Slabs will feed through the winter. A fisherman’s challenge is finding them and feeding them baits and/or lures. Here’s how some of the Carolinas’ top anglers solve that problem.
Fishing for crappie during the winter requires a slightly different mindset than in the spring, summer or even fall. Although common elements are found between all four seasons, crappie can be the harder to catch during the winter than at any other time.
Unlike many fish, crappie have a slightly higher metabolism than other species, which keeps them active even during colder months, meaning they will feed at some point nearly every day. And crappie being a school-oriented fish is never more true than during winter, when crappie will school tightly in large numbers and often refuse to move more than a couple feet when they do feed.
In order to take advantage — or sometimes compensate — for the fish’s particular winter habits, a handful of fishing tactics stand out as better winter producers than others. Below is an explanation of three of the coolest winter crappie-fishing tactics you need to try.
Bottom-Bouncing
Veteran angler Rod Wall from Ninety Six, S.C., prefers the term “bottom-bouncing” to finesse fishing or drop-shotting, but it’s the same principle. Use a weight at the terminal end of the line to maintain contact with the bottom, and tie a hook in-line to hold the bait off the bottom and right in the fish’s face.
“Typically, the rig is simple: lead to the very bottom end of the line with a light wire hook up from there,” Wall said. “Sometimes, I’ll fish a double rig tied on a 1-inch loop off the main line. Other times, I’ll tie it tight to the main line where the hook stands straight out about 2 feet above the weight — just like bass guys would fish a drop-shot, a very similar process.”
Bass anglers may lean toward an artificial bait like a small finesse worm or grub. Crappie, being more subtle feeders than bass, are attracted to and will bite a plastic bait with the same affinity, but while a bass will chew on a bait longer, crappie will spit an artificial bait with such speed that getting a hookset proves difficult. That’s the reason Wall prefers live bait: there’s no reason for the crappie to spit out an easy meal.
“Crappie go straight to the bottom and hold tight to the ledges and wood structure,” he said. “I still like to focus in and around the mouths of creeks and on the main-lake channel. I’ll just use my side-imaging unit, and I’ll find a few schools of fish or start seeing what dominant depth they’re holding at that particular day.
Wall said he likes the bottom-bouncing rig in the winter because crappie frequently are going to hold tight to the bottom or ledges where there is structure and the ledges come together.
“I like the bottom-bumper rig because there is no lead between your hook and the sensitivity through your finger or the tip of your rod,” he said. “When you have it stretched tight with the lead on the bottom, and that crappie sucks the minnow in, you feel it. You just set the hook, and he’ll be there.”
Long-line trolling
While long-line trolling is a popular tactic in spring when crappie are migrating to the shallows to spawn, Stokes McClellan, a pro crappie angler from Huntersville, N.C., said his biggest factor in knowing where to long-line troll during the colder months is finding migrating baitfish.
“I don’t like to see big, even waves of baitfish,” he said. “I want to see them balled up in lots of smaller groups. That means something is messing with them.”
McClellan said patterns will vary from lake to lake, but for the most part, in the clear-water lakes he fishes, he expects to see baitfish near the surface in water that runs anywhere between 5 and 25 feet deep. Baitfish typically hold 4 to 5 feet deep, and the crappie will hold a few feet below that.
“Generally speaking, I’m targeting fall crappie 8 feet deep, but I’m not going to run all my baits at that depth, I’m going to stagger those baits until I can locate the preferred depth for that day,” he said.
There are several constants in McClellan’s long-lining technique. He always trolls with 4-pound, clear monofilament. He trolls at boat speeds between .9 and 1.0 mph — never less than .7 mph and rarely faster than 1.3 mph. And he never tips his jigs with minnows. Minnows add weight and throw off the dynamic and that affects the depths he’s fishing in an unpredictable way.
“I use a lot of larger, curlytail plastics when I long-line,” he said. “Plastics won’t ripple at less than .7 mph, so that’s as slow as I ever go. If I need to add scent in colder weather, I use an attractant called Pro Cure. It works just as well at getting bites, and I’ve never had a tube of it die and leave me without bait.”
Jig Deep Brush, Structure
Before he wets a line when seeking winter crappie, Tom Mundy, owner of Fish Stalker Lures and crappie guru from Laurens, S.C., wants to know for certain where crappie are holding and why they are there. Once he’s found them, he’s going to look into travel corridors and food supplies. With all these things in place, he’ll catch fish.
“The first place I’m going to look for crappie in the winter is out in front of boat docks” Mundy said. “Not just any dock; I want a dock that’s on a steep bank, and I want a dock that looks like a fisherman lives there. A steep bank on land usually means there’s a good drop-off in front of a dock, maybe even a creek channel or ditch. A dock that’s owned by a fisherman will mean there’s brush piles around it.
“In most situations, you’ll find one or two separate piles of brush with some clear space in between. That’s ideal for alternating between a two-rod presentation.
“I’ll cast a 1/32-ounce jig either to one side or in the gap between piles” he said. “I just let it fall. When the line sinks about half way to the boat, I cast another jig straight across the brush pile and lay that rod on the deck while the jig sinks.
No. 2 is a purely vertical tactic, where Mundy sets up with his boat directly over the top of the structure and drops a tiny, 1/64-ounce Slabtail jig to the bottom on 4-pound test. Once the tiny jig hits the bottom some 20 feet or so beneath, Mundy engages the reel and slowly turns the handle. He compares it to ice fishing without ice.
“The extreme sensitivity of the Slabtail Series rod makes all the difference in detecting bites” he said. “The rod tip is so sensitive that the reeling of the handle makes it quiver. When it stops quivering, you set the hook.”
Fishing winter swamps
A lot of crappie fishermen are also avid deer hunters, and Matthew Outlaw of St. Matthews, S.C., is no exception. About the time deer season begins winding down, he’s ready to hit the water, and his favorite spots sometimes are not too far from his deer stands.
“In the swampy areas of many lakes in Florida and the Santee Cooper lakes where I fish the most, I love to go fish the swamps during the winter,” Outlaw said. “Some people believe that crappie migrate in and out of the swamps with the seasons, but that is not true. Those fish have everything they need in that swamp, and they stay there year-round.
Outlaw suggests thinking about a swamp as a lake inside a lake. In winter, crappie will gravitate to the deeper ditches and creeks that feed the swamp. Those ditches may only be a foot or two deeper than the rest of the area, but fish will congregate there. Water levels also tend to drop during winter. That means, unless a severe drought that pushes all of the water out of the swamp, fish will stay in those ditches, and the lower-than-normal water will help concentrate them there.
“I like to fish for crappie a number of different ways in the swamp, but my preferred method is to use a slip cork and cast for them or use a jig pole and jig for them in those ditches and deeper areas,” he said. “Just bundle up and pretend it’s a summer day, and you’ll be fishing the right way.”
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