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Go Deep for Crappies by Don Dziedzina
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It’s getting close to this time of year when the crappies will school up and relate to vertical structure. In come cases, they will suspend in deep water making it like their relating to their own vertical column created by hundreds upon hundreds of fish.

Last week I was in north central Minnesota and fished a small lake that was loaded with slab sized crappies. The water that was fished was Bordon Lake, just west of Garrison. For a small lake, it had produced large quantities of ten to twelve inch crappies.

Now this article is not about another lake up north. What I want to share with you is how the fish were found and caught.

First of all, the fishing was by boat with the use of a depth finder. This lake, like many in our immediate area had deep water. Where the crappies were found, the water was about thirty to thirty-five feet deep. While moving about in the lake to look for spots to fish for bass, I came across an area that showed a big band of fish suspended from twenty to twenty five feet below the surface.

There was a chance that they could be walleyes, perch or whitefish. But my best guess was that these would be crappies. A producing lure for me for crappies and perch is the Cubby Mini Mite II. On an ultra light rod with Berkley Sensation four pound test line, I dropped the Mini Mite down to the school of fish.

Watching the LCR was critical. It was very important to monitor the depth of the fish as I did not want to fish in the middle of the school. Chances are that nothing would bite from the core of hundreds of fish. However, if a bait was jigged lightly above, below or to the side of the school, a daring crappie on the outside edge would go after the bait.

I have my own theories on catching fish from in the middle of a school. Whether it holds water or not, I really believe that if a fish is caught in the midst of the school, it will spook the other fish, break up the school and turn off the bite. I believe that the fighting fish will give off some chemical that other fish will sense as something wrong and then will not go after baits. True or not, this theory of mine makes me do all that I can to catch fish from the top or edges of the school. Actually, I think that they’re more active on the outside edges anyway.

Anchoring over a school of crappies can be difficult, especially if they’re moving. So the use of an electric trolling motor is necessary. Movement to keep over them must be slow and quiet.

Another reason why you must stay on top of the fish is so that you can fish for them vertically. But how do you know how much line gets you to twenty or twenty five-feet deep?

Controlling the depth is easy. Place a slip bobber knot on your line. By hand, just measure off the number of feet and remember where you set the slip knot.

Let’s say for example you measure off twenty feet. Drop the line overboard and let it out until the knot reaches the water’s surface. If you see that the fish drop down some, you can lower your rod tip more and let the knot sink a foot or so below the surface. Same deal goes when the fish come up the water column. Just raise that line so the knot comes out of the water by a foot or two. This is an easy way to adjust your depth to whatever is necessary and always know where your lure is below the surface.

So where can you see crappies stacked up like cord wood around our area? Lake Calumet is one place. The main lake outside all the barge bumpers has water that’s over twenty feet deep. You can see crappies stacked up on your depth finder.

Shabbona Lake by the dead trees is deep water. Crappies will be found there in deep water. There are some barge areas off the main river on the Illinois River will have slack water that’s deep. Watch your graphs and look for suspended fish. You’ll find them for sure. Why? Because great fishing is not that far away.

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