Be it Lake Weir Lake Griffin or your little ponds in The Villages fronts make me adjust my approach when going after crappie. Its no secret I can put large bass in the boat. But my true love is crappie fishing. Its the best fish to eat but also the most fun to catch in my humble opinion. Lady Lake and Lake County is home of some of the best crappie fishing around! Marion County also host three very good crappie lakes. Well lets get down to it shall we.
How Cold Fronts & Warm Fronts Affect Crappie Fishing
Cold fronts will almost always push fish deeper. During the spring when crappie are moving into the shallows to spawn, a cold front will push crappie back into the creek channels off of secondary points and just off of the first drop-off. Crappie may move from just a couple feet of water to 8 to 16 feet deep while they wait for the next warm front to move through. During the summer, a cold front will usually shut them down for a day or so and push them into some deeper water. A few days after the cold front, crappie fishing should pick back up and you may even see good numbers of crappie following bait fish into the shallows. When the next warm spell comes through, the bigger crappie will most likely head back into deeper water for the cooler water temperatures.
During the fall, a cold front may slow the bite down for a day or so, but the cooler weather can actually trigger a good crappie bite. As waters cool down during the fall, crappie will school up big time and put the feed on before winter arrives. The initial cold front may end up pushing some fish deeper and live bait may be the only way to get consistent bites, but once the weather stabilizes, expect to find some hungry crappie schooled up anywhere from 12 to 30 feet deep around bait fish.
How the Wind Affects Crappie Fishing
The wind can definitely play a role in positioning crappie. A light wind may not do too much, but once the winds become heavier, tiny organisms will get pushed across the lake and into points, bays and wind-blown shorelines. Smaller minnows and bait fish will follow their food source and crappie will be right behind them. During the spring, when crappie are in the shallows, the wind-blown shorelines are usually productive for crappie, especially if there is some type of cover such as timber, docks, weeds or rock.
During the summer and fall, when most crappie are found in deeper water, the wind can still play a role in positioning the fish. Instead of finding crappie along a wind-blown shoreline, they may stack up in deeper water where the wind is blowing into a point, over a mid-lake rock pile or into submerged trees. You can still find them in the shallows, but the deeper water will almost always hold better quality fish during the summer and fall.
How the Rain Affects Crappie Fishing
Rain almost always helps to improve the crappie fishing. Just before a thunderstorm, crappie will turn on and feed very aggressively. During a heavy storm, dams, spillways and flooded timber can be great areas to target crappie. In rivers, a big thunderstorm can cause very heavy currents, which will usually make the fishing much tougher. The fast currents and murky water don’t mix well with crappie. The key is to find flooded backwaters and shorelines that are out of the current. Add some timber and brush and the fishing can actually be very good. In the rest of the river, fishing will typically be terrible until the water recedes.
In lakes, you may not have the option to fish a dam, spillway, backwater or shoreline with flooded timber. A very heavy rain may stain the water and make fishing tough for a day or so. In clearer water or on lakes that have tons of good shallow water cover, a heavy rain may actually help you locate crappie faster, which results in better fishing days.
How the Sun Affects Crappie Fishing
During the spring, crappie will move in to spawn and the sun may not affect crappie at all. If anything, the sun can actually help to improve the fishing as colder water temperatures warm into the upper 50s and low 60s. Once the spawn is over, the sun will almost always cause some shallow water crappie to hold tighter to cover in search of shade while good numbers of crappie will often move out to deeper water. During the summer and fall when most of the better quality crappie are already deep, the bright sun can push them tighter to deep water cover and structure. Crappie may also move into even deeper water. It is not uncommon to find crappie suspended 15 to 20 feet down over 30 to 50 feet of water.
Fishing can be tougher on a bright, sunny day, but crappie can usually be caught if you find them. You may need to use live bait when the bite is finicky. If you can find some aggressive crappie, you should be able to catch plenty of them on small jigs, small jigging spoons, and small spinners.
How the Clouds Affect Crappie Fishing
Cloud cover is great because crappie feed better during lowlight conditions. You will also find crappie moving into shallower water on cloudy days. Crappie that are found in 15 to 25 feet of water will often be found in water that is 5 to 10 feet deep around cover. During the summer and fall, some schools of crappie will stay in deep water, but they will usually feed more aggressively and for longer periods of time than when the sun is out.
