peck” method of fishing is very effective. This is especially true in spring, when the fish move into shallow cover to spawn. You can also use this method while wade-fishing or fishing from shore, if the structure is within reach.
One secret to fishing ponds and small lakes is to keep moving until you locate fish. A small boat will enable an angler to cover more water and prime fish locations.
Another good crappie technique is to use a slip-bobber rig with a spinning or spin-cast outfit. Hook a live minnow through the back onto a thin wire hook (#2) or through the lips on a lightweight (1/16 or 1/32 ounce) jig. Then cast this rig next to a weedline, brush-pile or log.
If you don’t get a bite in 5 minutes, try somewhere else. If you get a bite, don’t yank if the bobber is just twitching. Wait for the bobber to start moving off or disappear beneath the surface before setting the hook. Crappie have soft mouths, so don’t set too hard, or you’ll rip out the hook. Instead, lift up on your pole or rod, and you should have the fish.
If you don’t catch fish shallow, try deeper water, especially during hot summer months or on bright, clear days. Adjust your bobber up the line and drop your bait right in front of the dam or off the end of a pier. Try casting into the middle of the pond and see what happens. With this method of fishing, 6-10 feet is not too deep. There is less certainty in this technique, however, because you’re hunting for crappie in a random area.
To cover a lot of water, cast a 1/16-ounce jig or a small in-line spinner. After casting, count slowly as the bait sinks. After a few seconds, begin your retrieve. Try different counts (depths). If you get a bite, let the bait sink to the same count next time. You may have found the depth where crappie are holding. This technique is called the “countdown” method of fishing with a sinking bait.
When retrieving the jig, move it at a slow to moderate pace, and alternate between a straight pull and a rising/falling path back through the water. With the spinner, a slow, straight retrieve is best. Crappie will usually bite if you pull either of these baits past them.
Crappie follow the same seasonal patterns as sunfish, except slightly earlier. When spring breaks, crappie head into bays and quiet coves to get ready to spawn. When the water warms into the low-60° F range, they fan out into the shallows. They spawn in or around brush, reeds, stumps, logs, roots, submerged timber, artificial fish attractors or other cover. Crappie spawning depth depends on water color. In dingy water, they may spawn only a foot or two deep. But in clear water, they’ll spawn deeper, as far down as 12 feet. A good depth to try is 1 to 2 feet below the depth at which your bait sinks out of sight.
Minnows or small plastic jigs are good baits to try. Drop them next to or into potential spawning cover. You can do this from the bank, from a boat, or by wade-fishing the shallows. Lower the bait, wait 30 seconds, then move the bait to another spot. When fishing a brush pile, treetop or reed patch, try moving the bait around in the cover. If you catch a fish, put the bait back into the same spot to try for another. Stay on the move until you find some action.
After crappie spawn, they head back toward deeper water, where they collect along underwater ledges, creek channel banks and other sharp bottom contour breaks. This is where a topo map can help. If you’re fishing from shore, look for spots where deep water runs close to the bank.
Don’t let the size of a lake or reservoir intimidate you. Fish do the same things in big lakes that they do in small ponds. Bass, bluegill and others often hang around rocky banks.
Then go to these areas and look for treetops, brush, logs or other visible cover. Fish these spots with minnows or jigs. Or, if there is no visible cover, cast jigs randomly from shore. Wait until the jig sinks to the bottom before starting your retrieve. Then use a slow, steady retrieve to work the bait back up the bank. Set the hook when you feel any slight “thump” or when you see your line twitch.
Fish attractors are another good crappie opportunity. Many fish and wildlife agencies sink brush or other cover into prime deep-water areas to concentrate fish. These attractors are then marked so anglers can find them. They may be out in a bay or around fishing piers or bridges. Dangle minnows or jigs around and into the middle of the cover. You’ll hang up once in awhile, but you’ll also catch fish.
Fall may be the second best time to catch crappie in large lakes and reservoirs. When the water starts cooling, they move back into shallow areas, holding around cover. Troll slowly through bays, casting jigs or dropping minnows into likely spots.
Yellow perch spawn in early spring when the water temperature climbs into the high 40° F range. They head into a lake’s feeder streams or shallows, and during this migration, they are extremely easy to catch.
