Crappie Kingdom
FISHING THE FRONTS
Under normal circumstances, I usually do not pay much attention to fronts that move in and out during the fall months. However, this year has been an exceptionally unusual year for finding crappie on a consistent basis particularly on Stockton Lake. One day you might find them on one brush pile and go back to it the next day or two and nothing was there. You would find them in all depths of water from extremely shallow four to six feet deep up to thirty feet deep. About the time things got consistent, bam! a weather system would change everything. I personally believe the fronts affect the bait fish more than the game fish which in turn will change where the game fish are in reference to their food source. Finding the food source is the key to catching the fish regardless of the weather conditions. The feeding activity may be stifled by the fronts but catchable fish will be located close to the bait fish.
Recently, I had been catching fish on a pattern that was consistent in areas where bait fish were in and around cedar brush piles. This pattern had been on for a few weeks. The only problem with the pattern was finding the right pile and finding the sweet spot in the brush that was holding the fish. Once that was accomplished, I had no problem putting guests in the fish and catching limits of crappies. Some days would require fishing a little closer to the “thick” brush than other days. Some days the fish would be located on the outer fringes of the cover very close to the bottom. I could pull into an area and if I saw bait fish on the graph, it was game on. The water temperature was stable and very little changes in weather patterns had occurred.
On one particular trip a big weather front moved in from the North and kicked up a twelve to fifteen mile an hour North wind and cooled the air temperature down considerably. The lake water temperature had only dropped a couple degrees. I really never gave it much thought until I got to the first brush pile that had been producing fish regularly. As soon as I scoped it out on the graph, I could tell the bait fish were not there like they had been. Consequently, the bed was not productive. I moved to another spot and caught a couple but the bait fish were still not in the abundance as they had been. After five or six more stops and catching a couple here and a couple there, it was evident that the pattern had changed drastically from previous days. I did however see that there were shad flipping all over the coves that were out of the wind. If I could stay up with the balls of shad and flip a jig in the wad and allow it to fall, I would catch a fish. The problem was trying to stay in touch with the balls of shad. As soon as I would flip a jig in their direction, the shad wad would go down and I would lose them. This method of fishing was very time consuming and not very productive. The fish that were caught were good quality but not quantity.
I fished several more crappie beds back in coves and out of the wind to make it easier for my guests to fish without getting hung up. Finally, I decided to go to windy points where there was structure. My thoughts were that the windy beds would hold the baitfish in the cover due to the water motion. Rather than the bait fish roaming around all over the open water, I was banking on them to be congregated around the structure. My guess was correct. After pulling in on my first windy bed, we caught several nice fish. The bite was exactly the way it was supposed to be. Once the bite slowed down, I moved to another windy point bed on the main lake and same scenario. The catchable fish were not necessarily restricted to a particular depth. As a result, I would fish any structure that was in the wind close to a point and caught fish. Main lake point appeared to be better producers than secondary points depending upon how hard the wind was hitting the structure. As the day wore on, the bite progressively got better. We just had to stay the course and be patient.
In conclusion, I firmly believe the fish will continue to feed regardless of the weather conditions but the bite may be more lethargic than usual. Patience is a virtue in these conditions. A key to success is having structure located in several locations and depths that will provide cover for the bait fish and attract the game fish. It is also important to fish the entire piece of structure as well as away from the structure. It is imperative to pay attention to your graph and find that sweet spot in or around cover. Good boat control in windy conditions is a must when fishing the brush in the wind. The only way to gain experience on the trolling motor is get on it and ride it in all conditions.
Find and fish the baitfish and sooner or later the big boys will bite. Good fishing and good catching!
