Crappie feeding habits?

[bspurge]

My brother and I were fishing on a large pond the other night were we kept marking fish, but nothing would take. Sun goes down and I said, "Lets turn off our lights and see if that's what's spooking them." Not more than 30 seconds later we get a fish that's 2 feet under our feet while we are in 10FOW. We both raise our jigs up and my brother pulls out a fat 12inch crappie. It happened again with another 12inch crappie just not as fat. I'm not one to target crappie, but it sure was fun! Has any one else experienced fishing that high in the water column?

[crappiecrusher34]

Those black crappie move right under the ice at night hunting. Blacks have good eye sight riding high in the water looking for insects. Zooplankton rises in the evening when the light dims.

[Fishslayer81]

I have caught many crappie over the years right under the ice both day and night. It's a fairly normal to find them high in the water column.

[bspurge]

I have caught many crappie over the years right under the ice both day and night. It's a fairly normal to find them high in the water column.

Do you notice a difference in bite with/without lights (at night)? That's what blew my mind, it was almost instantaneous.

[Michianaguy2]

since you knew that the fish were 2ft below the ice I’m assuming that you were using a vexilar or some kind of finder.  In my experience on the ice crappie will usually hold higher in the water column than other fish.  I was fishing a lake on Saturday and we were fishing in 10-15 feet of water.  Every now and then the screen would light up around at around 6-7 feet and they would be crappie.  They seem to move higher in the water column than other fish and I’m not sure why.  There’s probably got to be a food source there is my guess.

[river_scum]

i always assumed they held higher because of their food.  very common like said.

lights can be hit and miss.  most say it has to do with the moon phase.  i know some night you can catch them in the light and other nights they hold out to the side.  still other night lights dont even draw the minnows.  ponds mite be more touchy as far as light and noise.

[High Tide]

Crappie are very sensitive to sonar ping, and light especially in clear water. On Saturday, the low came in and the zooplankton loses their ability to stay in one part of the column and will start to rise. The minnows (and small crappie) rise to feed on the plankton and the big crappie follow... part of the reason an approaching low triggers hot bites.