Fall Crappie

       Fall crappie season cranks up when the dog days of summer come to an end, the waters start to cool, Threadfin Shad start their journey from the backs of the creeks moving to deeper waters as Fall Season is on the way. When you are looking for fall crappie, this is the time that they can be at many different places. You will need to

look at secondary and main lake points when fall crappie season sets in, crappie can be at many different depths, what you look for is a point that has a constant drop off from 10 to 30 feet. Now take that point in 10 foot increments to 30 feet and look for the Threadfin shad balls on your depth finder, find the shad and the crappie will be very close. Look on your depth finder for suspended yellow balls with a thin black line across the top and you will see little arches under the shad ball, you are looking at crappie.

I have seen fall crappie in multiple depths off main lake points, this takes place when threadfin shad stage on the opposite side of timber or brush piles from the current, they don’t like being in the current. This is why you need to be very through with each point or creek bend you pass over, so that you don’t miss the crappie. Knowing what to look for on your depth finder is crucial, crappie are coming out of their summer haunts moving up in shallow water that is cooler to gorge on threadfin shad. Yes, they are fattening up for the winter but you have to remember that the crappie spawn is right around the corner, they need the extra fat for when they start spawning and that can happen in late February into April for the big fall crappie.

Fall crappie season is a lot of fun because large concentrations of crappie start coming out of the deep water haunts and I mean big crappie slabs, this is a transition period because at this time is when the lake turns over, the thin bands of oxygen start disappearing because of poor oxygenated water from the deep and starts pushing up decaying debris off the bottom of the lake, fortunately the entire lake does not turn over at the same time and the whole eco system is trashed in that area for the time being. At this time oxygen is depleted in that entire area so fall crappie will go to the top or on windswept points where there is enough oxygenated water for them to survive this difficult time. I try to concentrate on areas of the lake that has not turned over, you can tell by the floating debris.

When you are fishing for these fall crappie, remember that they need waters that have baitfish, good light penetration and oxygen for their comfortable living environment that crappie enjoy. You can use live minnows or small jigs and fish them around standing timber or brush piles, the rule is if you do not get a bite within a couple of minutes move on to the next tree or brush pile until you start catching crappie. This is a great time for crappie anglers, cooler temperatures, less people on the water; all you have to do now is go after those fall crappie.