Black Crappies – Lake of the Woods Best Kept Secret
What would you say if I told you that Ontario biologists were developing a new species of fish that combined the best features of many of the most popular species? With a taste that rivaled walleye, the brawling ability of smallmouth bass and the pure good looks of speckled trout.
Well, to the best of my knowledge, no one is working on any such crossbreed. They don’t have to — it already exists — in the delightful little character we know as the black crappie.
Now, some of you are probably thinking. “Who is this guy kidding? He’s talking about a pan fish! Heck, everybody knows that pan fish are for small kids and grandfathers.” Well, if you think the only fish that merited your attention are the glamour boys and girls – like walleye, northern pike, muskies, bass and lake trout – you’re missing out on some of the fastest, most exciting and most enjoyable fishing imaginable. As for taste, well, superlatives can’t begin to describe a plate of hot crappie fillets sautéed with almonds and parsley and seasoned with the juice from a freshly squeezed lemon.
I’ll never forget the first time I fished for crappies in Lake of the Woods. It was mid-May, more than thirty years ago, and we reasoned we’d find the fish relatively close to shore taking advantage of the warmer water and feeding upon the abundant minnows and insects. It was a good guess given that crappies are warm-water fish, preferring temperatures similar to largemouth bass. In fact, because of the similarities between the two species, a first time crappie angler could do worse than to start off as though he or she were fishing for springtime bass.
Our first stop was a small backwater bay that was littered with the remnant brown stalks of the previous year’s pencil reeds. New green growth was just beginning to poke up through the sandy-bay bottom in response to the tepid spring conditions.
As we entered the bay that morning, my mind was not totally on fishing. We had just come through a particularly cold Northwestern Ontario winter and it felt downright delicious just to laze in the boat, soak up the first rays from the spring sun and survey the scene before us.
There is little that can compare with a Lake of the Woods marsh in early spring — the soft mist rising from the bay; the clean, earthy odours emanating from the warm, moist forest floor; the familiar tunes of marsh birds and waterfowl.
I was about to remark as much to my buddy, Ken, when I heard him flip the bail of his spinning reel and make a cast. This was followed seconds later by the sound of a gentle splash as his tiny jig-and-minnow combination plunked down beside the base of a clump of dead reeds. , As the jig began to settle through a few feet of water, I heard a whoosh accompanied by a minor eruption in the bay. Since the water was so shallow, Ken’s fish had only one escape route: skyward!
Almost immediately, the fish was dancing across the surface, performing all sorts of gymnastics. Even as it began to tire, Ken’s light-action rod bent precariously and the four-pound test line continuously slipped out as the fish exerted pressure on the drag. Gradually, however, his rod extracted its toll and I found myself scooping up a frothing 1.5 pounds of slab-sided fury.
The crappie was the size and shape of your mother’s good china dinner plate and its markings and colour were stunning. In the morning sunlight, the sides of the fish were a gleaming montage of yellow, green, gold and silver sprinkled with generous dabs of ebony and purple.
It didn’t take me long to rig up a similar light jig-and-minnow combination and toss it beside a likely looking clump of reeds. In order to keep the bait about a foot off the bottom, I used a light, thin pencil bobber.
I made a cast, the bobber righted itself and was then violently yanked under the surface. Because of the clear water, I could see the fluorescent red-and-yellow markings on the float streaking like a torpedo across the bay. I tightened up my line and set the hook as hard as I dared. When the crappie felt the sting, it quickly slanted up to the surface and put on a performance superior to the one just displayed by its brother. When the fish finally decided that a series of acrobatic aerial displays was not going to succeed, it bore deep and attempted to put every reed, weed, stick and boulder in the bay between itself and the boat.
I am still not sure how the hook held in that fragile mouth, but hold it did, and after a few seconds I gained the upper hand. In another minute or so, I netted the twin to our first fish and quickly admired my first-ever crappie. A pan fish, you say. Maybe, but I don’t think I was any happier when I netted my first muskie!
