A fishing trip during the prespawn period may require anglers to bundle up against the
cold, but slab crappie like this often fall to savvy late-winter anglers. (Photo: Keith Sutton)
Fishing Prespawn, The Devil is in the Details
by Keith Sutton
During the weeks just before crappie begin spawning activities, savvy anglers pay close attention to subtle variations in weather, water conditions, fish locale and forage. They know that reacting quickly and properly to these changes can greatly increase their catch.
For example, when crawfish start emerging from their holes this time of year, ravenous crappie gorge on the bounty, and you can often find them gathered by thousands on banks that have no cover whatsoever. Catching them, however, may require a slower presentation and bigger lure size than used when the panfish were feeding more heavily on other forage. Anglers who know this and react properly catch more crappie.
Prespawn fish also start relating less to brush piles and more to breaklines as they begin forays from deep water to shallow spawning sites. That’s not to say brush piles won’t produce prespawn crappie, but the right breaklines will produce more. Anglers who know this catch more fish.
In the following paragraphs, we’ll discuss several scenarios like this so you can better understand why it’s important to pay attention to details that may seem insignificant. Like old timers often say, “The devil is in the details,” which means you could have problems with a task if you fail to concentrate on things that seem minor at the time. This certainly applies to prespawn crappie fishing.
Prespawn Basics
During the prespawn period, more than any other season, crappie are deep-water fish. Deep is a relative thing, however, and you need to know characteristics of the lake you’re fishing to enjoy success.
When fishing a shallow, heavily-timbered lake with average depths in the 10- to 20-foot range, for example, you may find crappie holding no more than 8 to 15 feet deep. In a large, open reservoir on the other hand, especially one in the mountains, water may reach 100 feet deep or more, and crappie may spend winter at depths of 25 to 40 feet, sometimes more. Many will be suspended, avoiding deeper water where less oxygen, forage and cover make conditions uncomfortable.
As during other seasons, prespawn crappie also usually hold near structure and/or cover. But when the water is extremely cold, the features used are more likely to be offshore, often in mid-lake. These include creek/river channels, humps, timbered bars, the deep ends of points and such. It’s important to remember, however, crappie won’t be evenly dispersed around these features. Instead, they’ll be attracted to smaller, specific components of the larger structures called “super-structure.” Finding these requires the aid of a good sonar unit.
Let’s say, for example, you’ve found a creek channel meandering across a lake bottom. Crappie won’t be along the channel’s entire length. Instead, they’ll gather in compact schools where the channel exhibits a change of some sort. This may be a bit of cover where a secondary channel intersects the main channel, or around a tall tree standing on a sharp channel bend—anything different from the norm. Finding these types of super-structure with a good fish-finder can mean the difference between catching lots of prespawn crappie or none at all.
Learn the Season’s Subtleties
During prespawn, you can also increase your catch if you focus on subtle seasonal variations that are easily overlooked. For example, this is when crappie start moving and feeding more in most regions. One clue this is about to start is when the water has warmed 10 degrees from winter’s coldest point. Bluebird days toward winter’s end tend to be calm, and crappie move up in the water column. This temperature change also causes crappie to start feeding heavily.
These prespawn fish also relate to super-structure more than brush piles. That’s not to say brush piles won’t produce crappie, but the right super-structure will usually produce more.
One way to take advantage of this knowledge is to start fishing where you find bends in creek channels leading back into spawning coves. If you remember where you caught crappie last spring, work backward from there. Any clay, rock or gravel bank will hold fish where the biggest breakline is—not the main channel drop-off but the breakline closest to this channel.
A warm rain this time of year really triggers crappie feeding, but don’t fish right in the runoff, which crappie and crappie forage avoid. The best areas are where muddy water meets clearer water because this is where shad—one of big crappies’ favorite foods—are feeding. Watch your fish-finder and you should have no trouble finding crappie in these spots.
While early-morning fishing often is best during much of the year, during prespawn there’s no need to rise at daybreak. The best bite often is in the middle of the afternoon as the water warms.
Also watch for subtle signs that crappie activity is cresting. For example, as winter turns to spring, you may notice fish such as shad, white bass and gar moving on the surface. When this is observed, it’s an indication crappie are starting to feed more actively, and you should spend as much time on the water as possible.
Crappie Eating Crawfish
As water continues warming, female crappies’ eggs start developing. Bigger females go on a feeding binge when this happens, and males start investigating shallows. Keep in mind, however, crappie may move to shallows only a half hour or so each day.
Around this same time, something incredible happens in many lakes. Crawfish leave winter holes, and hungry crappie instinctively know it. As the panfish gorge on this seasonal feast, you can find them congregated on banks where cover is absent.
Slow trolling catches these fish. Some anglers use multiple poles in holders at the front of the boat (spider rigging). Others like long-line fishing with the poles at the rear, and still others prefer holding a pole in one or both hands.
I use two jigs per pole, and rather big jigs at that, which tend to weed out many smaller crappie. I tie on one 1/4-ounce jig head dressed with a 2-inch Yum Grub on the terminal end of my line. Then two or three feet above that, on a dropper line, I add a 1/8-ounce jig head with a different-colored grub. These lures may seem huge if you fish with the typical 1/32-ounce jigs. But when slab crappie are feasting on 3- to 4-inch-long baitfish and crawfish, lures of similar size entice more bites.
Use the Right Speed
When crappie are eating crawfish, a slow approach is best. If they are feeding on shad, however, you may catch more by speeding up and lengthening your line. When fishing 10 feet of water, for example, you may need 14 feet of line out.
Sometimes you’ll fish down a bank and catch 10 fish, then reverse your course and catch 25 on the next pass. This means current is present, and crappie are facing into the current as they look for food. This points out the need for persistence. Don’t give up on an area after just one pass.
The lesson in all this is simple: during prespawn, pay attention to subtle variations—variations in water and weather conditions, variations in locale and variations in your presentations. There’s no better way to make your catch rate soar.
Besides being the Editor of our sister publication, CatfishNOW, Keith Sutton has 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.
