OPENING CAST 

Fall is upon us and it is a super crappie fishing time of the year no matter what part of the country you live in.  Many techniques will work as it is the pre-winter feed by the crappie.

This time of year is when the water temperatures start dropping which signal all fish to fatten up for the winter.  Prey, minnows and insects, are plentiful and easy to hunt down by the crappie.

The crappie travel in packs to feed on the big schools of shad and minnows.  They group up in structure near the food.  Locate the food, structure near deeper water and you will find them.  Recently, Sue and I found a big school of fish in 12-14 feet of water suspended in a tree top.  The Garmin LiveScope showed fish from the top of the tree to the bottom.  I would guess well over 100 fish in the school.

The really big fish seem to be loners and like roaming this time of year near a school of food.  I have actually seen them on the Garmin in the middle of the bait.  You must be stealthy to catch these big ones.  Casting or pitching to them with a Roadrunner with my favorite Bobby Garland Crappie bait, Baby Shad, to match the minnows seems best.

I also like spider rigging and pulling jigs or crankbaits this time of year.  I use OffShore Tackle boards to catch those big crappies suspended around bait.  They allow me to get the baits out away from the boat so I don’t scare them away due to boat noise.

Don’t have a boat?  This is a great time of year to fish from a dock or boat house.  If you don’t have one, ask a friend if you can fish from theirs.  As water temperatures drop and get in the 60’s, the fish will move with the bait to the deeper docks.

This is a great time of the year to take a kid fishing.  Watching them light up from catching a crappie will never be forgotten, by you or them.  Create memories.

Good luck fishing this fall and catch a bunch.

God Bless,

Dan Dannenmueller, Publisher