How To Catch Scattered Crappie
By Spence Petros

“We haven’t caught a crappie in weeks,” my friend exclaimed. “Once the weather got hot, they quit biting. You’d think that by early fall they would have started up again, but they haven’t!”

I had never fished this shallow, dishpan-shaped lake before, other than in early spring when crappie where all over shoreline wood and shallow early to warm areas. But I knew the fish weren’t removed from the lake until cooler weather pulled them back around fallen trees and wood piers. Between talking to my friend and looking at a map, it became obvious that the 3- to 10-acre openings in the weed-choked lake would be the logical spots to begin our hunt.

Several drifts across one of the openings produced two crappie. The good news was the fish were there, but the bad news was they were scattered, suspended and hard to pinpoint. If this had been a recent outing, I would have figured out the answer in a couple minutes, but this was more than 20 years ago when I didn’t know much about suspended, scattered crappie and the best methods to catch them.

We decided to troll, each using two rods with multiple jig rigs. Jig weights from 1/32 to 1/8 ounce were used on various rods to strain different depth levels. Once we started to troll, it also made sense to vary the speed on my stern-mounted Minn Kota electric motor. Without going into a lot of details, we “killed” them. From this early experience, a good game plan was developed for catching scattered crappie.

For instance, if a lake has a deep weed edge and it’s early or late in the day, start trolling runs tight to the weed edge. If the crappie aren’t there or they stop biting after a while, chances are they have moved out over open water. They will generally suspend at the same level they were when along the weed edge or a few feet deeper.

If you don’t contact fish along the vegetation, the depth range to cover would be from about 3 to 4 feet shallower than the deep weed edge in the lake to about 5 feet deeper. For example, if the weeds end at 8 feet, the zone to slide the jigs through would be from about 5 to 13 feet. Crappie will tend to hold a little shallower under lower light penetration conditions. This deeper zone often puts you right above a thermocline that may develop in certain lakes. Extremely shallow lakes generally won’t develop a thermocline because wind usually keeps the waters mixed and oxygenated.

By using different jig weights and varying trolling speeds, you should be able to get some of the jigs in the fish zone. A trolling speed that produces the first crappie or two can be duplicated by noting the speed on the GPS unit or the setting on the electric motor, or simply by watching the bends in the soft-tipped rods that should be used. Flexible tips allow the fish to take the bait and turn with it and greatly reduce the chances of a crappie tearing free.

You may also find that trolling downwind or in current at a 2 setting on your motor is best, while a 4 setting may produce against the wind. If a rod with 1/8 ounce of total jig weight is producing hits, another rod or two should duplicate that weight pattern and the color that was hit the most.

A zigzag or lazy-S trolling run allows you to cover the most water and keeps the lures from always being directly behind the boat. Toss out a floating structure marker when you get the first fish and troll around it. If you lose the school of crappie, keep in mind that they will likely head into the wind as opposed to go downwind.

Pushing Jigs And Minnows
As we slowly headed toward some wood sticking about 2 feet above the surface, I wondered how the crappie pro team of Ronnie Capps and Steve Coleman were going to avoid snagging up. The lines on three rods sticking off the boat’s bow barely missed the wood snag, but lines on the other three were headed right toward trouble.

As the fourth pole neared the wood, Coleman gently removed the long, sensitive rod from the holder and lifted the jig/minnow until it barely cleared the snag. In a flash, the bait was back into the water.

A smooth transition to the fifth rod and then the sixth occurred as Capps expertly slid his boat through the shallow wood-filled bay with his electric motor. Soon one of the rods bent in a slow, steady manner. Capps snatched the rod from the holder and quickly poked the tip under the surface to knock the jig free from the snag. A split second later one of Coleman’s rods twitched, and the line moved to the side. Capps immediately had the net out, and the fish was quickly bagged.

Watching these two men sit side by side in the bow of the boat and pushing their jig/minnow presentations through a maze of submerged and visible wood without missing a beat was a work of art. If there is a better way of covering ground and catching scattered crappie off a wood-studded flat in stained water, I’ve yet to see it. It’s no wonder these crappie experts are six-time national champions and have dozens of top-3 finishes.

