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About this time in the late spring early summer where do the crappie usually hang out? Recently I've been fishing this one local pond and at first all I would catch is crappie after crappie occasionally toss in a blue gill and bass. But now the crappie have disappeared. The past two times I've fished I've only caught one or two out of 3-4 hours of fishing. I've used the same flies and have fished the same hours. So, where did they go?
Try using a sinking line, right outside the weed drop-off area. Right next to the weeed....they'll hide under that deeper stuff, out of the sunlight!
I use a sinking line and a Jansens Shad or the like. The fly is not too specific. A minnow streamer...
I dont have a sinking line but I do have a few weighted muddlers. I'll give them a shot. Thank you!
Tim,
That may be tough. You'd need to be down 5 ft in the lakes I fish most often.
I hate to suggest this but you can purchase a 5ft long sinker portion from the fly shop.
Better yet if you need one email me your address and I'll send you mine. They're not pretty to cast on a 3wt though, even a 4 is clunky...
Jeremy.
Its not that deep where the weeds and lilypads are. Maybe 5' at most. I can always add on to the leader to bring it down further. I have a feeling the sinking tip would not work. I fish with a 2wt and if its ugly on a 3wt I cant imagine what it would look like on a 2wt. Thank you for hte offer though.
My guess is that they went to deeper water where the water is cooler and where most of the minnows have gone. Happens down here too. They might be deeper than 5 feet though. I know a spot (not a pond or lake) right now where they are anywhere from 12 to 18 feet down right out in the middle.
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Robert B. McCorquodale
Sebring, FL
"Flip a fly"
Fish unweighted flies very slowly. Let them drop for a long time before you start to retrieve them.
Rick
Sounds good guys! I tried again last night and all I caught were baby bass 6" at most. Maybe 3 4" blue gills and no crappie. It must be the water temp. I'll tell you though when those little bass hit the popper the water exploded everytime. It was a bad nite though maybe 10 fish and I lost 4 flies to the lillypads, looks like I'll be tying weedless from now on.
Tim,
I also fish the light line rods and wait unil you tag one of those 16" or so bass on your sunny popper! *grins*
I really like my 1-3wts and fish them often for trout. The 2/3 wts are wonderful for sunnies and crappies though. Especially in the calm of an evening, in a boat, just outside of the weeds! Makes a boy grin...
And yes, use a lot of mono weed guards on your flies. I like around a 15 lb single mono loop. Works great but keep it smallish and fish it slowly so you don't hang up much.
Have ball.
Jeremy.