Spring Crappie Smack Down

3/12/20 - LOCATING SPRING CRAPPIE

The transition from winter to spring is some of the best crappie fishing all year around. The Crappie school up tremendously, moving in large numbers in the channel throughout Lake of The Ozarks.

In early spring I generally look for deep water channel banks in large creeks that has a decent amount of cover. cover being dock cables, brush piles, wires, concrete pillars any subtle irregularity in the bank for a school to stage and sit on.

Crappie are predators so they use cover as ambush points to attack shad. Finding deeper water is key when water temps are still in the 40s or at least fishing areas with a deep channel near by. Winter crappie sit on deep main lake brush and rock, schooled up sitting very lethargic. In spring the crappie are loaded with eggs looking ready to spawn, once the water temp hits high 40s or low 50s the crappie start thinking about transitioning into their creeks or pockets with shallow banks of pea gravel. 

Think of a lake channel as a highway for fish, moving and swimming to different staging points. “Pea Gravel” is smaller chunk rock more even in size, while channel banks have bigger deep rocks you can quite often see the difference in the steepness of banks for example a bluff is a channel bank. Crappie generally start to spawn in 50-58 degree water but sometimes a little earlier and some late starters often occur.

TODAYS FISHING

The crappie I caught today were about 8 feet off the bank in a large creek staging above a brush pile on a deeper 20+ foot channel bank.

Rigging a bobber with crappie jig or minnow keeps the bait in the water column in which the crappie are suspended. Allowing you to twitch the jig inside of the school without getting hung in the brush. If the crappie go deeper in the brush just position your bobber higher up your line letting the crappie jig to go deeper.

When getting bit with a bobber try and relax if it bounces once or twice that does not initially mean set the hook. Let you bobber slowly go under before letting one rip. Solid rule of thumb when theres one crappie theres more where that came from!!! Just slow down and do multiple cast in the same general area when you got bit.

Most importantly have fun, enjoy the beautiful weather and killer spring bite!!

Grant

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