The dog days of summer are not the best times to fish for crappie. It’s not that they won’t bite. It’s just too dang hot! I would much rather fish at night for them during this time of year. It is a lot more comfortable at night for one. And a lot less boat traffic and zero jet skis. However if you are a die hard and want to tough it out in the heat of the day, Hear are a few tips to help you catch a mess of crappie during the dog days of summer.
These 3 tips are mainly for fishing lakes but can be used on rivers as well.
1) Use you depth finder (fish finder) to find the thermocline. The thermocline is where the temperature of the water changes on the lake. On one of my favorite lakes, the thermocline is usually at the 18 foot level. Even the cheapest depth finder can be used to find the thermocline. Just use manual sensitivity and adjust it up until you see a line on the screen. If adjust too much you will see an echo of the bottom. This is easy to spot because it will change as the depth changes. The thermocline won’t change as the depth of the water changes. Once you know the depth of the thermocline, look for structure at that depth. The easiest structure to find is a bridge. If the bridge has water under it that is deeper that the depth of the thermocline, try there first.
2) Look for docks with deep water. If you can find these, shoot your jigs or minnows all around the shady areas of the dock. Be sure to let your jig sink on a semi slack line so that it stays under the dock as it sinks. I use this technique a lot on Smith Mountain Lake. Try using 1/16 tube jigs and 1/32 tube jigs. Most hits will come as the jig sinks. If this doesn’t produce any bites, try replacing the tube body with curly tail grubs. My personal favorites are Berkley’s 2 1/2 inch power grubs and MisterTwister jig bodies. Crappie will hang on to a Power Grub for a long time! They have out produced other jigs that look exactly like them in size and color.
3) Fish creek mouths that are as deep as the thermocline. I have found deep creek mouths to very productive year round.
I hope you will find these tips helpful in finding and catching crappie. For more tips visit http://WWW.CATCHINGCRAPPIE.COM.