A fixed- or slip-bobber rig is a good choice for perch. Use light line (4-8 pound test) and a #6 long-shank hook. Add a small split shot and bobber, bait with worms or live minnows, and drop the bait into shallow areas around cover. If you don’t get quick action, try somewhere else.
After the spawn, these fish return to main lake areas. Smaller fish hold along weedlines, and jump-jigging is a good way to take them. (Refer to the “Sunfish” part of this section.) Larger perch move onto reefs, ledges and deep points, and hang close to bottom. They may hold as deep as 40 feet.
Again, ask bait dealers about good deep-water perch spots. When you find one, fish it with a two-hook panfish rig. Bump your bait along bottom to attract strikes. If you catch a fish, unhook it quickly and drop a fresh bait right back into the same spot. Other perch will be drawn by the commotion.
For a mixed-bag springtime catch of crappies, bluegills, perch, walleyes, bass—you name it—fish a small jig, sweetened with a minnow hooked upwards through the lip, and use a sliding bobber at your preferred depth. Experiment to find the depth where you’re getting strikes and enjoying the pulls and fun that make you feel like a kid again. Use ¼-, ⅛-, or 1/16-ounce jigheads, with white or yellow soft-plastic grubs, such as Kalin’s Triple Threat (Bass Pro Shops). Your preferred float, stick, or bobber should be on the small side to be sensitive to tentative cold-water hits.
Lamar Underwood holds up a crappie he took on jig.
That spinners for panfish need to be small is fairly basic know-how, but often overlooked is the need for the spinner blades to be thin, therefore turning easily and quickly at the slightest and slowest pull.
“Regardless of where you live, bluegills generally start spawning just about when largemouth bass are finishing … If conditions are favorable they might even spawn several times a year.”
—John Weiss, “Panfish Secrets the Bass Experts Won’t Tell,”
Sports Afield, October 1973
Among the many landmark articles writer John Weiss did for Sports Afield, one of my favorites was his extraordinary “Panfish Secrets the Bass Experts Won’t Tell,” which appeared in the October 1973 issue. As he often did, John Weiss gave serious panfish anglers lots to think about and tricks to try from what he learned fishing with expert Norm Saylor in a fully rigged bass boat at Lake Eufaula, Alabama. An experienced, deep-water, structure bass angler, Saylor used spinning-rod tactics exclusively in his search for big gills. Saylor’s Strategy: If your favorite lake—or the one you’re fishing—has any big bluegills, they’re going to be in deep water most of the time. At different times, the big gills will move out of deep-water sanctuaries, using established migration routes, to reach their feeding areas. Then, back they go to deep water. To find them, you have to crack into their deep-water sanctuaries, just as in bass fishing.
Continuing John Weiss’ revealing look at the tactics of angler Norm Saylor: “Drifting along any shoreline, it’s easy to spot the honeycomb appearance of several clusters of spawning beds,” Norm explained. “But I look for mammoth concentrations where there might be as many as fifty beds in one small area. This first part is duck soup, and most anglers look no farther. They break out their fly rods and have a ball with 6-inch-long fish, not realizing there might be a group of 1 ½-pounders only 50 yards away.” Working deep and deeper toward bars and a submerged island, Saylor and Weiss eventually locked on a concentration of bulls and took eleven, with the smallest going 1 pound even and the largest exactly 2 pounds, a trophy bluegill anywhere.
“If you have never witnessed firsthand a bull bluegill in the 1½ or 2-pound category, it’s quite an awesome sight … Usually, the bulls are much darker in color than their smaller counterparts, sometimes taking on an almost black color … The average length of these bulls is about 12 inches. Even the trophy bluegills seldom exceed this length … Now hold out your hand, palm-up. With a bull bluegill lying in your hand and his nose just covering your middle finger, your entire hand should be covered. His mammoth tail section will extend down your forearm, completely covering the band of your wristwatch.”
—John Weiss, “Panfish Secrets the Bass Experts Won’t Tell,” Sports Afield, October 1973
“The world-record bluegill of 4-pounds-plus was only 15 inches long. As the bulls reach maturity, they gain practically all of their weight in girth and breadth, not length.”
—John Weiss, “Panfish Secrets the Bass Experts Won’t Tell,”
Sports Afield, October 1973
If you want big bluegills, the trick is to go deep.
