Brushing Crappies

Most anglers are in full swing of the spring crappie bite, as the waters warm and these fish move into the shallows. Depending on how fast your waters have been warming, will dictate as to where they are in their spawning time.

Our waters currently are approaching the upper 50’s and when the sun is out, these fish are positioned right in the shoreline bushes. If rain and cold temperatures move in, these fish will pull back out to the first break line and stay there until the weather gets nicer again.

So with these fluctuating conditions, one day they can be in these bushes and the next their not, especially since they haven’t locked into their beds yet. Can almost predict what the bite is going to be before you even get to the water.

This particular morning, the sun was out and with no winds, fished the southwest side as this was going to be the warmest water temps at this time of the day. Casting a Clam Outdoors White Caviar jig tipped with a Maki Plastic a foot underneath a float.

The key was to getting this presentation right in front of the brush that is in the water. If you are a foot or two away, they won’t touch it, it had to be just about touching the bushes for these fish to bite. Once you found a bush that was holding fish, it would be fish after fish.

Not every bush would have fish on them, so a couple of casts would tell you if they were there or not so you didn’t have to waste too much time while searching for the biting fish. If you did cast a bit deeper, the bluegill are starting to pull in as well and these shallows will be loaded with them very soon as well.