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Sight fishing crappie? #13972711 04/25/21 02:41 AM
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John A. Offline OP
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I'm learning more about crappie fishing. It is a new hobby for me. I have exclusively tournament bass fished.

Today, while bass fishing, I was looking for some bedded bass and I'm the back of a pocket, there were dozens of crappie up shallow fanning beds and rubbing on shallow vegetation and brush. I'm not sure I have ever seen crappie in 6 inches of water easily visible. They were the wrong species so we never messed with them.

My question is, is sight fishing crappie on beds a common thing? Are they easy to catch and how would you go about fishing for them?

Thanks for the info.

Re: Sight fishing crappie? [Re: John A.] #13972776 04/25/21 04:51 AM
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Ranger 188 Offline
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Slip bobber, you can adjust the depth. Tie on a jig and get after it. I ain’t no expert either so that’s just my opinion.

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Re: Sight fishing crappie? [Re: John A.] #13972817 04/25/21 10:52 AM
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Originally Posted by Ranger 188
Slip bobber, you can adjust the depth. Tie on a jig and get after it. I ain’t no expert either so that’s just my opinion.




Plus #1. During the spawn crappie are usually pretty aggressive and are fairly easy to catch. I for the most part do not use a float. However under certain conditions floats work quite well. thumb


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Re: Sight fishing crappie? [Re: John A.] #13973164 04/25/21 04:38 PM
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VERY RARELY EVER,,,, will crappie spawn in areas clear enough to be seen. in clearer lakes they tend to spawn deeper. I think if u caught whatever it is you saw, it is not going to be a crappie.


COMING SOON! .. THE STICKLE HOOK " the stay level sickle hook". sits level in the water with all knots.! Provides better hook sets and more natural jigging motion. No more adjusting the knot, gluing , or tying loop knots that cause the hook point to tangle in the loop, or worse knick the line.. The jighook that will make all others obsolete !
Re: Sight fishing crappie? [Re: leanin post] #13973200 04/25/21 05:19 PM
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Originally Posted by leanin post
VERY RARELY EVER,,,, will crappie spawn in areas clear enough to be seen. in clearer lakes they tend to spawn deeper. I think if u caught whatever it is you saw, it is not going to be a crappie.


This

Re: Sight fishing crappie? [Re: John A.] #13973214 04/25/21 05:33 PM
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Redears are spawning shallow right now and can easily be confused with crappie


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Re: Sight fishing crappie? [Re: John A.] #13973339 04/25/21 07:44 PM
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I can't remember having clear enough water to sight fish crappie, spring rain keeps things pretty muddy. But, if you see them i'd pitch at them and see if they will move off their beds.

Re: Sight fishing crappie? [Re: John A.] #13973349 04/25/21 07:55 PM
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I knew it was not overly common since I have tournament bass fished for over 20 years and had never see anything like that.

I can assure you they were crappie. Some of them would be shallow enough that I could see their whole side as they were making beds and being territorial. I wish I was not in a tournament, I would have tried to catch them a while.

Re: Sight fishing crappie? [Re: gar1970] #13973406 04/25/21 09:01 PM
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Originally Posted by gar1970
Redears are spawning shallow right now and can easily be confused with crappie


yes, also I know some perch make little beds in the bottom as well, looks like little holes, very close together.. like someone went along with a 4 inch pile driver and punched thousands of little holes in the bottom.,