In a February 1972 article in Sports Afield, frequent contributor Col. Dave Harbour published the results of some really serious panfish lure experiments. He found he caught more panfish, and far bigger ones, by adding a tiny sliver of a white plastic worm. His No. 1 bait was a tiny lead-head black-and-white nymph with a No. 10 hook. He cut the sliver of worm the same length and size of the nymph and hooked it so most of the worm was off the hook, wiggling. “I don’t pretend to know why the weighted black-and-white nymph tipped with white worm is such a lethal big bull bluegill magnet … but the worm sliver sure transformed the nymph into a dessert bottom-hugging bluegills couldn’t resist.”
Writing in the April 1972 issue of Sports Afield, Angling Editor Homer Circle described one of the deadliest panfishing rigs he had ever seen. It simply consisted of a No. 1 Indiana spinner blade, super-polished and delicate to turn at the slightest movement, with a couple of beads up the line for weight and a No. 6 Eagle Claw hook baited with a sliver of flesh cut from the side of a panfish. The strip was 1¼ inches long and tapered like a minnow, from a starting width of ¼ inch. The angler who developed the method back then, Dave Goforth, said, “The spinner calls ‘em, and the meat gets ‘em.”
In what it called the “Ultimate Lure Survey,” published in March 2008, Field & Stream magazine asked 1,000 of its hard-core readers to name their favorite lures. The winners for the Panfish category were:
Jigs, 40%, Jig with Mister Twister
Spinners, 33%, Beetle Spin
Soft-Plastics, 15%, Berkley Gulp! Earthworm with Berkley Power Grub second
Minnow-Type Lures, 8%, Original Rapala with Rebel second
Crankbaits, 2%, Rattlin’ Rapala
Spoons, 2%, Dardevle
Because the crappie is such a popular and widespread fish—famous for both the action and in the pan—much confusion exists over crappie identifcation. White crappie, black crappie, calico bass—three names, but, whoops, there are only two fish, two real crappies. The white crappie is the most common and widely distributed. The black crappie is the fish sometimes called “calico bass,” although at times you will also hear the white crappie called “calico bass.” It’s very confusing, but throw out the “calico” label and you have the two fish everybody catches and loves to eat—white crappie and black crappie. The dorsal fins of both fish are different, but the easiest way to distinguish between the white and black crappie is by noting that the spots on the white crappie are arranged in neat vertical bars, while on the black crappie they are scattered randomly along the sides of the fish.
When bluegills are bedding—the time varies greatly from area to area— fly fishing for these hard-fighting panfish really comes into its own. After you spot the smoothed, rounded patches of the spawning beds, cast a nymph on a light leader into the spots and let it sink onto the beds. A bluegill will pick it up, take it off the bed, and then spit it out. The fish are not feeding, only housekeeping.
They don’t call crappies “paper-mouths” for nothing. Those lips with the wide section of thin membrane mean that you can never be sure of a fish until it’s in the boat. Crappies, even big ones, are not powerful fighters, but what they lack in power they make up for in suspense, since your hook can pull loose at any moment. I’ve seen some crappies-to-die-for lost right at the net or hand when the hook broke through the lips of the “papermouth.”
Black crappies have randomly scattered spots on their sides.
In the heat and blazing suns of high summer, you probably won’t have much luck catching the really big bluegills by fishing your usual spots—shoreline cover, stumps, fallen trees. The occasional good fish might be taken early or late in the day, but mostly the pickings will be slim. Still, provided your lake has a healthy bluegill population, the slab-sided fish you covet can be found and taken. Instead of target casting to cover, fish for them deep with 1/16- or 1/32-ounce jigs, straight over the sides of the boat. Yes, straight down! Slowly work the jigs up and down at various depths and locations until you find the fish. Note the level where you’ve finally hit the schools of big fish, and you’ll be in business with a close-up of the fish with the jig in the corner of its mouth.