Capps and Coleman believe that “pushing” jigs dressed with minnows using long, sensitive poles off the front of the boat allows great control over the placement of the jigs around cover, structure and along edges. Plus, you can slow down the boat and let lively lip-hooked minnows dance around a spot to tease reluctant crappie into biting. This multi-rod presentation also covers a lot of water and may give the crappie the illusion that a school of minnows are swimming by.

Being properly equipped is a big part of success when using this system. Six or eight rods should be run off the bow with the tips about 2 to 3 feet apart. Naturally, the rods Capps and Coleman prefer are the ones they designed specifically for this purpose. Manufactured by B‘n’M Pole Company, these light-tip, super-sensitive rods come in 12-, 14- and 16-foot lengths. On this trip, we were using 14-footers and reels spooled with 8-pound test line.
Needle-sharp 1/8-ounce Gamakatsu jigs are dressed with a small tube jig and a lively minnow lip-hooked behind. In the stained water where this pushing system works best, the tube usually has at least some chartreuse on it. The ideal depth range to fish with this method is in 1- to 8-foot depths.

Jig-And-Float
More crappie are caught nationwide by casting a jig-and-float than there are by any other lure techniques. When crappie are scattered, particularly when on a flat or slow taper, this tactic is super deadly.

While a slip-float is often employed for deeper water and for getting into tight spots, most jig-float fishing involves using a fixed float that doesn’t slid on your line. This is done because the gliding action that the jig has with a fixed float is more productive than the up-and-down motion that would be achieved if using a slip-float. The only negative aspect to using a fixed float is that if you want to get the jig much deeper than 5 to 6 feet, a longer rod should be used. A light, sensitive 8- to 9-foot spinning rod is perfect for depths over 6 feet.

Some anglers use various jig-and-float combinations in late fall over the tops of knocked down weedbeds. During the cold water of early spring, the most productive presentation is using slim-profile soft plastics that have little action. These would include 1/32-ounce Cubby Mini Mites, Lindy Tiny Tails or small tubes dressed with a small grub or two.

The basic retrieve involves a slow pull of a foot or two and then letting the jig glide to a position right under the float. This is repeated unless you come up to cover or if the fish are aggressive. When the float nears cover, twitch or gently pop it to tease a crappie out of its hideout.

If the crappie are active and gulping down the jigs, start working the float with more speed and stop dressing it with any “meat.” When using these very small presentations, bend the hook point out slightly to increase hooking power.

Once the waters warm a bit, a jig with a swirl-tail type lure or tube is preferred. However, avoid cheap swirl-tails that don’t have action at minimal speeds. I like fine-cut tails that move seductively even at the slowest speeds. Lindy’s 2-inch Thumpin’ Grubs are excellent, with the Techni-Glo colors being favorites in stained waters and under low-light conditions. Pearl silver, fire smoke and opening night are killers in clearer waters. Jighead weights between 1/16 to 1/8 ounce are preferred with these lures in warmer weather.
When using a jig-and-float combination in warmer water, you should try a variety of retrieves until you hit the jackpot. When the crappie aren’t too aggressive, a steady swimming action may be the key. Just remember that the faster you swim the jig, the higher it will ride in the water column.

A deadly fall tactic is to swim the jig right over the tops of weeds that have been knocked down by a frosty night or two. Try to tick the higher weeds to determine if you’re at the correct depth level.

Some type of stop-and-go presentation usually works best. It could be anything from a long pull and then a pause to a series of short twitches. Sometimes stacking several jigs a foot or two a part works well because different depth levels can be covered and various color combinations can be tried.

Another trick that works well in dark water or under very low-light conditions is to add a little sound to your presentation. Crappie expert Sam Heaton makes a small hole in the top of his plastic float, inserts a few small shot and then seals the hole with epoxy. Other anglers go to a slip-float rig but put a split shot a couple of inches below a Thill Center Slider float. With this setup, you’ll get the same gliding action that you’d get with a fixed float, plus the clicking sound whenever the float is moved.

While scattered crappie may be hard to catch, these tactics will help you cope with many situations when they are scattered across flats or suspended in open water.