Crappie Fishing—A Comprehensive Guide

Henry David Thoreau once wrote, “Many people go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.” In my experience, this rings especially true for crappie fishing.

Let’s be honest: crappie aren’t feared predators like largemouth bass, not as photogenic as trout, and don’t fight as hard, pound for pound, as smallmouth bass or even bluegill. Even so, many of the happiest, most vivid memories of my life have come courtesy of the humble crappie.

From Oregon to Pennsylvania, I’ve pulled thousands out of creeks, clearwater lakes, muddy Midwest rivers and reservoirs, sand pits, and farm ponds—releasing most of them, sometimes cleaning a few eaters. I’ve had 100-fish days, seemingly caught 50 crappie off the same stick, and released more than my fair share of 2-3 pound slabs.
But it’s not just the numbers. It’s the experience.

For me, crappie fishing is more restorative and accessible than most kinds of fishing. It’s not as frustrating as “the fish of 10,000 casts” or as competitive as bass fishing. You don’t need a $50,000 fiberglass boat or expensive tackle to catch them—just a little ultralight gear. This is the fish of simple pleasures: kids with Snoopy rods and Zebco push buttons, family vacations and fish fries, old guys sitting on 5-gallon buckets with a dozen minnows, a handful of bobbers, a thermos of coffee, and stories to tell.

Maybe that’s what Thoreau meant? But with all due respect to my favorite transcendental writer, many of us are after fish, too. And that’s why I’ve written this comprehensive guide to crappie fishing. It covers how to fish, where to fish, when to fish, and how to gear up for North America’s favorite panfish.

Crappie fishing basics

Crappie are freshwater panfish distributed across much of the United States and Southern Canada. You can recognize them by their large, paper-thin mouths and silver-white bodies mottled with blue-green streaks and black speckles—with different markings on black crappies versus white crappies. Like other panfish, they’re smaller, hand-shaped fish with a relatively tall profile and flat body.

Crappie mostly live in lakes, reservoirs, creeks, and ponds. Most of the time, they won’t be far from cover. Given their size and body type, they don’t handle current as well as stronger, more streamlined fish. If there are any in a river system, they’ll be concentrated in slack water, such as eddies, tailwater bays, deep pools, and current breaks behind bridge pilings and jetties.

Likewise, crappie don’t swim as fast as many gamefish. This means you generally use slow presentations. Plus, these fish mostly look up to feed because their eyes sit high on their heads. This means you want to swim or suspend your lures just above the fish to coax them to bite.

Finally, minnows dominate the crappie diet. Sure, they’ll suck down some insects and grubs, especially when they’re young. For the most part, though, anglers will either fish with live minnows or cast artificial lures that imitate minnows.

Techniques

Over the years, I’ve caught at least 75 percent of my crappie on artificial lures and 25 percent on minnows. My lure selection is very basic: a few mini-tubes, twister tails, Road Runners, and Maribou feather jigs. For live bait, I’ll keep a few stick bobbers, split spots, and #4-#6 minnow hooks in my tackle box.

Here are some staple crappie fishing techniques:

• Casting for crappie: From a boat or shore, cast small jigs close to cover with a slow retrieve
• Trolling for crappie: Drag small minnow harnesses (such as Lindy rigs) behind your boat at slow speeds to locate schools—especially fish suspended under clouds of bait fish
• Vertical jigging for crappie: Using small jigs or jigging spoons, drop your offerings off the side of your boat and use small lifting motions—not big pops—to catch crappies’ attention.
• Bobber fishing for crappie: Dropping a minnow beneath a bobber is a deadly crappie presentation, especially when they are moving into spawning groups or holding tight to cover.

Whenever possible, I prefer casting for crappie. The key is to pinpoint holding cover and cast as close to it as possible without getting snagged. Ideally, you want your jigs to meander just above their heads with a slow and steady retrieve.

Sometimes, casting small jigs under a bobber is the ticket. Bobbers can slow down your presentation to crappie speed and also hold lures at the magic depth—just above cover or over a crappie’s head. Cast them next to a stick, stump, or weed line and wait. If you don’t get a bite after several seconds, twitch your bobber once or twice and wait again.

Sometimes, you can crawl a bobber slowly through crappie cover by moving it a few inches, pausing until the ripples disappear, twitching it in place, and pausing several counts before inching it forward again. This retrieve often slays spawning fish in the spring.

When fish are finicky, I’ll resort to minnows. In early spring or late fall, for example, live bait often outfishes artificial lures when cold water slows down your gamefish’s metabolism. Again, key in on cover and depth. You want to cast, troll, or jig close to cover and adjust the depth of your minnow to hover at or above the fish’s eye level.

Crappie bites are often subtle—a little tick or added weight on your line or a teetering bobber (that may not get pulled fully underwater). Set the hook gently to avoid tearing their paper-thin mouths.

