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Late Fall and Winter Crappies

by Steve Welch

Those of us brave enough to venture out on the water with air temps in the mid-thirties and wind chill making it even colder, know how good the fishing is during winter. Winter crappie fishing is by far my favorite. No crowds, great fall scenery, birds migrating, and at last all the big pleasure boats are gone. The lake is given back to the fishermen.

Once the water temps drop below 55 degrees, the crappie just go nuts. You can get a limit of crappie not 50 yards from the boat ramp in less than 30 minutes. Heck, I have done it in 15 minutes.

Once the lake turns over, the bait moves toward the backs of coves and everything moves shallow. This year, with the lake being so high all summer, the lake is overrun with bait and the fish are fat and healthy. I have been guiding exclusively for crappie for two months and will do so until at least mid-December if the weather permits.

I had a streak of 17 straight guide trips before I stumbled and we were only four fish short of a limit on that trip. In my defense, the wind was gusting to 40 miles per hour. It seems that we fight wind on every trip, but that is a luxury of Lake Shelbyville. We can hide on a high clay bank and you almost forget that the wind is blowing. However, the boat rides in a 21-foot bass boat will quickly remind you that we have 20 mph winds.

I have started a new streak and most likely it will be intact for some time since the fish are just plain biting. On calm days with good sun we have been averaging anywhere from four to five limits of fish over 10 inches and about 60 to 70 fish just short of that. That makes for a pretty busy day.

We run and gun a lot of downed trees and brush piles. Each spot will have a few fish on it, but if you move around enough you will find a couple spots each day that are packed with fish. Usually these spots give you 30 fish or more. You can return to them a couple times each day and get more fish.

Then I let those spots rest for about three days and fish another area of the lake. That seems to be my secret of repeated triple limits- never over-harvest an area.

We never worry about getting bait, as a jig will out fish a minnow in cold water hands down. The whole live bait thing for me is all based on water temperature. I use live bait with water temps running from 55 to 75 degrees.

Below 55 degrees, the fish are so active that using live bait just slows you down. Above 75 degrees or during summer patterns, you catch smaller fish so I opt for jigs or twisters.

You would think in winter that you would want to downsize your bait, but I do the complete opposite. The shad in the lake are as big as they will be and the fish are used to eating a large meal. Besides, they have to eat fewer times and therefore expend less energy chasing down the bait.

So instead of using the smaller Midsouth tube jigs, I break out their big 2 ½-inch tubes. I also use big bucktail jigs designed for smallmouth bass. This will get you bigger fish and fewer of the pesky yellow bass.

My tube colors depend on water clarity. If the water is very clear, which is typical during winter, I use pearl white, emerald blue shiner, and natural shad-looking colors. If the water has some color, I use white and chartreuse glow or plain chartreuse glow. If it is more stained, I use red and chartreuse or brown and chartreuse. That is about all the colors you will see me using during a fishing trip.

My jig size depends on water depth, wind, and time of year. If we are fishing less than 10 feet deep, I use a 1/16-ounce jig most of the time because it falls slowly.

If I am using big tubes, I use 1/8-ounce because of the larger number two hook. I like this bait once the fish start laying on the bottom and sometimes even use a ¼-ounce jig. Even though I can feel a 1/8-ounce jig in this depth, sometimes the fish can better see the Bighead jig. This is my favorite bait at Kentucky Lake, where we typically fish at least 20 twenty feet deep during winter.

I rig my reels with 8/3 Fireline Crystal braided line if the fish aren’t too finicky. I love the added feel you get, but more importantly you can snap your rod tip and free your 1/16-ounce jig from the snags and thus save time re-tying.

If the fish get finicky, I have a reel spooled with four-pound fluorocarbon line. You get the same low stretch and nearly invisible line.

At Shelbyville I still use a 10-foot rod custom-made by Paul Center. I must have a lightweight rod, but one that is still stiff enough to hoist a 1 ½-pound crappie out of brush and swing it into the boat.

At Kentucky Lake we fish much deeper so the 10-foot rod won’t help you get snags free. I like my favorite walleye rod spooled with an ultralight spinning reel. The rod has to be stiff enough to snap those jigs from deep brush, yet sensitive enough to feel light bites.

On Lake Shelbyville we start the fall season fishing very shallow and do so until mid-November. We then switch to brush in 10 feet of water and end our season on the deep river channel ledges in water at least 15 feet deep.

We do the same thing at Kentucky Lake, only you can add about six feet of depth to each pattern. By the time I get there it is mid-December, so I fish there until I start concentrating on Shelbyville during mid-March.

I fish Kentucky Lake as often as I can get away, but I have seminar commitments at Illinois fishing shows that keep me from going more often.

I surf the web for wind forecasts and have my bags packed. As soon as the wind is less than eight miles per hour, I am out the door. Down there, eight miles per hour is about the same as 15 mph here. I like fishing the deep ledges, which puts you smack dab in the middle of the lake. I have never caught two-pound winter crappie back in coves.

I have started another endeavor in my fishing business by making how-to fishing DVD’s. I currently have two available. One is about spring crappie fishing at Lake Shelbyville and the other about winter crappie fishing at Lake Shelbyville. I will have a third available by Christmas about winter crappie fishing at Paris Landing, near the south end of Kentucky Lake.

You can check my website to get more info on them by visiting:  www.lakeshelbyvilleguide.com. The DVD’s have become a big hit and I plan to make more of them.