That morning, we played the same scene over and over again as Ken and I battled with one belligerent crappie after another. By noon, we’d caught and released between two and three dozen fish averaging a pound plus, with several nudging the scales between 1 _ and 1 3/4 pounds. I was hooked on Lake of the Woods crappies for the rest of my life.
You can enjoy the same kind of action, from early spring until late fall, so long as you keep a few seasonal vagaries in mind.
Seasonal Patterns
In the spring, for instance, you’ll find the fish vacating their deep-water winter haunts in favour of shallow shoreline areas. At this time of year, the shoreline zone provides comfortably warm water conditions and it also plays host to much of the small aquatic life in the lake upon which the fish voraciously prey. As a result, schools of big slab-sided crappies are often located around such productive springtime structure as fallen trees and brush, emerging weed and reed growth, rock piles and even large individual boulders.
As spring progresses and water temperatures approach 15°C (60°F), the urge to spawn becomes the dominant force in shaping habits and locational patterns. Preferred crappie spawning areas generally have three principal features in common — large flats with extensive water depths in the 1.2- to 1.8-metre (four- to six-foot) range, a fairly firm sand or sand/muck bottom and large clumps of pencil reeds.
If you recall the early spring fishing experience I related at the beginning, you will probably recognize that what my buddy and I actually stumbled upon (totally by accident I admit) was a large school of crappie in the process of setting up house in a prime shallow backwater spawning bay.
Like most members of the sunfish family, (including largemouth and smallmouth bass), the male crappies precede the larger females onto the spawning grounds. During this period, the males roam the flats searching for choice sites to sweep out a nest. Usually the ideal location will be tight against the base of a clump of pencil reeds, a fallen tree or a few isolated boulders.
As water temperatures creep toward the critical 18°C, the females begin to move onto the flats to join their mates and to deposit their eggs in the previously prepared nests. The females retreat from the beds following the completion of spawning; however, the males stay behind jealously guarding the eggs until they have hatched. At this time of year, they will savagely attack any lure or bait that comes within striking range and the angler who quietly stalks the spawning bays and flats can experience some spectacularly fast angling. In fact, it is not unusual to catch 25 or 30 platter-sized fish in a single morning or afternoon.
By now, many conscientious anglers are probably questioning the ethics of fishing for spawning fish. The crappie’s reasonably prolific nature, however, tends to accommodate a reasonable harvest although many crappie fanatics carefully release the bigger specimens during the spawn. It is a wise investment for the future.
Once spring egg-laying chores are completed, water temperatures rise and force the fish to vacate their shallow easy-to-reach springtime locations.
Extended underwater points, the edge of weedbeds and submerged islands and reefs are all potential hot spots in summer. Even the open water between two of these areas can yield hefty fish as schools of crappies often roam between sites herding and feeding upon pockets of minnows.
While knowing where crappie can be found in summer is important, it’s only one-half of the equation and, in itself, is no guarantee of action. The other important consideration is the depth the fish are using. It can be anywhere from just under the surface to just off the bottom.
To illustrate how important depth control can be, consider the following incident that occurred last summer while I was fishing with my grandson.
We had motored to the deep-water edge of a nice bed of cabbage weeds growing in about 4.5 metres (15 feet) of water. This particular weedbed had been an excellent producer of big fish in the past, but before we could expect consistent action this time, we knew we would first have to pinpoint the depth the fish were working. I rigged up our outfits with slip bobbers, which slide down the line to permit easy casting and yet which also accurately control the depth being fished. I initially set Liam’s jig-and-minnow combination a foot off bottom, while I started off fishing about three feet under the surface.
After 20 minutes. Liam had picked up only one fish while I hadn’t even had a hit. A strategy change was in order so I adjusted his bobber so that his bait would now ride about 1.5 metres (five feet) off bottom and I moved mine so that it would be straining the area 1.5 metres under the surface.
Over the next quarter hour, we both started to pick up the occasional fish; however, the action was far from frenetic.