Back in 1975, when I was editor of Sports Afield, Angling Editor Homer Circle came through with many articles on advanced skills, sometimes working with his friend, the legendary guide-turned-filmmaker Glen Lau (producer of Bigmouth and others). One of the best presentations from this talented combo was an article on fishing deep for summer bluegills by using a method that is a virtual pioneer on today’s drop-shot fishing. The irony is that the “pioneer” method is better than today’s—because it used Glen Lau’s knot, which is a great improvement over the Surgeon’s Knot or Palomar Knot used in today’s drop-shot rigs. Homer and Glen came up with a rig consisting of a weighted jig fly (or small jig) on the end of the line, then a dropper 8 inches above, and another 6 inches above that. Each dropper was 2 inches long, using very tiny mono. The dropper was attached to a ⅛-inch Lau Loop, which had a more-sensitive feel and presented the fly more enticingly. Homer and Glen used very tiny 18-inch ice-fishing rods rigged with three guides and Ambassadeur reels. The flies were No. 12s to 16s and dropped straight down to the bottom. They were deadly when jigged and retrieved simultaneously. With a little imagination, you can put together a similar rig today and customize the tactics with various mini-jigs and flies. It’s deadly on deep panfish.
Those sponge-rubber spiders that look and feel real enough to bite you will catch far, far bigger bluegills if you wrap some lead wire around their heads. They’re made to be fished on top, but that’s seldom where the big ‘gills are hanging out. They’re deep. You’ve got to find them, then get your spider down to them.
Yellow perch are prime targets for anglers everywhere, but especially in the Great Lakes region where they grow big and fat. Veteran angler Steve Ryan explains how to cash in on the action in the article “Summer Perchin’” on the Lindy Tackle Web site, www.lindyfishingtackle.com: “Lake Michigan’s fishery has changed considerably over the last several decades but the methods for catching these tasty fish remain the same. Crappie spreaders, Lindy rigs, jigs, and slip floats will catch you a limit of perch no matter where you fish. These rigs are nothing more than bait delivery systems designed to present live bait to fish in the most effective means possible.” Ryan likes to set up his rigs with minnows when the water is cold, then night crawlers or softshell crawfish when the water temperatures top the mid-50s. See his article for more details.
If you’re not happy with the numbers of crappies you’ve been getting in summer, try using crankbaits. Especially on larger waters, where the crappie schools roam around a lot, and where they often go deep, crankbaits either cast or trolled can produce big crappies for you. Some favorite models of top guides include the 2-inch Bandits in sizes that dive to varying depths, and Rebel’s 2-inch Deep Vee-R, which dives to 8 to 10 feet.
When your favorite fly rod and topwater floaters are producing absolutely no strikes, why spend the day flailing the water? Pick up a light spinning outfit, tie a one-quarter-ounce sinker to the end of your line with a dropper leader 1-foot long tied 18 inches to 2 feet above the sinker. Tie on a No. 8 floating bug and send your rig down where the fish are. Dancing the bug just off the bottom is especially effective when you’re in an area where the bream are concentrated.
To the eye, the redbreast sunfish is an explosion of color, shaped like a living sunrise portrait. At the end of a light rod or pole, whether cane or new-tech fibers, the redbreast’s runs to escape are line-breaking, rod-bending displays of power, made effective by the deep, slab-sided body and the sweeps of the powerful tail. To the palate, the white, firm fillets of fried redbreast are delicious to a point that defies description. As a card-carrying Georgia boy from the heart of redbreast country, along the banks of the Ogeechee River, I have spent most of my life far from my beloved river, but its siren call has always pulled me back. I return to Georgia to find, catch, and eat redbreasts every chance I get—with corn dodgers on the side, thank you very much.
The ubiquitous bluegill—brim, if you will—completes the lure of black-water fishing with the redbreast, but does not quite provide the rewards of redbreast fishing. Bluegills vary in color from dark, shadowy blue to the sunburst colors of the redbreast, but they are not the same fish. The redbreast (Lepomis auritus) is better tasting and harder fighting.
Redbreasts live and thrive in clean, dark, low-country currents of the southeastern United States that sweep over sandy bottoms, glaring white when the sun hits them, and through boggy swamplands of oaks, cypress, sweet gums, and magnolia. Towering pines loom on the higher ground along the serpentine courses of the rivers and creeks, where the never-ending cries of birds mark the flow.
If you’re fortunate enough to live in the South, treasure every catalpa tree you can find. For the catalpa caterpillar is the ultimate live bait for bluegills, redbreasts, and just about every other fish swimming in southern waters. Some of the old-timers used to recommend turning the catalpa inside out. Experiment if you wish, but I don’t think you have to. Catalpa bonus: You can keep them in the fridge.
Crickets are a mainstay of panfishing with live bait—and a mainstay of bait shops—but they come off the hook easily and you’ll be plagued by minnows and tiny fish constantly stealing your bait. They’re best used when you’re after big panfish.
