Chasing Crappie

The elusive crappie have snake bitten me.
Decided to purchase crappie gear this season outfitting with new 9 1/2 rod,
Floats , Crappie magnet bait.
First trip headed to Pigeon lake, no hits that day.
Next venture off to Mitchell , no luck
went to Balsam, skunked again!
Are the crappie on the shallows yet?
We fished hard, catching bass, pike, no crappie.
Next trip heading to Stoney Lake, try our luck there.

This post has been edited by OBONE on May 11, 2023 - 07:52 am

I fished a smaller lake on Sunday and caught them shallow around decks. More bluegill though. Water temp was around 13C.

I have found them in tight to lily pads and weeds that have sprung in the shallows.

Read through my posts on crappie and the other guys posts. This will give you an idea of what is going on day to day. Conditions change so quickly lake to lake. It's hard to tell the whole spring fishing story in one paragraph. LOL. You can PM me when you get enough posts. I would be glad to answer a couple questions. Right now the crappie are still in the thin water. But that won't be the same on each lake. I can tell you last night I fished for about 8 hours before I ran into the fish that were being targeted. Then had 3 hours of insane crappie fishing in the dark. Sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes you don't.

Today the crappie bite was crazy first thing this morning! Found them in 5-7’ of water on the deep side of the weed beds. Actually was catching them directly off the side of the boat, just hopping my 1/16 oz. jig tipped with a white and chartreuse tube. Watched as they just inhaled the jig, which was pretty cool to see….. Most were still laden with eggs and all were released . Decided to leave them alone and moved off to find the gills with the fly rod..
It’s funny, sometimes they are very predictable and sometimes they are hard to find, you just have to keep at it and you will be rewarded…

I did not appreciate your eye glasses comment around this time last year. As some people have to wear glasses for one reason or another. And I don't appreciate this comment as well. I met Mr. Izumi years ago, he is someone with good opinions that I respect. I do not think I am him. My friends call me Jamie.... You can continue to call me crappeeeman. If you do not like my posts, don't read them. Nobody is forcing you to read my posts. Nobody is saying you have to agree with my opinion. As for sounding like a broken record...Thank you. I like breaking records. And I like when I take people fishing and they break their PB records on the fish they catch with me. Whether it's a muskie, bass, walleye, pike, and of course a monster crappie. I do say stay safe a lot, that's the last thing I said to the two MNR officers that were visiting with us last night. It's just a quick reminder that's all. There is very old saying that everyone knows. If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. I joined this Fishing Forum to share a few stories and to assist someone that might ask a question. Reading and enjoying the stories other anglers have posted on here has been enjoyable and insightful. And the pictures are great as well. Much better than my pictures because most of those pictures are taken at night on Balsam or Sturgeon. I do fish during the day, but not too often. I have also made some new friends since joining the Fishing Forum. Good times all around. Sorry if you didn't like this post either. Just skip over my posts from now on, if you like.

You don’t need to explain yourself to him CM.

Keep posting!

Thank you for the support. There are outstanding people who love to fish on this Fishing Forum. So glad I decided to participate in it.

Ignore the trolls, you do you! Always appreciate reading your posts. You’re clearly passionate about fishin and who cares what so and so thinks.

Glad to see you set 'him' straight. You are one of the reason I look forward to opening this forum, and I don't even fish Crappie. Always good advice, whatever your target fish is.
Keep up the high posting standard big guy!

I did not appreciate your eye glasses comment around this time last year. As some people have to wear glasses for one reason or another. And I don't appreciate this comment as well. I met Mr. Izumi years ago, he is someone with good opinions that I respect. I do not think I am him. My friends call me Jamie.... You can continue to call me crappeeeman. If you do not like my posts, don't read them. Nobody is forcing you to read my posts. Nobody is saying you have to agree with my opinion. As for sounding like a broken record...Thank you. I like breaking records. And I like when I take people fishing and they break their PB records on the fish they catch with me. Whether it's a muskie, bass, walleye, pike, and of course a monster crappie. I do say stay safe a lot, that's the last thing I said to the two MNR officers that were visiting with us last night. It's just a quick reminder that's all. There is very old saying that everyone knows. If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. I joined this Fishing Forum to share a few stories and to assist someone that might ask a question. Reading and enjoying the stories other anglers have posted on here has been enjoyable and insightful. And the pictures are great as well. Much better than my pictures because most of those pictures are taken at night on Balsam or Sturgeon. I do fish during the day, but not too often. I have also made some new friends since joining the Fishing Forum. Good times all around. Sorry if you didn't like this post either. Just skip over my posts from now on, if you like.

Well said Jamie . Great post

"If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all"

Some peoples children.

SMH!

30 posts in 6 years and has a nerve to offend . not cool

Thank you guys...OK let's get back to talking about fishing. I would like to see some more walleye pictures and crappie pictures from you members... I am still miffed that all the fish I caught Thursday night that I could not keep decided to ignore me and my baits on Friday night. LOL.

Crappie fishing can be a crap shoot. Like Jamie said it changes day to day. Early spring I sometimes find them in 2 to 3 fow, sometimes in 6 to 8 fow. The schools move around and sometimes when the bite dies give it an hour and they're back, I've also found them in shallow end of May early July when the the water Temps start coming up but that window is short. You have to keep searching and make records of conditions when you do find them. It will help in the following years.