Where to fish for crappie

As a general rule, crappie are easy to catch but harder to find. For the most part, you want to fish for crappie in heavy cover. That’s where they ambush smaller fish and hide from larger predators. Over the past 40 years, I’ve caught at least 90 percent of my crappie in the following spots:

• Brush piles
• Beaver dams
• Marinas and boat docks
• Christmas trees
• Flooded shorelines
• Weed beds
• Rip rap
• Stumps, logs, and standing timber

The other 10 percent of crappie I’ve caught were either schooled in open water near clouds of baitfish or clustered in river eddies, waiting for the current to bring them easy food. In river systems, crappie hold in slack water: eddies, pools, holes, lazing river bends, and current breaks behind jetties.

Crappie are character-building fish. It may take you a while to figure out where, exactly, they are. But once you find them, they’ll reward your patience, persistence, and problem-solving. When you do find the specific tree, brush pile, or current break they’re sitting on, you’ll often catch crappie in bunches.

When to fish

You can catch crappie year-round. Generally speaking, they are easiest to catch in spring or fall, especially if you’re fishing from shore. However, seasonal patterns impact when you’ll find crappie in shallow cover, mid-depth cover, or deep-water cover:

Spring: Most anglers target crappie in spring, when they move shallow to spawn. Pre-spawn crappies often feed voraciously in bays, creek channels, and mid-depth staging areas before spawning in the shallows when water temps hit the lower 60s. I target marinas for big, slimy, early-spring crappies and have caught many of my biggest by casting flashy Road Runners into mid-depth water just beyond traditional spawning beds. Once the spawn is on, I transition to stick-infested shorelines, shallow bays, and small coves where there’s warmer water and ample cover.

Summer: Crappie can be tougher to catch in summer when they disperse into deeper water or bury themselves in heavy weed beds. Start with main channels and deep-water structure (humps, drop offs, sunken trees) or use electronics to locate schools following schools of baitfish.

Fall: When the weather cools, crappie often return to shallower water structure to binge feed before winter water temperatures crash their metabolisms. Back in the day, I caught several slabs from shore in bays, creek arms, and wooded flats that held fish in the early spring.

Winter: In winter, look for crappie schooled up in deep water or suspended above deeper holes and channels in warmer water. Most of my winter crappie have been caught through the ice with micro-jigs fished in creek channels or the deeper water of reservoirs, creeks, and ponds.

Gear for crappie fishing

Crappie fishing is low-maintenance and relatively inexpensive when it comes to gear and tackle.

Best rods and reels

You want a light and sensitive spinning rod paired with a matching spinning reel. The most versatile rod is a 6-foot to 7-foot, light or medium-light spinning rod. Some anglers prefer a shorter ultralight for casting in tight quarters or shooting lures under docks or overhanging branches. Some anglers rock extra-long rods—10 to 15 feet—for vertically jigging cover from a boat or getting extra length on their casts. But those are cumbersome for other presentations.

I typically carry two rods. My short, ultralight rod has a 1000-size spinning reel, and I’ve paired a 2000-size spinning reel with my 6-foot 6-inch medium-light spinning rod for pulling bigger fish out of snaggy water.

Line choice

Crappie fishing mostly calls for light lines. I’m old school when it comes to line. My short ultralight has 4-pound-test monofilament, and my medium-light rod is spooled with 6-pound-test. Mono is cheaper and casts better, but many anglers will choose a fluorocarbon line over monofilament because it’s more sensitive, abrasion-resistant, and lower visibility. Many anglers will use braided lines for their thin diameter and sensitivity, but those advantages aren’t as pronounced with crappie fishing (compared with bass fishing) since lighter mono and fluoro lines are so thin themselves.

Lures and Tackle

My assortment of crappie lures is pretty basic. My tackle box has 1/32- and 1/16-ounce jig heads that I’ll mix and match with simple plastics, such as mini-tubes and two-inch grubs and twister tails. I’ll also carry a few cards of 1/16-ounce Maribou feather jigs and some 1/16-ounce Road Runners/Stump Jumpers to add a little spinner flash. For minnow fishing, I will carry a few stick bobbers, split shots, and #4 or #6 minnow hooks. That’s it.

The best crappie fishing from coast to coast

Electronics

If you’ve got a fishing kayak or big boat, electronics have also revolutionized crappie fishing. Depth finders can help you find underwater humps, creek channels, drop offs, and suspending fish—which, especially in summer, is when crappie congregate around mid-lake and downriver hot spots. Side imaging or Live Scope technologies, such as the Garmin LiveScope, can help you find fish and see how they react to your presentation.

Growing up in Iowa, I didn’t have access to monster bass or musky, but I could catch Master Angler-caliber crappie. Decades later, I can still picture specific sticks, beaver dams, and windswept shorelines that yielded dozens—sometimes hundreds—of these fish. In many cases, I shared these experiences with friends and family members, which made them even more special. So I get why they are most people’s favorite panfish.

Other fish may be bigger, more colorful, and more acrobatic, but the crappie is a fish for everybody—no matter your age or budget—and also quality table fare.