Page 5 - Crappie NOW - July 2017

techniques can be applied depending on
likely fish location.
I’m a single pole guy at heart – I don’t
get excited about pushing or trolling. If I
can reach active crappies by casting or
dipping, that’s what I’ll be doing. With that
in mind, here are my tips to sizzling sum-
mer crappies.
I select lakes or areas of a lake where
I expect to encounter actively feeding
crappies on deep weedlines, stump-laden
points/shallow flats or shallow brushpiles/
cribs – in depths from two to 10 feet.
How do you know which waters in
your region are going to have relatively
shallow crappies during the summer?
Well if you don’t have a good fishin’ bud-
dy who will share the info, then you need
to get out for a little field work.
For a starting point, check the
weeds. Every natural lake (whether clear
or somewhat stained) in my region will
have black crappies working the edge of
a deep weed wall or sparse weedy flats
throughout the summer. Many of the ar-
ea’s shallower man-made reservoirs will
have some milfoil weeds too, and crap-
pies will generally relate to these vegeta-
tion beds as well. By choosing shallow cover carefully, you can
Also, on man-made reservoirs, cast your way to summer crappie success.
check the shoreline deadfalls which ex-
tend furthest into the water on moder-
ate steep banks. Deadfalls with multiple ately shallow cribs and brushpiles. Here
branches are usually better, but do not is where side-scan technology pays off
overlook those old no-branch deadfalls big time to check points and shallow flats.
with only a “Y” fork in the trunk. Mark each one you find whether you see
If the shoreline landscape (large fish on it at the time or not; crappies will
trees, moderate incline) indicates the likely be on the cover sometime in the fu-
likelihood of some large “spider” stumps ture.
in the shallow water, be sure to check the Okay, you have some ideas on where
water out from shore for a ways for these to cast. Now we turn attention to what to
gems. cast.
Finally, it’s time for serious detec- Generally speaking, larger baits
tive work with your sonar to locate moder- may be used in the summer, especially as

5 Crappie NOW July 2017