Fishing for High Water Crappie

The water level of Carr creek lake was almost up to summer pool last week and the water had a good color to it. I had received reports from several crappie fisherman that the crappie fishing was doing good and some nice crappie was being caught. A lot of crappie was starting to move toward the shallow to feed and was starting to set up on normal spring patterns of holding on wood and brush cover. Some fisherman are starting to night fish some also with good success. But in the past week all it has done is rained. T

his has brought the already full lake several feet above summer pool. What this means for the crappie fisherman is that it will be up to the weather to determine the fishing for crappie in the next few weeks. If the weather turns bad and the temps drop and a cold front comes in the crappie fishing will be slow. But the weather is calling for nice weather next week and the crappie fishing should be stable and good. At this time of year the crappie have a natural reaction to move shallow. And with the lake at several feet above normal and a lot of new land area flooded this offers the fish like the crappie and bass a lot of new food to feed on. In some cases I have seen this cause a feeding frenzy in the shallows.

This all sounds good and it can be as long as the weather is stable during this high water period. The crappie will continue to hold shallow as long as the water stays high. Then as the water returns to normal summer pool levels the crappie will move and hold on the cover. When the water is high look for things like bloomed out tree limbs that are hanging out in the water. This provides the shallow water crappie an excellent form of cover to hold on. Also the green leafs put off oxygen into the water and the tree limbs will hold a lot of small bugs for the smaller bait fish to feed on and this will move in the larger fish like the bass and crappie to feed on them. So you can see this form of shallow water cover can be a great type of area to fish during high water times. It is certainly one of my favorite types of cover to fish for crappie and some of my best and most productive crappie trips in Ky and Tenn. both came from fishing flooded bloomed out tree limbs in the water.

The willow tree limbs seem to hold the best fishing. Once you have located this type of spot you can start with a minnow or a small tube bait or curly tail grub or a doll fly. Most of the time you will only need to fish about four feet deep. Start out by placing your bait close to the outside areas of the tree limb. You can fish with or without a floater. I will use a floater in this type of cover most of the time to keep from getting hung up on the tree limb when a crappie pulls the bait under the limb. A floater will also let you have control of the depth you are fishing at and show a strike better.

Fishing this type of cover can be very productive in both day and night fishing. Other types of good high water crappie fishing cover include lay down trees, brush clumps, bridge pilings, brush piles both natural and man made, standing flooded timber and boat docks. Fish all these areas in the high water for best results.