One popular theory on choosing lines and leaders for panfish, especially bream, is to use very light leaders in still water so that the bait falls in a soft, lifelike manner, as if dropping from a tree. In current, or areas so filled with stumps and limbs that you’re bound to hook into them, use a very strong leader and springy, light hook that will straighten out with a strong, steady pull. That way you won’t keep losing your whole rig in the stumps.
We want to find crappies fast. Today! Now! One of the best ways to do it is to use two rods, with sinkers and baits for two different depths, and using slip bobbers. These bobbers allow every cast to return to its previous depth, saving time and putting you on the fish faster. Once you’ve found the depths the fish are taking on a particular day, you can set your bobber and forget it. The Betts “Mister Crappie” Slippers at www.basspro.com are good ones, as are the Cabela’s “Easy-On Slip Bobbers,” www.cabelas.com.
You may have fished for years with great success using regular hooks, but if you’re a live bait angler you’re going to do much better with today’s bait-keeper hooks. They keep your bait on the hook much longer, thereby catching more fish.
Panfish fillets are great, but this old Georgia-raised boy likes the whole fish, deep-fried. Scale them, gut them, cut off the heads (being careful to save that big hunk of meat just behind the head), and slide them into the fat. I’m willing to put up with the bones to get every morsel of this delicious meat.
Crappie invade shallow-water haunts along the banks of lakes, rivers and ponds during the spring spawning season. This makes them much easier to find and catch than during other seasons and results in more anglers fishing for crappie during this period.
The following tips, however, will improve your fishing success throughout the spring—before, during and after the spawn.
Spring is a season of bounty for crappie anglers. When these panfish are in the shallows on their beds, it’s often easy to catch dozens in a short time.
When spring weather turns rainy, crappie often move from deep to shallow water, making them easier to find and catch.
Successful prespawn anglers know how crappie react to changing weather patterns. This season has lots of bumps, starts and backups. Warming trends are interrupted by sudden cold fronts. Crappie migrate from deep water to shallow and back several times before settling into spawning patterns.
The best fishing usually is toward the end of warm spells. One clue is a cold front approaching after several warm days. During this time, male crappie start fanning in shallows. Females also move shallow, looking for food. Therefore, focus fishing efforts on shallow waters where spawning will occur.
When a cold front hits, crappie return to deeper waters, holding near distinct bottom structure where light penetration is minimal and winter cover is abundant. If conditions are sunny and windy (typical after a cold front arrives), wave action cuts light penetration, and crappie remain near mid-depth structure. Several days after the cold front hits, the wind calms, allowing greater light penetration and driving crappie to deeper structure and cover.
If weather remains sunny and begins warming before the passage of another cold front, crappie gradually begin migrating back to shallow waters. Rainy weather, especially a warm rain, sends them scurrying to shallow reaches.
Consider all these factors when selecting areas in which to focus your fishing efforts.
Don’t overlook the opportunity to take loads of spring crappie in the tailwater below a big-river dam. River crappie often move upstream in early spring, searching for spawning sites. When they reach a dam, they mill around for a while, and you have an excellent chance for extraordinary catches. A jig/minnow combination often outproduces a jig or minnow alone in this situation. Cast around wing dams, boulders, lock walls and other current breaks where crappie can rest and feed.
As crappie are caught and removed from a spawning bed, other fish move in to take over prime nesting sites. Therefore, fishing may continue to be good at a single site for many days throughout the spawn.
Crappie on beds often get spooked and disappear. If you wait 15 or 20 minutes and come back, chances are the fish will be in the same spot. But if you use an ordinary marker buoy to mark the spot, someone else is likely to see it and beat you to the punch. Instead, tie a piece of brightly colored yarn around a stick-up or weed stem near the bedding area. That way, only you will know the location of the hotspot.
You’re less likely to frighten skittish crappie if you turn off your outboard well before reaching the spot you want to fish. Drift into position, or use a trolling motor to cover the last few yards to your fishing area.
In some situations, even the sound of a trolling motor can scare crappie off their nests. Avoid this by using a small paddle to scull your boat from the front seat. This is much quieter and may provide the edge you need to get closer. A cane pole or jigging pole is great for this style of fishing. If you’re adept at sculling, you can keep on the move until crappie are found, fishing different spots all the while. And when employing one of the 10- to 20-foot featherweight poles now available, you can keep your distance to avoid spooking these edgy shallow-water fish.
