Page 5 - Crappie NOW - March 2018

LEDGES

his map looking for channels in 6-8 feet of
water all the way up into cypress trees. It
was early for fish to be shallow but a guy
had told him crappie had been staging.
However, weather changes were causing
them to go back and forth. Surface said
weather changes in early spring were
typical, causing the fish to change patterns
often and also become slow biters.

Three Days Prior to Tournament
A strong front moved through on
Monday night. Tuesday Surface expected
a slow down. Also, a big rain up north
meant new water running into the lake,
with current increasing.
The bite was much slower than
expected. Baits had to be inched along
to get a bite. The channel proved to have
fish on the graph but we couldn’t catch
them to see their sizes. It was 11:30 and
we hadn’t caught a fish. “Not catching
is hurting us today. We are not learning
anything except for marking a few potential
spots to try when they start biting. Some
days are like this.” Billy Don Surface with a good crappie.
Not a fish was caught until late in Keeping a focus on ledges is an important
the day. One was 2.27-pounds and a few part of a his searches.
small ones. The scouting was not a total
loss with one spot found. the pattern.
One tip that holds true most of the “We are targeting an area I don’t
time, is wood cover and a ledge at the want you to tell anyone about. It’s a spot
right depth will hold crappie. Crappie may with ledges that should be good. Our goal
not always bite, but the ledge will hold is to find some quality fish. The spot I
fish. The number of rigs we went through found yesterday will likely be pressured.
proved we were keeping our fish in the It’s too bad that people follow and fish
cover. where they see others fishing, so, I won’t

Two Days Prior to Tournament go back there again. I hope to find a
different spot today and hopefully not be
“We can look at the map and get seen by too many boats.”
ideas, but the LakeMaster chip is very The structures targeted were good,
important. It’s more detailed and up to medium-depth drop-offs with shallower
date. Places we caught fish last year isn’t water not too far away and deep water
producing so we are using the electronic nearby. We caught a big weight of crappie
map to find the contours and drops.” without going over any spot a second time.
Waypoints are a key to learning and We also kept moving so we wouldn’t catch
studying. By marking successful spots a more than one big fish from a spot. We
pattern can be learned. If the majority of were watched by a few other fishermen
the marks are in 14-16 feet on the outside but not many.
bend of a channel, it’s not difficult to see

5 Crappie NOW March 2018