Article and Photo By: Ken McBroom
www.ramblingangler.com
Crappie will be moving into the spawning areas of your lake. Look in coves with a gradual progression from deep water. If you find a cove with lots of wood and at least some gravel along its bank you should find some slabs spawning in and around this cover. Red clay banks will attract more spawning crappie than you might think. Some clay banks have gravel in the clay and the crappie can fan away the clay and make a great bed to lay her eggs so don't overlook red clay banks with lay-downs for spawning crappie.
Of course a live minnow under a bobber will always work on spawning crappie but a jig is a lot less hassle and at times will catch more crappie. I have found that a jig will work as well or better than a minnow during the spawning phase due to the more active crappie as well as the defensive strikes you get when the spawning crappie are on their bed.
Spawning crappie can be caught from shore and if you can find a rocky bank leading into a shallow cove you might have found a great transition and staging area for the crappie moving up to spawn. A mistake I see many anglers make is to move around a lot during this time of year. I have found that if you stay put you can catch your share of crappie that come to you. Locate a good looking piece of cover and give it some time. If you catch a crappie, especially if it is a good one, hang tight. So many crappie anglers think that the crappie are supposed to "be there" but many times it is much more productive to catch the fish that are coming to you. You may not catch one after another but consistently catch crappie and by the end of the trip you will probably have as many or more crappie than those that are looking for the pile of fish in one spot. By sitting tight and catching one crappie every once and awhile you draw much less attention to your productive log or brush-pile leaving the great fishing to yourself. I promise if you are pulling in one fish after another you will have company and they will quickly catch the crappie there and move on. I like to consistently pull in my crappie and usually you will catch the bigger crappie because the bigger crappie are a little less likely to hang out with other, smaller crappie and as you pull one big crappie out of the cover it leaves it available for the next big crappie moving up to spawn.
I hope these tips help you put more crappie in the basket. For more tips visit http://www.ramblingangler.com