If you’re fishing with live minnows and crappie seem especially watchful, don’t weight your bait. Use a thin-wire Aberdeen hook on a 6 ½- foot spinning rod matched with a long-spool, easy-cast reel full of 2- or 4-pound-test mono. With this rig, you can easily cast the unweighted minnow 50 feet or more. Hook the minnow through the back and cast toward likely hiding spots. The minnow should struggle near the surface for a short time, attracting nearby crappie. Then as the baitfish tires, it begins sinking, still wiggling enticingly. Crappie can’t resist.
Any angler targeting spring crappie in dense cover also should consider fishing with Charlie Brewer Weed-less Crappie Sliders. These unique lures are to crappie fishing what plastic worms are to bass fishing. When properly rigged, with the hook point of the special-made jighead buried in the grub, they can be worked through almost any cover without hang-ups. Cast and retrieve them around stumps and logs, work them like jigs in brush or fish them beneath a slip float in weed-bed pockets. There’s simply no better snag-free lure for fishing spring hideaways.
Jig/minnow combos are great spring crappie-catchers, too, but often too bulky for fishing tangles. You’ll still have an edge, though, if you tip your jig with a tiny piece of minnow instead of the whole thing. The added smell/taste increases your catch when finicky crappie avoid plain jigs.
Tilt your motor up and paddle to avoid spooking cagey spring crappie.
Topwater plugs and flies don’t make good crappie lures most of the year, but slabs in skinny spawning waters can see these lures more easily than fish in deeper water. Sponge-rubber spiders, popping bugs and little plugs such as Rebel’s Bumble Bug and Big Ant make little disturbance when cast to bedding areas and often draw reaction strikes from fat male crappie guarding their nests.
A float tube, or belly boat, provides a great means for slipping up on spring crappie in backcountry oxbows, small ponds and other waters with no boat ramp. Or don some waders and go right in. An ultralight Spinning rod and a few Crappie Sliders are all you need to nab slabs anywhere they hide.
Spawning may continue until the water temperature reaches 70 degrees or more. As soon as crappie leave their beds and shallow-water fishing takes a nosedive, look for fish in the same staging areas where they were found just prior to the spawn, places such as points, creek channel edges and drop-offs bordering shallow flats.
Male crappie guarding nests often nab tiny plugs like rebel’s Big ant.
During hot weather, crappie fishing gets tough … unless you know the secrets for summer success. These tips could help.
When you know the thermocline’s depth, look for areas where crappie-attracting structure covers the bottom at that depth, then bottom-fish a live minnow. Thread a slip sinker on your line, and below it, tie on a barrel swivel. To the swivel’s lower eye, tie a 3-foot leader of light line tipped with a crappie hook. Add a minnow, then cast the rig and allow it to settle to the bottom. When a crappie takes the bait, the line moves freely through the sinker with no resistance to alert fish to a possible threat.
Some crappie anglers quit fishing after crappie spawn, but summer is a season of plenty, too, if you know where to look for crappie and how to entice them.
Summer crappie often suspend in 10 to 20 feet of water around the branches of standing submerged trees. To reach them quickly, lower a small jigging spoon on a tight line directly down through the branches. Give the spoon a short upward pull at every 3 feet of depth. Crappie often inhale the lure as it falls, and you won’t know one is on until you raise your rod tip.
When fishing is slow during daylight hours, try an approach that duplicates the use of a crappie light at night. A light attracts insects, which in turn attracts minnows. But minnows also are attracted by chumming with dry dog food, bread crumbs or similar offerings. Scatter the chum by handfuls in several shallow-water areas, then move back to the first place you put chum and drop in a minnow. Fish each consecutive spot and see if your catch rate doesn’t improve. Often, it will.
Here’s another “chumming” method to try when fishing is slow. Save some scales from the next crappie you fillet. Rinse them and store inside a sealable container filled with water. Carry the container on your outings, and if things get slow, drop a few scales in the water above inundated cover. Crappie blow out the scales of baitfish as they eat them. As the scales fall, they flicker and catch the eye of crappie, which often will move toward them to investigate. A jig or minnow presented on a tight line in the vicinity of scales you drop may get hit.
