By Michelle Armstrong
My late friend Bill Pace once told me, “there’s nothing better than cold water crappie…eating them and fishing for them”. While I was visiting him to Bass fish at Bull Shoals he sat on a brush pile he’d buried and we caught a quick limit…each. He cooked them that very night and I was made a believer. He sent a frozen batch home to NC with me and they were just as wonderful.
Bill taught me “how” to catch Crappie but I didn’t know “where” to catch Crappie. Many years later I was fishing a local tournament with my friend Travis Williams and he invited me to Crappie fish afterward on some brush piles he’d buried. Through what he and Bill showed me, and a little (lot) of trial and error on my own, it all fell in to place.
Make a habitat. You’ll need about 10 or more stalks of bamboo, (you can use PVC pipe as well), a 5 gallon bucket and some quick Crete. Cut the bamboo in different lengths. Pour and mix the concrete in the bucket and place the bamboo in the wet mixture until your desired habitat is formed. Make sure the bucket handle is up while you assemble the bamboo. Let dry overnight. It’s a good idea to make several of these to create a nice sized brush pile
Where to place the habitat. First, check the laws of your chosen lake to make sure you can sink brush legally. Ideally you need to sink your brush in water depths of between 20’ to 35’. It’s good to have a channel close by since Crappie use it like a highway to travel back and forth. In a perfect scenario, look for an underwater point that has a quick drop and place your brush at the deepest point.
Once you’ve found the perfect spot it’s time to submerge your habitat. Loop the rope through your bucket handle and lower slowly to the bottom. Once at the bottom you can let go of one end of the rope for easy retrieval.
Make sure you mark your way points on your GPS so you can easily find and fish your brush. Upon return, the moment you see the brush on your locator, throw a buoy marker out of the back of your boat for reference. When reeling in fish or on a breezy day, It can be easy to lose “sight” of your brush even with your locator. With the buoy as a visual marker, you can quickly get back to fishing the right spot. Remember the bouy is just for reference, not to mark your brush. You don’t want to drop it right on top of your brush pile because you can get snagged in the buoy line and also disturb the fish.
Now let’s catch Crappie!!! When fishing brush you’ll want to use a vertical presentation… If you’re using artificial bait some of the best crappie fishing baits are Jigs, tubes, and spoons. Because I think like a Bass fisherman first, I like to use a drop shot rig and have much success. A light spinning rod with 6-8 lb test will do the trick. I rig a 1/4 ounce cylinder weight about 18 inches from the 1/0 Gamakatsu drop shot hook. I find this to move thru the brush with ease. A round weight also works nicely. If the water color is on the clear side I like to use a Pearl/Blue/Black Slider 3” Double Action Grub. For dirty water I go to a Slider 2” Twin Tail Grub Motor Oil color. Once you see your brush on your locator, drop your bait. You can typically see the bait falling on your screen but if you drift off don’t fret. You should be able to feel the moment to weight hits the top of the brush. Stop your bait at this point and give it a few quick bounces. You can lower your bait through the brush, popping it through the limbs with little short twitches. Be mindful of a tug or heavy feeling and reel up. It’s not really necessary to “set” the hook on Crappie. Their mouths are paper thin and the hook penetrates upon reeling.
Good luck and go catch (Crappie) fish.