Crappie fishing., Ice fishing

I will start by saying, get a floater suit if you are going ice fishing. No ice is safe ice. People have been asking me about ice fishing for crappie. If you have good spots where you catch crappie all year round like Dbfish and I do then this message might not be helpful. Dbfish and I as well other anglers have spent years finding these spots that hold crappie all year long. A bit of luck and a whole lot of time ( HUNDREDS & HUNDREDS of hours and more ) have been spent on catching the elusive crappie. Crappie move around but return to certain spots everyday to feed. Find the weeds that still remain between 4 and 12 feet of water. Also structure like fallen trees rock piles or humps. In the miiddle of winter the crappie will be suspended in deeper water near these shallow areas during the day. BUT the crappie will swim back to the shallow areas later in the day and night. A trick I use is, in the summer find the coolest water to catch crappie in the evening. And in the winter find the water that is the warmest. Drill drill drill the more holes you drill in an area the better chance you have to find crappie as they move around so much. Crappie hunt in winter, unlike bass that just sit there and wait for a minnow to swim by. Stay mobile when searching for crappie. If you find blue gill spread out in that area. Blue gill and crappie hang out together more that other bait fish in the evening. Also a slower presentation catches more crappie. If you jig for perch try to move the bait a bit slower for crappie. I have always thought that live minnows are the best bait for crappie in winter. Two inch shiner minnows for 11 inch crappie, anything smaller than that I don't bother keeping. And 3.5 inch fat minnows for monster crappie, that's if you are trying to catch 16, 17, 18, or bigger crappie. If you choose to fish for monster crappie in winter or the other seasons, be prepared. It might take your entire fishing career to catch just one crappie over 16 inches in Canada. Our growing season is slower up here and some people keep way too many baby crappie. I throw back hundreds of crappie every year because I am searching for those monsters always. I have even stopped keeping some of the big ones as I posted earlier this year. That new blue/green colour I discovered this year, were all returned to the lake to get bigger and multiply. I hope this comes in handy for anyone that reads it. If anyone has more specific questions, you can PM me and I will get back to you when I can. Good luck and stay safe.

Thanks for all the advice. I have never spent much time targeting crappie so all the tips I can get move me ahead towards more success. I will be putting my time in on a certain lake and I will be happy if I can catch a few fish allong the way.

Some excellent tips CM! I agree with more or less everything mentioned. Only thing I will add is that there are some lakes where the crappie will suspend in deep water most of the winter and may not hang out near bluegill habitat because there are no bluegills in the lake (but these don't really apply to most of the Kawartha lakes). I had a couple of good spots further north for great numbers of crappie on the ice but they are all fished out and no longer worth the trip (so need to search for new spots) - this can happen rapidly when news spreads over the internet and it's a small body of water (it's hard to hide when ice fishing).

Great Information Crappeeeman!

Sorry about your fishing spot. There are some bad people out there that will fish until there is no more fish to catch. It does not matter where a person comes from, there are just some people out there that just don't get what fishing is about. It does not matter what language is spoken or what part of the planet you are fishing. I have bumped into many people in many countries, with that " FISH TODAY!!! " " F### TOMORROW!!! " attitude. It's sad really. All it takes is some common sense and love of the outdoors. We need to preserve what we were given and entrusted to take care of. There are people out there that don't share my sentiments, convictions, perspective, beliefs etc. IT'S SAD. To fish until there is no more fish, is irrational, ridiculous, foolish, and actually beyond belief. But it has happened, and will happen again. Imagine if all the crappie, or walleye, or bass, and all the rest of the fish were gone. Who would I be talking to right now.

Or no fish. That would be sad.

Well said!!! and great visual

excellent advice and wisdom CM !! thankyou

Completely agree

I'm only catching sporadic crappies in the flats at the moment but no medium or small ones all 10+ inches. Do the year classes hang out in different areas or is something wrong with the population.

Different sizes of crappie move at certain times of the day. Problem is those times are not specific. I have fished the same area for a week and caught crappie one day at a certain time and the next day, same spot 3 hours later. BUT... Definitely nothing wrong with the population of crappie in the Kawarthas. Yes most crappie hang out in schools, that is their nature. The smaller the crappie the larger the school. As crappie get bigger there will not be as many schooling together. The exception is in the spring when you will find very large schools of fish getting ready to spawn. Also large schools of prespawn crappie gorging on what ever they can eat in the cold spring water. In the summer the schooling crappie hang out together in cooler water in the weeds close to drop offs. At night the school will move together but spread out in a large area to feed. In the fall the crappie school up as well, these schools generally will be long and thin along the shallow areas. This also happens in winter. When you are lucky and find a large school of crappie under the ice have fun while you can. The crappie will spread out at some point in the day or night, this is when your catching will be sporadic. I always say crappie are the smartest fish in the Kawarthas, because they don't feed like bass or perch do. They do feed right around the clock, but never the same exact time day after day. Crappie are either early or late, they don't seem to like to punch in for work on time. LOL. In general when you are catching crappie, they will be around the same size fish in the school. Here is a picture for example. I got lucky and found a very large school of crappie and kept these. There was dozens more, all around the same size. My rule for crappie fishing is always release more than you bring home.

Here is another example of crappie all around the same size. There were some smaller crappie but out of over a hundred, the crappie were mostly this size.

There are exceptions to every rule of course. Nothing is guaranteed in fishing. This day there was many crappie but most were too small to keep. So the school had many different sizes of fish in it. I should have released these as well, maybe just have kept the one, or two. That was a weird day, some of the crappie were spawning and some were not in the same area. What ever season crappie taste the best in my opinion. Hardest fish to find in the Kawarthas on a consistent level. But when you find those spots after years of searching, don't forget where you were. I have been fishing these same areas now for a long time on Balsam and Sturgeon. Fishing is never the same from lake to lake. A bit of luck and hours and hours searching will usually pay off. I hope my advice helps out anyone fishing the Kawarthas. Good luck and stay safe.

Thanks for your replies I have screen shoted them for future reference. I will have to spend more time on this lake (not kawartha) to get to know it. You have your area dialed in as far as patterning goes it seems.
I'm lazy this season as its the first with a permanent hut. so I guess I'm getting lucky catching any crappies not mooving around. Nice hauls in those pics!