One of the most-frequently-asked questions of guides and professional crappie fishermen at this time of the year is, "How do you find crappie on a new lake?" Although there are many answers, we have selected the best answers from John E. Phillips' new Kindle Book, "Crappie: How to Catch Them Spring and Summer."
Stokes McClellan of Huntersville, North Carolina, a crappie fishing pro, travels the nation, fishing crappie tournaments. When we posed this question to him, McClellan explained, "First, my son Adam and I buy a topographical map of the lake. From the topo map, we can see where the creek channels and the drop-offs are located, and where rivers and creeks enter the lake. We use this information to develop a game plan about where we should try to find crappie on the lake, why the crappie should be there, and in what part of the lake we'll spend most of our practice time. On most new lakes we fish, we'll usually try to fish the upper third of the lake. The upper third of the lake always seems to be the most-fertile section of a lake, and the point where the most nutrients enter the lake. In this section of the lake, you'll find better concentrations of baitfish and crappie.
"Once we arrive at the lake and put our boat in the water, we'll travel to the spots we've noted on our topo map and look for bait and crappie. We're searching for crappie, of course, but because we're open-water trollers with our Poles, we're also trying to identify at what depth the baitfish are holding, and in what type of structure they're holding. A classic example will be a creek channel with plenty of stumps and brush in it that runs from 1- to 1-1/2-miles long. Along that edge, we'll want to see schools of baitfish. We know that if the baitfish are there, they're related to the edge of the creek channel. If we spot crappie related to those baitfish, then we'll be sure that's a region we want to troll.
You can develop a game plan on how to fish for crappie at a new lake. This information will bring a large number of potential crappie hot spots to mind. Also, depending on the time of year you plan to fish, you must consider where the crappie will be along their seasonal migration routes.
"You need to learn all you can about crappie and their migration routes because during the hot summer months or the cold winter months, you'll find crappie on deep-water structures, like underwater points, creek channels, ledges, humps and bridge pilings you've located from your map and aerial reconnaissance. When fishing the prespawn or the postspawn, search for crappie in staging areas, including the brush in front of piers, around marinas and boat docks and on humps, creek channels close to spawning flats and edges of creek channels in flooded-timber regions. If you fish the spawn, fish those hidden areas where other anglers won't fish. Cross the sandbars and the mud flats to reach the backs of bays and creeks cut off from the main river channel. When fishing relatively clear water during the spawn, concentrate on the humps and the points out in the lake. Many times crappie will spawn in deeper water, if the water's clear.
"The state fisheries' biologist responsible for the lake you plan to fish provides one of the best places to gain information about a new lake. Obtain this biologist's name by calling your state fish and wildlife service. When you talk with the fisheries biologist, tell him where you want to fish. Ask him to suggest areas where his lake surveys indicate fishermen have caught the most crappie. Also question him about specific fishing sites, the depth of the water the crappie usually hold in at the time of year you want to fish and the kind of structure where the fish will hold. Too, inquire about parts of the lake where he's seen crappie during his electrofishing surveys, although most anglers may not fish these areas.
"Your state fisheries biologist studies the lakes in his district throughout the year to try and determine the size, the number and the growth rate of the crappie as well as the water conditions. He has a vast amount of information that can help you learn how to fish a new lake."
To learn more about crappie and how to fish them from the masters of the sport, click here for "Crappie: How to Catch Them Spring and Summer," a new eBook from Amazon's Kindle by John E. Phillips. Or, you can go to http://www.amazon.com/kindle-ebooks and type-in the name of the book to find it.
