I've been eyeballin the crappie section for sometime now and just love to catch crappie when they are in their spawn. I admit I'm not very proficient. With my lake down about 3ft their regular haunts are dry. I assume to pull off those a bit but haven't had any luck. I'm thinking (which gives me a headache) they are in about 4-6ft right now and holding. What would be the best technique. Slip cork bobber and a minnow or jig. I'm really used to fishing these in about 1-1/2 to 3ft. Normally I use a 10ft and 12ft telescopic canepole cause I don't have light enough equipment to throw small jigs. Thank for any info.

EAT SANDBASS AND CRAPPIE

Sound like a plan.....start on the banks then back out until you find the fish. I think Ratmo and Bygeorge just fished Palestine and might have some info for you.

Thanks, maybe they'll help a **** want to be.

Guess you can't put the cr_p in crappie. No on else?? Reads on here like everyones killin them but me. Thanks in ADVANCE for your help.

EAT SANDBASS AND CRAPPIE

Say SBC, we were there about three weeks ago, and the ones we did catch were holdin in 20' sup 10 to 11' deep.Using black an chart tube jigs. We didnt catch that many due to the fact the hybrids were tearin us up. Seen boats headin uplake for the shallows but dont know how they done. It was a bad two day's for us out there, the fog was so thick bygeorge jumped in the air an got stuck, lol. Good luck, they should be on the spawn stage if the water temp is anything like LOP.

Thanks Ratmo, was catching some off the the end of my pier but very few barn doors, if any(smaller females). This cool front has put a stop to that. Water is 64 deg. back in my cove. I really figured it would be a hay day. I have never hit the mother load on crappie and I think it would be a addicting experience. Thanks

EAT SANDBASS

From what ive been hearin the cool fronts comin in has put them in deeper water early and late in the day, midday comin in shallow. Might wanna try at the mouth of your cove to see if the are stagin there off the points. Good luck.

hey Schmedley, I'm also originally from the St Louis area (about 15 miles south of Belleville on the IL side) Cards gonna smack some this year we got some good trades. Hopefully Candlestick burns down so we won't have to play in that sad excuse for left field what a jip last year!!! If it doesn't burn down maybe Pujols will actually get one out of the park instead of bouncing it off of the cutsie choo choo train haha.

oh forgot to post on the actual topic, spawning areas are few and far between with the water levels down, this is good and bad. The good news is that when you do find a bed they're stacked on them like cordwood, bad news is wasting time in between finding them. Look for any rock banks with some cane or cattails still in the water. There needs to be a little bit of a drop off at the base of the rootwads. Also any standing tree with some limbs in the water is producing. Look for the "out of the ordinary" structure on the shore where deeper water is close. I haven't had any luck on the backs of flats in structure yet and don't know if they will venture there due to the long distance away from deeper water.

sac, what do you consider deep water when crappie committ to the spawn? 6-10 or 3-6ft?? I have all this type of depth and some 11-13. Sorry to pick your brain but I'm on a short learning curve. The little buggars are harder to find than hybrids and sandies. But I've prommised out a crappie meal.

EAT SANDBASS

Use your troll motor and troll slow (I like to set my troll motor on about 3 out of 10 on the speed control)using a 1/32 oz. jig around the grass and you will catch plenty. I use several different jigs for this, but my favorite is a marabou roadrunner red/green/chartreuse in color.

I am sure Matthew (Jigum Jigs) can set you up with some jigs that will work for you also.

Actually I think you can troll with many colors and type jigs and catch them.

The way to slay em is wading. The long crappie pole is perfect for spawning crappie. I catch most of mine in water less than three feet deep. The clearer the water the deeper they are.

The "drop off" I was fishing was about a foot at the roots fading into about 3 feet and had my boat in 8 feet of water one cast away from the structure. Behind me there was an old creek channel as well.

I use a weedless roadrunner and lil fishie body to pitch and flip to the structure. If they're on the beds they'll hit a faster lure so it makes searching a little faster as well. If they need a slower presentation i'll go with the Blakemore crappie thunder bodies like wally marshall uses. If you use the weedless heads make sure the weed guard is almost touching the tip of the hook and not standing up so it improves hooksets. I use a 7ft medium action G Loomis spinning rod. Any rod will work, but you need to have something with backbone for hooksets, but flexes throughout the length of the rod to not rip off the lips of the sac-a-laits.

Got 4 in the boat already. Guess I better wake up and get back to work. No excuses now. Thanks fellas.

EAT SANDBASS "and hopefully" CRAPPIE

Sac a lait me...I'm from Festus. 30 miles south of STL. I just looked at video of the new stadium. The grass is down now. Check it out at www.kmov.com

now for the crappie....deep here at Belton has been up to 30 ft. I've been catching them at night in anywhere from 18-30 feet of water and from 12-20 feet down.