FLY FISHING FOR BEGINNERS - CRAPPIE (ALL YEAR ROUND)

For many anglers, the tasty crappie is only a springtime target - mostly during the spawning season.

However, with some planning, you can catch crappie all year-round. Locate beaver ponds, sloughs, cut-offs and bays in your favorite lake or river. Using a jig or minnows near a stick or structure sticking out of the water. Usually, larger Crappie dominates that type of area and stay near above water structure hoping to snag a meal on the surface (because insects gather around structures). The water will warm-up more quickly in the wintertime during a warm spell. Crappie often will move into these shallow pockets and hold on submerged trees, stumps and the roots of live trees.

Fishing for crappie will be productive in these pockets during a warm spell in the cold months. Then, as a cold front heads into the area, the fishing can be phenomenal.

For example - this crappie (a.k.a. SLAB) was caught around October 2008:

Both animals and fish tend to feed more aggressively ahead of a front. You may find that crappie go on a feeding spree when the cold front comes in, and you may catch some of the biggest crappie of the year. However, as soon as the temperature drops even a little, the crappie will stop feeding.

This real nice SLAB was caught on a Sage 5WT w/ Orvis Mid Arbor Outfit. Fly was a custom trout fly with a little scent. "Scent? Cut me some slack - it was during night time around 8PM" This one was a winter catch that I lucked out on the flyrod this past October 2008 a few days before Halloween.

The beer can is a PBR 24 oz. can that was used for comparison. I did joke my friend about his choice of beer. Of course, he came back with the quantity over quality speech.

I learned over the summer that crappie like to eat all year round from a friend and I did not believe him until that day. I am used to saltwater winter fishing and always thought that freshwater fishing was pretty much dormant during the winter season with the exception of bass.

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