Cypress-shrouded lakes and bayous tend to be shallow, which allows the water to reach excessively high summer temperatures. When the temperature exceeds their comfort level, crappie get lethargic and tough to catch. There’s one place, however, where crappie still find comfort—inside hollow cypress trees.
The best trees have small to medium openings to the interior, thus excluding most outside light. Don’t drop a minnow or jig inside the tree, but dangle it enticingly just outside the opening. Crappie will dart out when they see your offering, then usually rush back inside. Use heavy line, set the hook quickly and try to keep the fish outside the hollow so it doesn’t tangle you.
Hot-weather crappie often hide in the confines of dark cypress hollows.
When trolling for summer crappie, try positioning your trolling motor(s) so they pull your boat sideways. This allows you to move in a very slow, controlled fashion so you can mine deep structures more effciently.
Summer weather tends to be stable, with minimal effects on crappie activity. But when conditions are such that afternoon thunderstorms are popping up day after day, plan an outing that allows you to fish just before a storm hits. Don’t be on the water during periods of lightning or high wind. But if you can do it safely, be fishing when the clouds start to thicken and the wind picks up. Just before a storm hits, crappie often move to surface strata and feed actively. The action may last only a few minutes, but during those few minutes, you may catch more fish than you will the rest of the day.
When a summer storm ends, look for crappie in the thickest available cover—buckbrush, willow thickets, etc. Allow the wind to blow your boat against the cover. Use a long pole to work a jig into the brush, then fish little pockets most folks miss. Fish the jig with little movement, and work each hole thoroughly.
A great lure for jumbo summer crappie is a tail-spinner like Mann’s Little George or Strike King’s Sand Blaster. These often are referred to as “drop baits” because they sink very quickly. They’re ideal for catching crappie on deep channel drops, humps and ledges. Freeline the lure to the depth where fish show up on your sonar, then retrieve it at a fast clip for hard reaction strikes.
On bright sunny days, crappie may move fairly shallow if they can find overhead cover that shades them from bright rays. Boat docks, fishing piers and swimming platforms provide such cover, but anglers in boats may fail to get bites because crappie can see them. These same fish may bite, however, when the angler walks on the wooden structure and fishes from above. Crappie get used to foot traffic on these structures and seldom spook, so the quiet overhead approach often works when a bait presented from a boat won’t. Let the wind drift a minnow or jig suspended under a bobber into the shade beneath the structure. Or try fishing a small jig vertically through wide cracks in boards over the shadiest water.
Drop baits like mann’s Little George sink fast to quickly reach deep summer crappie.
Slingshotting, also called shooting, is another way to get at summer crappie hiding beneath man-made structures such as docks, piers and boathouses. This technique uses a short fishing rod like a slingshot to catapult a crappie jig into the shady area beneath the structure.
Use a 4½- to 5½-foot, medium-action rod outfit-ted with a spincasting reel or an autocast spinning reel that allows you to pick up the line and flip the bail at the same time. A 1/32-ounce jig is right for most situations, and you’re better off using solid-body jigs when slingshotting because they stay on better than tube jigs. Pinch the jig carefully between the thumb and index finger of your free hand, pull the rod back like a bow, aim and release the lure, letting it fly beneath the structure. With some practice, you can slingshot a small jig 15 to 20 feet under a dock or boathouse where big crappie are hiding.
Prepare for a strike as the lure falls. It helps to use highly visible line so you can see slight line movements that signal a taker. No hits? A slow retrieve close to the bottom frequently produces.
Summer crappie placed in a stale livewell or on a stringer in hot surface water soon die and become soggy. For good-eating fish, take along an ice chest containing several inches of cracked ice. Drain melted ice frequently to prevent your fish from sitting in water. The result is firm, fresh fillets that have the delicate, delicious flavor for which crappie are famous.
For the best eating, place crappie on ice to keep them fresh.
Autumn is a golden season for crappie fishing fans. Summer’s crowds have vanished. Lakes, ponds and rivers shimmer beneath canopies of vermilion and amber leaves. Summer-fattened crappie are in prime condition, offering exciting possibilities for action-hungry anglers.
This season offers some of the year’s best crappie angling if you learn some tips that will help you find and tempt these silvery panfish. Read on, and you will.
