Crappies are
a sophisticated fish, especially those slabs, and at times
it can be rather confusing and frustrating for ice fishermen
to pinpoint slab patterns. Some lakes are abundant with slab
crappies, while others are more inclined to hold smaller
fish, and than you have those lakes where you can catch a
mixed bag. Regardless of the lake or body of water, location
is important when it comes down to being a successful crappie
fisherman during the winter months. Locating the elusive
slab crappie is more than half the battle, and if you can
establish a pattern of where these fish will be holding,
than the rewards will come.
I always pay close attention to fall patterns, especially
at late fall as the water plunges into near freezing temps.
Crappies will begin staging for early ice towards the end
of summer, and as fall approaches they will begin to stake
out areas that they will utilize at early ice. The turn-over
period is where I start. This is when the thermocline diminishes
and the cool and warm water start to mix. The typically deeper
water crappie patterns of the hot summer months
will turn into shallower water patterns. (Keep in mind that
rivers will be different and not every lake will experience
the same effects either, every body of water may be
different from the next). When the water mixes you will typically
find the crappies in some sort of migration stage (in
lakes) and they will start to slide to the initial
breaks and suspend off shallow water edges instead of constantly
roaming the deeper depths. The turn-over period might not
last too long (especially with the weather we've experienced
this year). Once the water turns over and the temps drop
more and more, you will begin to find fish staging in their
early ice locations. Summer and late-summer crappies will
stage, often times, suspended in deeper water at the same
level of the top of the initial break line (flat). So if
you have the top of your break at say 10 feet, and you drop
into about 25 feet at the basin, you will find crappies suspended
15 feet off the bottom out on the basin. These fish will
roam and you will often times mistake them for baitfish,
or when you try to pinpoint them they just keep moving (that’s
part of the reason it can be tough to find the big slabs
in the hot summer months). These fish will begin staging
for the winter once fall approaches and will feed on what
is in front of them if the opportunity presents itself, but
intercepting these fish can be tough on lakes with large
basins and limited structure.
I don't typically heavily follow the crappie movements
during the hot summer months since they are so sporadic,
but once they begin moving into winter patterns that’s
when they get my attention (I'm an ice fishing geek). Learning
the fall (turn-over period and into early ice) patterns has
a lot to do with finding the slabs at early ice. Smaller
crappies will stack up in obvious shallow(er) spots at early
ice, but you will still find some of your larger fish off
the "so called" prime hotspots at early ice. Early
ice crappies will relate to the weeds, at least as long as
they provide oxygen (which may last quite a ways into winter
or even throughout winter in some cases). I personally don't
think that the larger crappies need to relate to those weeds,
I'm not saying that you won't catch slabs in the weeds at
early ice, but I'm just saying that those weed areas tend
to draw in more smaller fish as well as potato chip bluegills
and hungry roaming pike. The larger crappies (concentration
of fish) that I do typically find in the weeds are located
in lakes where the weed line pushes out into deeper water,
say 12-15 feet or even more, and I find the slabs right out
on the deeper portions at early ice. Meanwhile, the smaller
fish are holding shallower.
Once the thermocline does a flip-flop (and disappears)
and you complete the turn-over, you will notice that the
crappies adjusted to a whole new area. During this time you
won't find the crappies suspended over the deeper water 24
hours a day, or even at all anymore. They will somehow relate
to shallower water, whether it’s off the break, or
along the deep weed edge. Once they move up into the weeds
they will relate to the shallower weeds until they die off
(assuming that they do in a typical lake situation), then
they will cling to the oxygen-rich (slightly deeper) weeds
until those are gone. Now, this is a general crappie pattern,
and not true for every lake and not always true for all the
larger fish. This is, how should we call it... "Crappie
intuition"
Here's how I pattern crappies throughout late summer and
into early ice…
Deep Water Patterns
Your summer to late-summer pattern. Crappies will roam deeper
water.
Turn-Over (thermocline dies)
Crappies move from deeper water and stage off shallower water.
Keep an eye on areas where you know the crappies where
at during early ice in the past and move out from there.
(In between this period and the next is where I find my
larger crappies at early ice)
Thermocline is Dead...Full Turn-Over
Crappies are holding off shallow structure, more tight though.
Weeds are dying and fish gradually slide deeper. This can
also be an early ice stage on occasion.
Early Ice
Shallow, oxygen rich weeds and primary breaks. Look for depths
anywhere from 3-15 feet. Weeds will die as ice thickens
and crappies will gradually move deeper. Narrows can be
good too.
This is my view of a typical crappie movement from late
summer to early ice for your typical lake. I have some lakes
where the pattern is very different, and some lakes where
you catch your early ice crappies in deeper holes. Keep in
mind that these crappies that are found in the deeper holes
at early ice might have already migrated shallow and already
moved back out into deeper water (crappies will move back
out as ice thickens, oxygen diminishes and light penetration
gets worse…).
So, with that being said, where are the crappies at early
ice?
Well, for one, we have the weeds, an obvious option for
a good number of crappies at early ice. Shallow bays on large
bodies of water are good early ice locations. Any depressions
in the bays should be marked on a map and checked out as
well. These are “pockets” in the weeds. I also
like to find the weed edge and punch a line of holes across
that as well. Breaks just off the weed edge will also hold
crappies at early ice, both suspending and bottom hugging.
Some of these areas will have no weeds on the actual slope,
but once it flattens out again you will see more weeds, this
is a prime example of an early ice slab spot. Work those
deeper weeds and stay moving until you locate a school of
fish. Depths of 10-15 feet are not uncommon. Also check out
humps and saddles too. Weeds are good, but don’t only
judge early ice spots by where the weeds are, stay open minded.
Wooded areas can also hold a good number of crappies at early
ice, same with rocks and muddy areas.
I also like to find spots where there is a narrow area between
different portions of the lake, like “bottlenecks” and
deeper channels (deep could only mean 6-7 feet). These channel
areas often times freeze first and the crappies fishing can
be excellent during first ice. These spots are short lived
though, and the bite might only last a week or so. If you
find the crappies holding in these areas at first ice, than
there’s a good chance that those fish will relate to
adjacent deeper water once they move towards the main lake
basin.
Mouths of shallow bays are good areas to target too. Crappies
will relate to the transition areas in these mouths, and
once they move out from the bay these areas might be the
new hot spot.
Early ice crappie locations are going to be different from
body of water to body of water, but the general principles
still apply…
Look for shallow green weeds
Focus on “structure” in the weeds (pockets, humps,
edges, etc…)
Search the primary breaks just off the shallow weeds (deeper
weed lines)
Look for any flats just off the weed line, as well as off
the first break
Narrows
Also check deeper holes in the lakes where the average depth
is shallow
Location is number one for most of the winter when it comes
to crappies. Locate the aggressive school of fish and than
figuring what they want is the easy part. If you find fish
but there are negative than move, there typically are some
active fish somewhere, and often times they won’t be
far.
Early ice can produce some nice catches, and hopefully some
of this will help you ice more slabs this winter.
Good Fishin,
Matt Johnson |