Reasoning that we were just skirting the edges of the productive fish-holding zone, I readjusted our bobbers for the third time so that we were both finally fishing in the middle of the water column, about equal distance two to 2.5 metres (seven to eight feet) from the surface and the bottom.
Liam stood in the bow of the boat and double-handed a cast to the edge of the weeds. His thin bobber barely had time to come to attention when it began to bounce up and down like popcorn about to explode in the pan. It then slowly began to creep across the surface, but by the time it had travelled two metres, it sped off leaving a wake in its place.
Liam let out a wild shriek and from the bend in his rod, I could see that he was fast into a nice fish. I quickly cast my line out behind the back of the boat so as not to risk tangling lines and set my rod down quickly as I rummaged about for the net in the bottom of the boat. Through the turquoise water, I could catch occasional glimpses of the fish as it streaked toward bottom each time it spied the boat. On about the third or fourth pass, I scooped up a gorgeous near two-pound crappie just as my bobber disappeared beneath the surface.
Over the next few hours, we hauled one stout crappie after another into the boat. By the time we headed back to the dock we had caught and released a score of chunky fish – keeping just enough for dinner. And I’d learned once again that it’s usually far more productive to thoroughly fish one or two sites than it is to hopscotch all over the lake fishing many different locations.
For the angler who has mastered spring and summer crappie fishing, fall angling presents very few problems. In early autumn, the fish will usually still be frequenting their summer hangouts. But as water cools, some of the fish will migrate shoreward and restake positions around shoreline deadfalls, weedbeds and rock piles.
This shoreward pattern will remain productive throughout Indian summer, but it usually breaks down quickly once a series of hard frosts have occurred. For the balance of the open-water season, the fish remain deep with main lake structures and the green edge of weedbeds providing sustained action until ice finally seals over the big lake.
Tackle
When it comes to tackle requirements for crappie, there is little doubt that lightweight outfits designed to handle four- to six-pound test lines are ideal. But it would be unfair to leave you with the impression that it is essential to use the newest graphite and most expensive equipment in order to catch crappie. For if the truth were known, probably as many fish have been taken on cane poles south of the border, where crappie reign supreme, as have been taken on more conventional tackle. You should, however, bear in mind that the lightest tackle you own will generally provide the most satisfactory results on these sporting characters.
Also, rods and reels designed for light line will best handle the 1/16 to 1/8th ounce jigs which, when tipped with a small shiner, fathead or dace minnow, are assaulted by crappie with reckless abandon.
The final items of terminal tackle worth purchasing are thin bobbers of both the slip and pencil variety. As I mentioned previously, a bobber will allow you to exert precise control over the depth your bait is working, a factor often critical in determining the eventual out-come of any crappie trip.
Slip bobbers are most often used when fishing deep water. In these circumstances, the bobber will slide through your line down to the bait and won’t interfere with the process of casting.
Thin pencil or quill bobbers, on the other hand, arc generally used when fishing water shallower than six or seven feet deep. In water this shallow, a fixed bobber rarely interferes with casting, yet through design, the light thin float will register even the most delicate bite by the most cautious and wary fish. And they’re super sensitive when crappies are hitting your jig and minnow from below and rising up with the bait. At these times, a light pencil bobber will almost pop out of the water and lie flat on the surface registering a take by a fish. Then it’s just a matter of quickly reeling in slack line and setting the hook.
Countless crappie have crossed the gunwales since that first memorable morning on Lake of the Woods so many years ago, and during that time these game little battlers have never once failed to impress me. I suppose that is one of the reasons why I am continually surprised when unknowing anglers wrinkle up their noses at the mention of fishing for crappies.
So remember, if you concentrate solely on the glamour species, give yourself a real break this season and try fishing for crappies. Believe me, you’ll never regret it and you may well become hooked for life.
By Gord Pyzer
* Twenty-four time national award winning writer, Gord Pyzer, is the Fishing Editor of Outdoor Canada Magazine, Field Editor Of In-Fisherman magazine and television and Co-Host of the nationally syndicated Real Fishing Radio Show.
