IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Ice Fishing Tips -Check your local regulations! => Crappies => Topic started by: PERCHIN101 on Jan 08, 2014, 07:39 PM
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Do you guys find crappies over deep water in every lake with a prominent basin?? I catch crappies mixed with gills in the shallower weedy areas but it seems to be spotty. The lake is loaded with crappies but it seems tho the crappies aren't in schools where I'm fishing for them. Will a large school of fish be over deep water even tho I'm catching a few shallow?? The shallow area is where everyone else gravitates but it is also easy access. What's everyone think?
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This is a really good question that I would like an answer to as well.
I have been catching the crappie in 18-22 fow right next to weed line and drop off.....soooo do I go to a deeper basin or stay "shallower"?
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Are you picking through them as well or are you on a school? Where I'm at I catch one or two and then it's back to gills. Half hour later ill get another.
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I haven't really tried to search the "deep" water yet. But when I do catch crappie it is small schools moving through 18-22 fow. Then they disappear. The gills seem to be in much shallower water.
Just wondering if I should stick to the 18-22 or if I might find the holy grail of crappie in deeper water.
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They will more often times then not be suspended over the deepest water they can find this time of year. They'll be on the move in the upcoming weeks to slightly shallower water closer to spawning areas. In one lake I fish now and actually find and catch them during the day is between 30-45 fow. Last year on the same lake I found them in half that in the first couple of weeks in Feb.
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They will more often times then not be suspended over the deepest water they can find this time of year. They'll be on the move in the upcoming weeks to slightly shallower water closer to spawning areas. In one lake I fish now and actually find and catch them during the day is between 30-45 fow. Last year on the same lake I found them in half that in the first couple of weeks in Feb.
Basically what I find in my area as well. Have one lake where they're over 55fow (deepest area) at times, but rarely come across them any deeper than the deepest weeds which is 22', usually shallower. Just horizontal movement from major feeding areas, don't think the ultimate depth of the basin has much to do about it. They do move around out there and are just looking for some sort of comfort/safety/staging/possibly lunch or simply avoiding the aimless hordes of fisherman during the day :whistle: Bull 'gills are often doing the exact same thing, they don't get big being stupid or swimming into ambushes
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Generally they will be in water no deeper than 25-35 feet. They go to these areas for two reasons, slightly warmer water and if it's a Mud flat they will be eating worms or aquatic insects from the mud. They are generally only in these areas in the middle of winter and as others have said they start to migrate shallower as the water warms.
At night we catch them in 13 to 16 ft of water in or near weeds, especially cabbage.
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deep by day...shallow by night.