Page 4 - Crappie NOW | July 2015

Deep Summer Drop-Offs

Dp erpendicroupla-Or ff:deascenvte;ry steep or
dwindling or decline. a marked

Fishermen have learned that a
drop-off is where fish often live and feed.
As the definition describes, a drop-off is
a steep descent or decline. As in, the
bottom countor of the lake dropped from
15 feet down to 25 feet. In the fishing
world, the rate of decline may be very
sharp or somewhat gradual.
Also, most fishermen use drop-off
as a general term for the drop, ledge
and flat. There’s nothing wrong with this
assumption or generalized grouping.

Why Drop-Offs?
A drop can provide many things
for crappie. One of the best summer
advantanges is baitfish. Open water
drops are common places to find
schools of bait, a basic requirement for
a crappie.
Depth of water can be important
to a fish. Moving up and down the ledge
offers protection, comfort and light
penetration depth adjustments.
Cover is often found, or placed, on
a drop or just adjacent to a drop. Cover
at the right depth on a drop equals
fishing action.
A drop is a good travel route.
Crappie will use a drop like we use a
highway. They’ll also suspend above it. Dan Dannenmueller uses a Johnson Fishing
Shad Crank for open water crappie. He prefers
Finding to push crankbaits so he will have better depth
Twenty years ago finding and
fishing ledges was a skill. None were control and ability to better follow a channel
drop.

better than the team of Ronnie Capps
and Steve Coleman. They used paper years of experience to find and catch open
maps, flasher sonar units, paper graphs and water crappie where few other fishermen

4 Crappie NOW July 2015