Spawning crappie often move to shallow water deep within dense vegetation. Pulling a small boat
beyond the edge allows fishing these seldom-touched honeyholes. (Photo: Keith Sutton)
Beating the Bushes
by Keith Sutton
Folks who enjoy crappie fishing usually love springtime. It’s during this season, when our favorite panfish move to shallow shoreline waters to spawn, that we are most likely to fill a stringer or cooler with fish we can take home to eat. Finding them is usually as easy as fishing around cover near shore until we locate their beds.
Unfortunately, on many waters – oxbow lakes, for example, and many big, shallow reservoirs – crappie nests aren’t in open waters we can easily fish. Instead, they’re hidden in tangles of thick cover that even veteran anglers find hard to fish. To catch crappie in these areas, we must learn methods for presenting jigs, minnows and other baits in brush piles, weed beds, willow thickets, stump fields and other hard-to-fish spots where fish often tangle us up and break off.
Targeting crappie in hideaways like this can be daunting, to say the least. But where there’s a will, there’s a way, and the way might be simpler than you think. Employ some of the tips presented in the following paragraphs and you’ll see.
Key Nesting Sites
Crappie make their nests where their eggs will be protected from wind, waves and predators. The ideal bedding site might be nothing more than shallow water at the back of a protected cove. If sites like that are unavailable, however, crappie fan out their nests in other locales where their eggs are most likely to survive until hatching.
Remember that fact when searching for crappie beds. Start by fishing along banks of coves, bays, backwaters and pockets that are sheltered from prevailing winds and have bottoms of sand or fine gravel (another key feature of prime nesting sites). Where such places are lacking or heavily fished, however, look for other features that might shield highly vulnerable crappie nests. In small lakes and big upland reservoirs, open pockets in weed beds and edges of man-made fish shelters may be the best places. In oxbows, key areas include willow stands and shallow, cover-filled water on inside edges of cypress and tupelo flats. On flatland reservoirs, stump beds and log piles often provide the best protective cover.
Such places are tough to fish, and you’ll probably lose lots of tackle when you try. But crappie always nest where their eggs will be safest, and that’s where you must fish to enjoy success.
Tackling Willow Thickets
Button willows, often called buckbrush, form thick stands in many topnotch crappie waters, and spring slabs often nest right in the middle of these bushes, away from heavily pounded edges. To catch them, use a 12- to 16-foot jigging pole and a small reel. Tie on your favorite crappie jig, then let the wind push your boat against the brush. Or, if you’re using a small boat, pull it into the thicket as far as possible. Now, grab your fishing line near the reel, pull the jig tight against the pole tip, carefully work the rig back into the brush and release the jig into an opening. Try to hold the jig still so it “breathes” like a nervous baitfish, and when a crappie hits, set the hook with a jerk of the line, pull the fish snug against the pole tip and back the pole out until you can land your catch.
Swamp Fishing
Crappie love swamps and often spawn on gravel or sand bottom beneath dense mats of floating aquatic vegetation such as water hyacinth and water lettuce. The vegetation may look as tangled as a backlash in a baitcaster, but a boat will usually pass through surprisingly easy, allowing the angler to reach small holes in the cover and drop in a jig to get at the crappie beneath. A rake carried with you can be used to create bigger openings in the vegetation. As you use the tool to move the plants aside, insect larvae, grass shrimp and other invertebrates are stirred up. These small forage animals attract minnows, which in turn attract crappie that are easily caught with live shiners, jigs or other enticements.
Beaver Lodge Slabs
Most anglers never think about fishing in and around the timbers of beaver lodges, but these big woodpiles always are worth checking because spring crappie often hide in pockets between the sticks. A belly boat provides a good way to approach, then you can use a long pole to lower a jig into every nook and cranny. Hold your line so a big slab can’t dash further into cover and break you off. Fish slowly and methodically, and always be ready for action.
Marking Weed-Bed Nesters
Crappie spawning within pockets in thick, shallow weed beds often can be located by sight fishing. Wear polarized sunglasses to cut glare, and position your boat to drift across a possible spawning area. Then carefully stand, shield the sides of your sunglasses, let the breeze move you, and watch for movement or fish. When you spot crappie on nests, drop a marker buoy nearby, then keep moving, marking other spots, and come back a little later. You’ll know where the beds are now and can slip in close to fish without disturbing them.
Attractor Tactic
In many lakes where standing timber has rotted away, fisheries agencies place cedar, bamboo or Christmas tree fish attractors to provide spawning cover for crappie. An excellent rig to use when fishing these man-made cover piles is a Thill pencil-style slip float rigged beneath a bobber stop and above a No. 6 or 8 Tru-Turn X-Long Shank hook. A split shot is added between hook and float, and the hook is baited with a live minnow. Several rigged poles are placed in holders, the bobber stops are positioned at the depth where crappie are believed to be, then using a trolling motor, the angler slowly circles each attractor. Crappie often pull several floats down simultaneously, a testament to this tactic’s effectiveness.
Slider Time
When targeting crappie in any type of thick cover, you should also consider fishing with Charlie Brewer Weedless Crappie Sliders. These unique lures are to crappie fishing what plastic worms are to bass fishing. When properly rigged, with the hook point of the special-made jighead buried in the grub, they can be worked through almost any cover without hang-ups. Cast and retrieve them around stumps and logs, work them like jigs in brush or fish them beneath a slip float around fish attractors or in weed-bed pockets. There’s simply no better snag-free lure for fishing spring hideaways.
Keith Sutton is editor of our sister magazine, CatfishNOW.com. He’s been an avid crappie angler for more than half a century, pursuing his favorite panfish on waters throughout the United States. His fishing stories have been read by millions in hundreds of books, magazines, newspapers and Internet publications. In 2021, he was inducted into the Legends of the Outdoors Hall of Fame.
