Al Lindner (left) and Jake Wallace posed with two of the crappies they caught during a filming of a Lindner’s Angling Edge television show. (Photo courtesy Lindner’s Angling Edge)
Crappie Boom Times in the North Country
by Brent Frazee
When crappie fishermen envision their dream destinations, they often think about the Deep South – states such as Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Alabama.
But Al Lindner of In-Fisherman fame has a few words of advice: Try heading north instead of south.
The North Country is best known for the glamor species – walleyes, smallmouth bass, muskies and northern pike. But Minnesota and southern Ontario also are loaded with of lakes teeming with black crappies.
And the fishing for those panfish has seldom been better, Lindner said.
“I’ve been fishing these lakes for a long time and I can’t remember a time when it’s been this good,” said Lindner, 80, who lives near Brainerd, Minn. “You see a lot of these lakes and they’re at their peak.
“We’re catching 13- to 15-inch fish in systems where we never saw many crappies in the past. It’s phenomenal.”
Lindner is one of fishing’s true promoters. For years, he has been seen on television or videos – for In-Fisherman first and Lindner’s Angling Edge now – talking excitedly about the big fish he was catching.
The surge in North Country crappie fishing has given him one more reason to get excited about his home waters.
“It started 25 years ago in Ontario, when we were catching huge crappies but it was still a pretty well-kept secret,” Lindner said. “But now there’s crappies in all of these systems. And a lot of them are big.”
Lindner gives part of the credit for the boom to restrictive creel limits set by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. The daily limit for many Minnesota waters was once 15. Now it is 10. And the limits are even lower on many small bodies of water – five per day.
“We’ve limited the harvest, that’s all it is,” Lindner said. “Without a doubt, we’re seeing an increase in the size of our fish.
“Those reductions have been controversial. But I think they’ve become more palatable when anglers see how much our crappie fishing has improved.”
Crappies get a lot of fishing pressure in Minnesota. There are designated seasons for walleyes, muskies and bass, but not for crappies. The speckled panfish are among the first species anglers target once the ice goes off.
The fish often are found in the last place they were caught through the ice – in channels.
“Those channels are like a magnet for them,” Lindner said.
As the water warms, the crappies will start making their way toward spawning areas. Lindner finds his best success in dark-bottom bays that warm up quickest.
When the water temperature climbs into the mid-50s, things start to light up, Lindner said.
“Warm, sunny, calm days can really get them going,” he said. “You can go out one day and hardly find a fish. Then you go out the next day, and that area is loaded.”
The afternoon bite is usually best, because the sun will heat the water as the day progresses. The crappies can move into “skinny” water, where Lindner often casts small hair jigs, plastic tube baits or jigs.
If the fish are still a bit farther out – four feet of water or deeper – Lindner advises casting small hard baits such as a No. 4 X-Rap.
“The spawn often will start by mid-May. The last two weeks of May and the first two weeks of June are the peak during a normal year,” Lindner said.
Once the crappies have recovered from the spawn, they head for new weed growth on the main lake. Lindner looks for cabbage weeds, which grow vertically and can be easier to get a lure or minnow through.
He likes to cast a small jerkbait or crankbait or a jig under a float to appeal to the crappies.
From the end of June until the middle of September, the crappies live in those weed beds, Lindner said. That’s when fishing the weed lines becomes critical.
“It becomes an evening bite in the summer, especially on lakes that get a lot of boat traffic,” Lindner said. “Everything calms down and the fish are more active.”
Lindner likes to use spinnerbaits and curly-tail grubs along weed lines and stay on the move.
“Usually, you won’t find mega schools of crappies in summer. There are smaller pods of fish,” he said.
Lindner also advises trolling the outer edge of the weed line, 25 to 30 feet behind the boat.
“You would think the boat would spook the fish, but it doesn’t,” Lindner said. “When they’re in that heavy cover, I think they feel pretty secure. The fish that are most active will see food coming by and they’ll bust out to grab it.”
The crappies remain active through the fall and even when ice covers lakes. In fact, crappies are one of the most popular species for ice fishermen.
Lindner lists Leech and Vermillion, along with Lake of the Woods and Rainy Lake on the Canadian border as large bodies of water that produce big crappies.
Lake Minnetonka, a heavily fished body of water in the Twin Cities metropolitan area, also produces surprisingly good crappie fishing, he said.
“It gets hit hard, but it keeps putting out big fish,” Lindner said. “A lot of that is due to the fact that it has such fertile water and it has so many bays the fish can spawn in.”
Many smaller bodies of water in Minnesota also have impressive crappie populations but fly under the radar.
So, the next time you’re in the Minnesota and the walleyes, northern pike or smallmouth bass aren’t hitting, downsize your offerings and fish for crappies.
Chances are, you’ll be glad you did.
Brent Frazee is an award-winning freelance writer and photographer from a suburb of Kansas City, Mo. He was outdoors editor of The Kansas City Star for 36 years before retiring in 2016. He continues to write for magazines, newspapers and websites.
