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Winter Crappie Tactics

by Steve Welch

Here are some ideas for you readers to kick around this winter. Being a fishing guide, I can really only vacation during the winter when my guide service is slow. I like to get away before I get swamped with work from late March through July.

I have been to several spots in the south looking for huge crappie. I know the lakes in Mississippi have bigger crappie than anywhere in the world, but I still opt for Kentucky Lake. I can be at Paris Landing on the south end of the lake in five hours and usually plan three or four three-day weekend trips between December and March.

Driving to Mississippi takes nine hours and requires more time to find fish. They drop the lake down so low in winter that just getting around on it is very dangerous.

Besides, last year if you had Illinois, Missouri, or Indiana plates on your vehicle, you would most likely get your tires slashed. They don’t welcome tourism and count on those fish for food instead of sport.

In contrast, Tennessee welcomes tourism and I know how to safely get around at Paris Landing during winter since they only drop the lake level five feet. You need to pay attention near the mouth of Eagle Creek or you will find yourself running onto ground in many mid-lake spots.

It is the ledge fishing that attracts me to fishing Kentucky Lake and the fact that all the big crappies are bunched up on the ledges during winter. I have never caught those three and four-pound fish for which the lakes in Mississippi are famous, but I have caught many two-pound fish in Kentucky.

Last year four friends went to Grenada Lake in Mississippi for five days during the same time that I and a co-worker went to Paris Landing in Tennessee. My friends caught 70 fish in five days of fishing between four of them. Their best day was nine keepers.

I am a fishing guide who is used to getting a lot of action. My buddy and I fished two full days and one morning and we brought home 140 crappies, with one two-pound fish. It was great action because we caught many 13-inch fish each day.

To each his own though, because the four friends had several fish over two pounds and one that was more than three pounds. If trophies are what you want, then Grenada Lake is no doubt the best lake in the country.

Here is how I attack any lake during the winter. I look at my map and locate any river or very sharp main lake drop. The drop should start at 15-20 feet deep and extend down into the channel very quickly. There should also be very shallow water nearby.

The next thing you look for when searching a drop is bait fish. You don’t need to see fish on your electronics, but the presence of bait is a necessity.

I carry 10 marker buoys in my boat, so get yourself several of them. Since the lake is never crowded, I go along the top of the drop and toss out a row of buoys spaced 100 feet apart so they are not in my way.

About half way down the drop, start looking for cover and then drag a quarter-ounce jig right on bottom between two buoys.

Once you find cover, hover over it and try and get multiple fish to bite. If this happens, mark yourself a waypoint on your GPS so that every day of your trip you have made yourself a milk run of fishing spots. All those waypoints may not help you on this trip, but now you have cut down your search time for future trips. Ahh... the beauty of GPS!

This tactic works on any lake. Ledges attract all species of fish and you can expect to catch them by using this presentation. I have caught huge buffalo, drum perch, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, and catfish dragging a jig on bottom during winter.

Unlike many other times of the year when fish suspend, or are scattered in shallow bays, winter causes them to bunch up.

My home lake of Lake Shelbyville has many great winter fishing opportunities and it is a great winter crappie lake. Like Kentucky Lake, Shelbyville is drawn down six feet for winter pool and this bunches up fish on drops, river channels, and deep coves. Unlike Kentucky Lake, the wind is not a big problem. We can hide from the wind at Lake Shelbyville and the crappies are right in the middle of the lake with no where to go.

You rarely see a soul fishing, except for an eagle or two setting in the trees. Winter is about the only time you will see eagles at Lake Shelbyville.

I use the same tactics at Shelbyville as I do at Kentucky Lake. You can fish a little shallower at Shelbyville and Kentucky Lake does not have the ice-out flurry that we have at Shelbyville. The fish go nuts for a couple of weeks after the ice comes off the north end of Lake Shelbyville. The crappies can feel the sun and will move shallow into warmer water. The south end of Shelbyville rarely freezes.

I use the same equipment for fishing both lakes. I have a heavy-action, 10-foot rod that I spool with Power-Pro 15-pound test line that has the diameter of four-pound line.

I like the better feel of Power-Pro line in deep water, but more importantly, I like that I can snap my heavy rod while hung up on bottom and usually free my jig. Sometimes I wrap the line around my glove and straighten the hook to get fewer break-offs.

I use quarter-ounce jigs. These heavier jigs catch fish because you give them no action at all and the fish can see them better. Hold the jig as still as a church mouse once you find the right depth, which is always within a few inches of bottom in water that is at least 15 to 25 feet deep.

I use Mid South tubes in the two and one-half inch size. I like the bigger tubes so fish can more easily see them and because I am always looking for big fish. The shad are big during winter, so fish will bite bigger baits. Another advantage is that bothersome yellow bass won't bite bigger baits as often.

The colors that I like include any shade of chartreuse with orange, red, white or yellow. All chartreuse with sparkle can also be very good.

Like I have said many times, winter crappie fishing is very good and fish from cold water are the best to eat. If your spring plans include getting a crappie guide, don’t waste time because I am filling days very quickly for spring trips.