So can you see crappie during the spawn. Yes crappie can be very active and when in the shallow waters can break the water surface with their tail fins. What you are looking for leading up to the spawn is a few days of mild warming trends. These weather patterns tell us the crappie is moving up and ready to begin the spawn.
Besides the pre-spawn feeding frenzy the post spawn is the other time you will find the very hungry crappie. These fish will move off the beds and onto their favorite drop-off’s. These areas can still be pretty shallow around 8 to 10 feet and sometimes up to 20 plus feet deep. The structure like weed beds or brush piles near these drop-off’s are what you should be looking for.
So the post-spawn crappie is ready to feed so what should you be using catch these fish. Mini jigs of course, probably one of the most widely used lures out there is what will catch crappie. Of course if that is not working nothing beats a live minnow. I will show you to basic rigs that can be used to fish either of these baits.
My personal favorite jigging for crappie is a simple a bobber with a 2 to 3 foot lead with a 1/8th to 1/16th mini jig in white or white and blue.
The other rig pictured here is perfect for fishing live baits such as minnows and worms.
Armed with this info I think it is time to grab your ultralight rod, tackel and go out to hunt some crappie.
By; J Bernier