Page 5 - Crappie NOW | August 2016

Deep Summer Structure

Steele. “It’s important to pay attention to the The first thing is to find the channels using
sun especially in the summer.” mapping and then use sonar to pinpoint them.
Dannenmueller explained that it took Once found, zooming and down viewing
him many trips over the years to figure out screens can help detail a spot to know if fish
the pattern the crappie were using in the are there and how they are relating to the
structure.
Step two is looking for specific depths.
“I use Garmin for several In our example, also, we were targeting
shaded drops. The shaded side will be
reasons but primarily because obvious because of the position of the sun.
they are on the cutting edge of Finding the right depths might require some
searching and looking. Once the rights
technology…” depths are found it’s time for step number

summer on his home waters, the Alabama three.
River. Fishing is a matter of experienced Step three is looking for specific cover.
mixed with paying attention to details. He “An ideal cover along a ledge is a big stump
says the pattern is really simple once a with roots on it. The large, dominate fish

fisherman understands what the fish are
doing.
“We would fish these channels, like we
are doing today, and would catch fish in the
morning but they would quit in the middle of
the day and we had trouble getting back on
them. What we figured out was that shade
is a key factor. The good channel ledge in
the morning was shaded on the drop-off.
Crappie would get there and actively feed.
But by 10:00 in mid-morning they would quit.
We fished deeper and shallower but could
not find active fish.
“A couple of trips we started moving
across the channel when the fish quit
biting. Provided the opposite side drop was
shaded, the crappie would be there and be
active. So we learned it by accident but once
it happened we studied to learn what was
happening . Of course once we figured it out
it seemed very simple. And, it’s something
that should apply to any body of water you
fish.

Three Steps to Ledge Success The results of finding the right structure,
The first step is to use your mapping to cover and fish.
find channels and ledges. Hard copy maps
work fine. Electronic mapping is easier if you
have it. One a channel is found it’s time to
fine-tune the search.
“Electronics is a key to almost any kind
of fishing,” says Dannenmueller, “especially
when fishing underwater drops and ledges.

5 Crappie NOW August 2016