Fall crappie often hold near steep vertical bluffs along the shoreline that allow quick movement from shallow to deep water and vice versa. This time of year, however, they may be anywhere between the bottom and the surface, making them difficult to pinpoint. Start by looking at the water clarity. If the water is discolored, light penetration will be restricted, and crappie will move shallower. Thus, the angler should begin by fishing shallow reaches first. If the water is clear, bright sunlight will drive most crappie into the depths or under heavy cover. In this situation, fish first around deeper hideouts. Efficiently check all depths until a crappie is caught, then work that depth thoroughly for additional fish.
In water discolored by turnover, crappie usually hold tight to cover, so anglers should present baits and lures very close to cover objects such as stick-ups and stumps.
When fishing a reservoir that has current caused by power generation, it pays to observe changes in the amount of current. Crappie may be in as little as 4 to 5 feet of water when current is minimal, but when power generation increases and current is stronger, crappie will move out to structures 10 to 20 feet deep. In the latter situation, work offshore cover, positioning your boat directly above and dropping minnows straight down. Or back off and cast ⅛-ounce jigs dressed with tubes or curlytail grubs.
If the water level starts dropping fast due to power generation, try fishing points using small spinners. Retrieve the lure with an up-and-down motion, or buzz it along the surface and allow it to “die” and fall right beside the cover. Position your boat in deep water and cast toward the shallow part of the point, or vice versa.
When an autumn cold front passes, you may entice persnickety crappie to bite by adding liquid, gel or solid scent products to your lures. These often enhance the number of strikes you get when crappie are finicky. The fish will hold on longer, too, increasing your chance of getting good hooksets.
Adding a scent product to your lure may increase hookups with sometimes fussy fall crappie.
Wind can be an important factor in determining where you’re most likely to find early-fall crappie. Wind pushes tiny invertebrates that minnows and other baitfish eat. If there’s a westerly wind for a couple of days, an east-shore area could hold the most fish, or vice versa. Consequently, you should always give wind-hit areas your full attention.
During late fall, as aquatic vegetation dies, crappie often move to deep rock piles. The best are associated with humps, outside channel bends, saddles between rises and other prominent bottom structure. Fish them with a rig made by tying a ⅓- to ½-ounce bell sinker at your line’s end. Place a snelled hook 12 inches above the sinker on a dropper loop, then tie a 1/16-ounce jig directly to your line 18 inches above the hook. Bait the hook with a lively minnow, then drag the rig across the bottom near the rock pile until you catch a crappie. When you find your quarry, position your boat right over the strike zone and switch to a vertical presentation, which will help you avoid spooking other crappie.
Not all crappie hold on deep structures in late fall. Many follow schools of shad into the backs of feeder creeks, holding in 4 to 6 feet of water along the edges of channel breaks. If you can find cedar brush piles in such areas, chances are you’ve found a mother lode of crappie. Work them with a stationary slip-bobber-and-minnow rig, or use a vertical tightline tactic with jigs.
Use a slip-bobber rig to work minnows over shallow cedar brush piles for hot fall action.
In ponds and small lakes, crappie often stay fat and healthy by eating a diet heavy on juvenile sunfish. In these waters, particularly those with clear water, your fall catch rate may soar if you fish with lures resembling tiny bream in color and/or shape. Jigs with some combination of red, gold and green colors work especially well in this situation, as do small sunfish-imitation crankbaits and spinners with gold blades and brightly colored bodies.
At times, your fish finder may pinpoint a bit of key structure—an isolated stump, for example, or a rock pile—that is void of crappie. When you find such areas, slowly circle around that spot and look for suspended fish. If you find them, make note of the structure’s location, then return to it later. You might find that these previously inactive crappie have moved onto the structure and begun feeding.
Fall crappie often hold along creek-channel drop-offs and other edge areas. You can fish such a location better if you mark it with several buoys. Locate the drop-off with sonar, then slowly follow the edge. Throw out a marker buoy each time you cross a certain depth—10 feet, for instance. Continue placing the buoys, about 20 feet apart, until you’ve used them all. Now you have a visible image of the edge and can fish it more thoroughly for crappie.
Although often overlooked by crappie anglers, realistic soft-plastic baitfish lures such as the Banjo Glitter Minnow and Snag Proof’s Moss Master Swimmin’ Shad are dynamite on fall crappie. They not only come in a variety of sizes and colors, but they’re weedless as well, allowing you to place them right in the middle of thick cover where crappie are likely to be.
