Winter anglers may have to dig deep in their tackle to devise ways to catch finicky cold-water crappie. (Photo: Keith Sutton)
6 Ways to Catch More Cold-Water Crappie
by Keith Sutton
Don’t let winter weather put a damper on your crappie fishing. The following hints can help you catch more slabs under frigid conditions.
For those hardy souls who can tolerate the cold, wind, rain and snow that are often part of January fishing, this month provides excellent opportunities for hooking lots of big crappie.
Unfortunately, many cold-weather crappie outings end in failure.
Why?
Mainly because anglers insist on using the same fishing methods they use during the spring spawning season, and these methods rarely entice ice-water slabs. Success comes only to those anglers who know specific tactics for catching winter’s finicky fish.
Toward that end, here are six tips to help you nab icy-cold crappie this time of year. Study them, employ them and enjoy the bounty.
Big Jigs
If you want to catch more trophy crappie and fewer small specimens, try finding schools of threadfin shad and targeting nearby crappie with big jigs.
First, determine the depth of the shad. Turn on your fish-finder and watch for the dark horizontal band that indicates a school below. The corresponding depth is the depth you should fish.
Use a 12-foot jigging pole. Tie on a pair of 2-inch YUM Wooly Beavertails on 1/8-ounce jig heads, or similar sized jigs. These should be 18 inches apart at the end of each line.
If shad are 10 feet deep, position the jigs so they’ll be at 10 feet during a slow troll. Maintain a speed that keeps your line perpendicular to the water’s surface. Slightly lift and drop the rig as you move.
Watch your sonar, and keep your rig working in and around the shad school. When you reach the edge of the school, turn and troll through again. Typically, you’ll catch two or more crappie on each pass. And typically, these will be “barn doors”—crappie 2 pounds and up.
Crank ‘em Up
Keeping with the “bigger is sometimes better” idea, you also should consider casting big baitfish-imitation crankbaits for ice-water crappie. I learned the value of this advice while fishing with my 12-year-old son Matt on a little oxbow. We usually catch winter crappie by jigging around mid-lake cypress trees, but on this day, the fish refused to bite. Matt, unencumbered by any knowledge of “proper” crappie lures, began trolling a 4-1/2-inch Smithwick Rattlin’ Rogue behind the boat, and kablam! He reeled in a 1-pound, 12-ounce slab, and our crappie drought was over. We caught several more big crappie on crankbaits that day.
“The ultimate key to catching winter crappie is establishing a pattern.”
Rogues and other big, deep-diving crankbaits also work well in big, clear reservoirs when winter crappie are deep and lethargic. Use a slow, herky-jerky retrieve, and keep the lure near typical crappie hideouts. Slabs unwilling to dart out after smaller prey find it hard to resist these sizeable entrées.
Lipless Cranks
Some innovative anglers use lipless crankbaits such as Bill Lewis Lures’ Tiny Trap or Cotton Cordell’s Spot Minnow on Carolina rigs when crappie are on deep, winter bottom structure. A 1/2-ounce bullet weight goes on the main line first, then a glass bead. The bead makes noise when the weight hits it and protects the knot on the swivel. Tie a barrel swivel on a 24- to 36-inch leader, then tie the swivel with the leader to the main line. Next, tie a floating- or suspending model lipless crankbait to the end of the leader.
Most practitioners work this rig with short, slow pulls that vibrate the bait between brief periods of inaction. The crankbait floats above the bottom, and each pull makes the lure dive and swim erratically before it comes to rest again momentarily. Be ready when the lure stops; that’s when crappie usually hit.
Spinner/Bobber Rig
If you’re fishing without benefit of sonar, you can take a Johnson Beetle-Spin or other semi-weedless spinner and fan-cast to find crappie. As you reel it in, work the spinner over, through and beside woody cover.
It’s often difficult, however, to fish a safety-pin spinner at the snail’s pace needed in winter. To combat this problem, rig a slip-bobber above the lure. Place a bobber stop on your line at the depth you want to fish. Then add a bead below the stop, followed by the bobber. Finish the rig by tying on the spinner.
When the bobber hits the water, the weight of the spinner pulls line through the float until the bobber hits the bobber stop. Your bait is automatically at the depth you selected, and you can easily adjust the depth by moving the bobber stop.
The benefit of this rig is it allows you to slow your presentation and keep the spinner in the strike zone of suspended fish. Use a variety of retrieves—small twitches, slow steady retrieve, etc.—until you determine a good pattern.
Try Tailwaters
Looking for winter crappie in big rivers? Head straight for the tailwater of the nearest dam. Big-river slabs move upstream in late winter searching for spawning sites. When they reach a dam, they mill around for a while, and you have an excellent chance for extraordinary catches. A jig/minnow combination often outproduces a jig or minnow alone in this situation. Cast it around wing dikes, boulders, lock walls and other current breaks where crappie can rest and feed.
Establish a Pattern
The ultimate key to catching winter crappie is establishing a pattern. Do they want jigs or minnows? If jigs, what color? Should you jig the lure or hold it stationary? Will crankbaits or spinners work better? Are crappie near creek channels or tributary mouths, or are they holding beneath docks? Questions such as these must constantly be considered.
You can be the best crappie fishermen in the world and go out and not catch a fish. On the same day at the same place, a novice may go out and load his boat with fish. The difference is, the novice was able to establish a pattern. You’ve got to find that pattern. That’s the key to crappie fishing, regardless of the season.
(Keith Sutton is author of “The Crappie Book: Basics and Beyond,” a 198-page, full-color paperback loaded with hundreds of fishing tips. Autographed copies can be ordered by sending a check or money order for $17.45, including shipping, to C & C Outdoor Productions, 15601 Mountain Dr., Alexander, AR 72002.)
