A Load Of Crappie

This article is going to be about a new method of catching crappie that I have used over the past months in several small ponds. I am not sure that this will work in large lakes or reservoirs.

I was fishing on a Sunday afternoon, in July, with the air temperature in the low 80's and the sun shining. I was not catching very many fish so I decided to try a floating nymph. I tied it on and added a small split shot about 3 feet ahead of this.

I cast it out into about 5-6 feet of water. I was retrieving it with 1-2 inch strips. After about a foot of movement I caught an 11" bluegill. After about 5 or 6 bluegill I had a fish hit like a runaway freight train. I thought that I had a bass. Turned out to be a 15" crappie. I caught 12 more 12" crappie on my next 12 casts. After a dozen or so retrieves with no bites I moved my canoe 20 feet to try again. I caught several bluegill, crappie and a few bass with this method.

I have used this method while fishing in the canoe and from the shore. It has worked while in four to six feet of water. It has not worked in deeper water for me or while fishing over deep water. I have caught some crappie while retrieving patterns in the top two feet of water over 10 to 14' of water.

I took a lot of these fish home as the ponds need to have fish taken out. I checked the stomach contents on all of them. Very few of them had anything but nymphs in them. I was not able to tell what some of the things were but they were not minnows.

I am making an assumption about small ponds ( being 3 acres or less). None of these ponds have a forage base. There are no shad, cisco, chubs or minnows except the spawn of the year. I am convinced that because of the competition for food that there are always fish feeding. The fish come to the shallow water as that is where more of the nymphs are. They key in and feed on these nymphs. I also feel that the competetion for food is fairly fierce. This may be why they hit so hard.

I went out with a friend and fished minnows and curly tail 2" grubs on one pond. We did not catch very many fish. When we used the floating nymphs we did a lot better. He is convinced and I have had to tie flies for him.

I tied a generic nymph with closed cell foam for the shellback. I have used, black, brown, grey, and brown sparkle dubbing to make these nymphs. All have caught fish. I have also cut a short cylinder of Rainey Float Foam, poked a hole through it and put it on the hook. I then dub the body, thorax and pull a thin shellback of feather over the thoarax for the shellback.

I have fished with some minnow imitations and few other flies over the 10-14 foot depth and caught crappie. I think they are that high looking for food. If I let the fly get deeper I catch bluegill. The fish are always scattered and never in big groups. I fan cast around the canoe to see what I can catch and at what depth they may be.

Early in the day I also cast along the shore in only two or three feet of water with the same flies that I use in the deeper water. I catch crappie there because I think they are in the shallow water, around weeds, looking for minnows.