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Finding A Pattern
Longtime Kentucky Lake guide Tom Moody believes that water clarity is the dominant factor affecting the crappie bite. "They can be extremely closed-mouth in muddy water," he says. "I much prefer clear to slightly stained water for both the most active bite and the best quality fish. But you cannot always have ideal water conditions when you are fishing, so you need to try several different locations and presentations before you come up with the right pattern."

Since the water is usually not the same color all over the lake, spend some time cruising around to find conditions that are most conducive to catching fish. "The creeks should begin to clear a couple days after a hard rain," Moody says. "Look for clearer water in the back ends of the tributaries. Undergroud springs tend to run very clear as well. Be sure to check these out. If the lake is muddy all over, I'll use live shiners or a bright-colored Slider grub - something that's easy for them to relate to. Muddy water isn't a good scenario for an off-the-wall presentation that crappie aren't 100-percent comfortable with."

According to Moody, you'll seldom load the boat while fishing in one spot in muddy water. "Last March, Kentucky Lake was still at winter pool and muddy as could be," he recalls. "We caught fish in the backs of coves in 3 feet of water from stakebeds with the sun shining on them. Beds in the shade were devoid of fish. We'd catch two or three from each bed, then move to another one, dropping a white and chartreuse jig on 4-pound line right in the middle of the cover and slowly jiggin it up and down."

Deep Or Shallow
Veteran guide Garry Mason has found that the clearer the water, the deeper the crappie go and the tighter they hold to cover. "This is probably because crappie, being predators, have an inborn need to remain undetected until a food source gets close enough to become a meal," he says. "Many clear lakes are mainly rocky and have relatively little submerged brush or timber. Here, merely moving deeper will help crappie remain concealed from their prey."

As the water gets murkier, crappie tend to be shallower and roam more. "You'd think they'd stick tighter to cover when their visibility is reduced, but when run-off is pouring into the lake, crappie often gravitate to it," Mason says. "After all, it's fresh water, even if it's muddy, and fresh water is highly oxygenated and carries lots of food with it. They'll move near inflowing creeks and ditches to dine on worms and bugs flushing into the lake."

Just because the water looks like chocolate milk on the surface doesn't mean it's muddy all the way to the bottom. "In most cases, the water is clearer below the surface band, and visibility there may actually be good to excellent, even though you don't see anything but mud from the vantage point of your boat," Mason says. "Use a lure with some flash and sparkle to it, like a Slider grub with a little flake in it or a small spinner. Watch what happens to the water when you turn on your trolling motor. If it changes color around the prop, the water below the surface is clearer."

Re-printed with permission from Crappie World Magazine - www.crappiemagazine.com