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Crappie fishing heats up each fall about the time the water and weather cool down. Trouble is, most anglers don't give the season's productivity and opportunity the credit it deserves.

Doldrum days of summer heat and humidity fade away when foggy mornings signal the transition time has arrived. On most lakes, rivers, and reservoirs crappie are about to have a mood swing.

Fish behavior is about to go from a sluggish mode to one of aggression. Fueled by cooler surface temperatures and increased appetites, crappie seem to kick up the bite a notch or two. For anglers it means good times ahead — the season is known for stability.

Changing conditions such as cold fronts, gale winds and lake levels often deal anglers a tough hand to play in this game of hide-and-seek fishing. Yet fall conditions are predictable, which usually means finding fish in one spot and returning there next week to find them waiting for you with open arms.

During this transition time, crappie typically move from deep, main-lake drop-offs to shallow flats or large bays where meandering creek channels or irregular topography within big creeks hold fish in a zone.

Fall crappie work their way toward midrange depths in a stair-step maneuver, but their destination isn't shoreline habitat or spawning structure areas of backwater bays. This route is often similar to spring spawning migrations.

The movement of the fish is pretty much an attempt to stay in contact with their forage base. Schools of shad make a mass exodus toward midrange depths and work up into the shallows later in fall. Zooplankton attracts them, but the shiny parade of morsels jumping in the early morning and late afternoon comes courtesy of tiny insects called midges.

When you can see them jumping it's reasonable to assume that crappie aren't too far away. It's this magnetism that helps pull crappie from deep main-lake summer hideouts to zones of 5 to 15 feet. Structure such as stumps, brush and other submerged man-made fish attractors give the fish a reason to hang out there and stay put.

Crappie come back to similar areas in fall that attracted them during spring. Most lakes will be under winter drawdown, a move to create more storage capacity for upcoming rains so the fish have less water in which to hide from the hooks of anglers.

Regardless of what geographic area of the country you fish, a simple approach for fall fishing will put you in the driver's seat for consistent catches. Establish a route on your fishing trip that puts you in a few different areas between the depths and the shallow shoreline, which may be high and dry in some reservoirs during the drawdown phase.

Now that you've ruled out the extremes of deep and shallow water, you concentrate your efforts on that in-between section of the lake. Either establish man-made fish attractors in different depths or learn what natural cover is present along the humps, flats and winding creek channels.

It's here you'll find fall crappie. Sometimes, like on a warm day where clear water teams with high skies and a bright sun, the fish may hold on deeper structure. Compare that to a lake with dingy water on a cloudy, rainy day —the fish probably will be found in shallow structure as they move up to feed.

By considering a few different depth ranges, you'll want to implement a trial-and-error approach. Let the fish tell you where they want to be and don't attempt to make them be where they aren't.

Popular techniques range from vertical presentations of 1/16-ounce or smaller jigs to casting twister tail grubs around zones where submerged structure is scattered about. Trolling also is effective because the multi-pole approach works with its buffet bait offer. Drifting or pulling long lines of grubs and in-line spinner-style lures is similar.

Cast jigs or use slip bobbers to regulate depth in clear-water situations because the fish are spooky, especially on calm days. Tipping jigs with live minnows has merit too.

Moving across a zone with the technique of your choice will produce a lot of fish as you cover vast areas. Crappie resume their structure-oriented reputation during mid to late fall, so pay close attention to the LCR and utilize floating buoy markers to pinpoint spots.

I often work shallow spots in early morning and late afternoon, backing off to slightly deeper structure near deep water as the sun climbs at midday. And, as always, crappie like the best of both worlds, so structure near creek channels or humps is worthy of consideration. Deep and shallow water close together often spell success.

Sometimes I'll return to an area in the afternoon that might have been void of success in the morning. If it's an area I have confidence in I'll give it a second chance because I sometimes find that fish have moved up and occupied the spot during the day.

If you've followed me over the years, you know how well I like fall crappie fishing because I prefer to fight fish and not crowds. This is a season that's on the side of anglers, delivering good fishing conditions for extended periods that make staying in touch with the fish less challenging than at other times of the year.

Slip out to your favorite lake this fall, and while all those spring-only anglers are at the ballgame or hunting deep in the woods, you'll likely discover good fishing times await you. Underrated and overlooked best describe my opinion of fall crappie fishing.
Tie into a cooler full of line stretching slabs and you'll see what I mean.