Tips from topnotch crappie anglers like Barry Morrow, pictured here, can help you learn
methods for putting more summer crappie in your livewell. (Photo courtesy Barry Morrow)
Mastering Summer Crappie
by Keith Sutton
I love crappie fishing. I’ve been chasing slabs for 58 years on waters nationwide and have learned many tricks for catching them. But every time I fish with a fellow enthusiast, I realize I’ll never learn all there is to know about catching crappie. Every person with whom I fish teaches me new tricks I can add to my crappie-fishing arsenal. And the more I learn, the better crappie fisherman I become.
Here are some summertime fishing tips I’ve picked up recently that could help you be a better angler, too.
Proper Stump Fishing
“Crappie are predator fish and like to hang out around submerged timber such as stumps,” says B’n’M Poles pro staffer Hugh Krutz of Brandon, Mississippi. “The timber provides everything they need to make it through the sweltering summer.
“On my home lake, Ross Barnett Reservoir, crappie not only feed on fish fry around stumps, but they also eat mayfly larvae attached to the stumps and use the stumps as ambush points. While all stumps provide a food source, not all hold crappie during summer. Crappie, much like us, do not like the sun shining in their eyes, and because their eyes are on top of their heads, they prefer hanging around stumps with horizontal limbs coming off them. So, this is my number-one key to consistently catching summertime crappie. Find the stumps with these horizontal limbs. When you do, you can eliminate fishing stumps that are more like telephone poles.”
Krutz’s go-to crappie tackle consists of a Sam Heaton Super Sensitive jig pole from B’n’M, combined with a Buck’s Ultralite Crappie Reel spooled with 8-pound high-visibility line.
“The hi-vis line helps me detect light bites that happen as my jig falls,” he says. “If I see the line gather up on top of the water, I know my jig is hung or a crappie has it in his mouth.
“For bait, I like a new product from Crappie Magnet—a 1/16-ounce Eye Hole jig head paired with a white-and-chartreuse Crappie Magnet body. The jig comes with Mustad hooks and has double barbs to hold your bait snug to the head. The hole in the jig was designed so you can insert a Crappie Magnet Slab Bite into it. Added scent from the Slab Bite encourages fish to hold on longer, giving me time to set the hook, which is especially important in summer when crappie are more lethargic.”
Slip Floats & Minnows
Avid crappie angler Kent Driscoll of Nolensville, Tennessee is the pro staff manager for B’n’M Poles. He loves post-spawn brush-pile fishing in June and early July and uses different tactics than Krutz.
“After the spring spawn, crappie typically move to the first drop-off and relate to brush piles or stake beds to recover, relax and start feeding again,” he says. “I target brush piles in 14- to 20-foot depths close to spawning coves and pockets, and I fish them the old-school way with a slip float and minnow.”
Driscoll’s go-to fishing rig is a B’n’M 75 Series rod-and-reel combo spooled with 6-pound K-9 High Vis Fluoro.
“I slide one of Stan’s Slip Bobber Knots on my line, followed by a Stan’s #14 Slip Bobber,” says Driscoll. “Then I add a 1/4-ounce egg sinker that I run the line through four times to peg the sinker. A foot below the sinker, I tie on a No. 2 Aberdeen light-wire crappie hook.
“The slip bobber has a polished insert with a micro hole on top and bottom, which allows line to flow freely through the float’s stem. This helps detect the lightest bites. In addition, this setup allows you to cast farther and does not require a pesky glass bead.”
Driscoll prefers a 1-1/4- to 1-1/2-inch live shiner for bait.
“I usually mark the brush pile with a marker buoy, stay 20 to 25 feet away and set my float one foot above the brush,” he says. “I cast past the brush and let the wind blow my bait back over the strike zone. When I’ve caught eight to 10 fish, I adjust my float one to two feet deeper as the fish get smart and move deeper in the brush. Not all brush piles hold fish, so I usually end up fishing five to eight spots before catching a limit or it gets too hot to fish.”
Follow Spawning Shad
Barry Morrow, owner of MRO Crappie Academy (phone 660-723-2667), guides on Missouri’s Truman Lake. His extensive crappie-fishing knowledge comes from thousands of hours on the water and many years fishing tournaments like the Crappie Masters.
“Bluffs, channel swings and coves protected from wind are excellent places to start looking for summer crappie,” he says. “And having an understanding of baitfish like threadfin shad helps you pinpoint them. Female shad congregate around wood, rocks and vegetation to lay their eggs, which are then fertilized by the males. The shad attract hungry crappie, making these great areas to fish.”
Morrow uses 1/32- to 1/4-ounce jig heads with 1-1/4- to 3-inch-long Bobby Garland or Beaver Bottom Baits soft-plastic bodies that match the hatch and conditions.
“Fishing lines are also important during summer conditions,” he says. “I generally use 6- to 8-pound-test mono or fluorocarbon, but if the water is super clear, I add an 8-pound-test fluorocarbon leader.”
Don’t Overlook Shallow Water
B’n’M pro Brad Whitehead, owner of Brad Whitehead’s Fishing Guide Service, once believed that summer crappie stay in deep water—25 to 30 feet in the North Alabama lakes (Pickwick and Wilson) where he guides. That accidentally changed.
“The wind picked up and blew me into shallow water, and every pole went down!” he says. “So, I started noticing that structure in 11 to 14 feet was holding huge numbers of fish. That prompted me to put out 1,000-1,500 stake beds at those depths the next year, and it’s totally changed my thinking and strategy.
“When fishing the shallower water, I run 12-foot B’n’M Buck’s Graphite Jig Poles (BGJPs) in the front of my boat and 10-foot BGJPs in back. I use a 1-ounce weight, a bead, a slip float and two bobber stoppers. Each rod has one hook and a minnow—very simple and deadly. I move my boat slowly around the structure, and on a normal day, we bag 50 to 60 crappie by noon.
“Three key points are important to mention,” he says. “First, I use clear or lo-vis Vicious line because normally the water is ultraclear this time of year. Two, make sure you keep your minnows lively. And finally, run water on your fish in the hot part of the summer to keep your catch fresh.”
Even Shallower
“When the water gets at its hottest, I like to jig trees in less than six feet of water using a 2-1/2-inch Muddy Water bait with a 1/8-ounce Wack ‘Em jig head,” says Centertown, Missouri crappie pro Travis Bunting. “Fishing shallow allows you to cover more water. With the water being hot and oxygen levels low, crappie rise in the water column for better oxygen. It’s just like the shad are on top of the water all summer. I have fished in 1-1/2 feet of water in August and caught a lot of crappie, including some true slabs.”
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.