the irony that crappie are part of the sunfish family is that they hate sunlight, they move up and down in the water column to escape heavy uv light rays. if the UV index is high for the day, they tend to be deeper and even on cloudy days, the UV light can be quite high. if u leave crappie in the sun, thier blood vessels in thier eyes will rupture. Bass seem to not mind the UV rays as much, and it may be more crucial for the development of the eggs.
Alot of folks believe that the crappie move deeper in the water column as the sun comes up because the water temperature has increased, this is a myth, the water temp doesnt change that much that fast. its because of the light penetration,
same with dock fishing, bridge fishing , they are there to escape the uv rays and ambush food.. the water temp under a dock is no cooler than in the main lake, because water mixes constantly.. its not stagnant,.
John, crappie fishing is an ENTIRELY different ballgame than crappie fishing.. welcome to the sickness,, ha
I was a fanatical bass fisherman for many years, but stopped almost completely when I got into crappie fishing,, traded off all of my bass gear., to me, crappie fishing is way more challenging and rewarding than bass fishing,, Bass move alot, but will strike almost anything u throw at them, if they are actively feeding, many hit a lure just out of aggression. so its really just a matter of being in the right place at the right time,. you go to the common hangouts, cast a lure until your hands go numb and if they are there u will likely catch one or more. rinse, and repeat.
running back and forth across a lake making hundreds of casts in a day, hoping to catch a few fish, just didnt compare with the fun of locating active crappie, figuring out what the wanted to bite, and catching a nice mess of therm, frying them up and replaying the action in my head is just the perfect fun.
I also believe many gamefish feed primarily at night, the active daytime feeders are the schools that didnt corral and feed well on schools of shad the night before., if u ever did much night fishing its quite a show, when the bass , white bass and crappie move into a cove at night and start a frenzy on the shad. bait flying up on the bank, the water just boilng with activity. then the surviving shad move out of the cove and the gamefish follow them to the next cove.
the coves that the shad go into tends to be the windblown coves, that have accumulated plankton in during daylight hours that is close to a deeper river or creek channel.
Nightime fishing will change your whole perspective on daytime fishing, hope this helps.


COMING SOON! .. THE STICKLE HOOK " the stay level sickle hook". sits level in the water with all knots.! Provides better hook sets and more natural jigging motion. No more adjusting the knot, gluing , or tying loop knots that cause the hook point to tangle in the loop, or worse knick the line.. The jighook that will make all others obsolete !
Re: Sight fishing crappie? [Re: John A.] #13973434 04/25/21 09:17 PM
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come to think of it the only time ive ever seen a crappie, just swimming in the water, was with a spotlight shining on a flat at night and it swam away as soon as the spotlight hit it.
what you saw could have been sunfish, just taking advantage of the shade that the vegetation was providing.


COMING SOON! .. THE STICKLE HOOK " the stay level sickle hook". sits level in the water with all knots.! Provides better hook sets and more natural jigging motion. No more adjusting the knot, gluing , or tying loop knots that cause the hook point to tangle in the loop, or worse knick the line.. The jighook that will make all others obsolete !
Re: Sight fishing crappie? [Re: John A.] #13973536 04/25/21 10:37 PM
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Thanks for all the information. I guess what I did see was an anomaly. It was mid morning on a cloudy day, I presume the sun had yet to run them out of the shallows. If I ever see that again, not in a tournament, I'll do my best to video and catch a few. I knew it was odd at the time but didn't know it was so odd no one would believe it. I am certain they were not redears. I've fished bream beds for bass many times and know what that generally looks like.

Thanks again for the info. I now know I saw something odd and rare.

Re: Sight fishing crappie? [Re: John A.] #13973672 04/26/21 12:47 AM
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John A; I've seen crappie up shallow as you describe in water that wasn't that clear but clear enough to see the fish were crappie as the fish were in about 10-12" of water. This was in April about 15 yrs ago. The crappie were spawning and a school of shad swam by along the bank and the crappie lit into them. Fun to watch and I caught 5 of the crappie before they spooked. I got too close to them.


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Re: Sight fishing crappie? [Re: John A.] #13973728 04/26/21 01:52 AM
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stillhouse hollow lake is what folks call a gin clear lake. fished it many years, and even as clear as it it, I dont think I could see a bright red firetruck 12 feet down, but hey people claim to have seen UFOs, just because I havent, doesnt mean its not true. maybe I need some better polarized sunglasses. grin


COMING SOON! .. THE STICKLE HOOK " the stay level sickle hook". sits level in the water with all knots.! Provides better hook sets and more natural jigging motion. No more adjusting the knot, gluing , or tying loop knots that cause the hook point to tangle in the loop, or worse knick the line.. The jighook that will make all others obsolete !
Re: Sight fishing crappie? [Re: John A.] #13973779 04/26/21 02:25 AM
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I saw a big crappie swimming along the bank last Friday. But it’s the first time I saw one so shallow during its spawn

Re: Sight fishing crappie? [Re: John A.] #13974620 04/26/21 08:04 PM
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possum kingdom and Texhoma are the two lake i have been able to see crappie on beds

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