Page 4 - Crappie NOW - July 2018

Story & photos by Ron Wong
Summertime and the livin’ is easy, fish
are jumpin’ and the cotton is high, means it is
hot and humid throughout the southern part of
the U.S. It also means that the crappie have
gone to deep water to seek relief from the hot
surface temps, right? Well, that is partially
true.
The crappie are certainly seeking a
comfort level where forage and water temps
are more conducive to their liking. However,
there are some professional crappie fishermen
aware deep water is not the only place to find
crappie.
An effective way to catch shallow
summer crappie is spider rigging. We had
the opportunity to spend some time with Matt
4 Crappie NOW July 2018
Shallow slow trolling includes picking up
the outside pole and working it around
cover. This cypress tree is a great example
of a prime crappie spot.
Outlaw, crappie fishing shallow water. The
results were very impressive. We caught
crappie as shallow as 3 feet deep with the
surface temps approaching 90 degrees. Oh
yeah, we had some fish that would weigh 1.75
pounds.
Before we pick Matt’s brain about fishing
in shallow water during the summer, let’s learn
a bit about him. He is the son of Whitey Outlaw,
who has won multiple crappie tournaments