Page 4 - Crappie NOW | May 2015

Lily Pads

L ily pads are a hiding place for

many species of fish, including crappie. Try
shaking a lily pad and you’ll see why. Many
insects and organisms will fall into the
water. Anything will feed on these but more
importantly, the small food draws baitfish
that draw larger fish.

Where to Fish
Look across Reelfoot Lake in the hot
summer and you’ll see pads for hundreds
of yards. Other lakes might have small
patches in shallow or back-out areas. So
each lake is different with different amounts
of vegetation.
Fishing the pads can be divided into
three or four very basic patterns. The first is
an isolated pad. An isolated pad associated
with other pads is a good item to fish. The
isolated pad will provide shade and a small
spot can be dominated by one large or
aggressive crappie. Always try an isolated
pad.
Small patch of five to fifty pads is
another great spot to try. This “something
different” among field of pads can produce
numbers of fish.
A hole in a bunch of pads is a key
spot. Not only is it easier to drop a jig into
but the opening is a place a fish will watch
from the shade of a pad.
An outside edge is often the first
and best place to fish. Crappie like edges. Bailey pitches a float and small jig in scattered
The edge lets a crappie hold in the shade pads.

and cover but go out into open water while
staying near the cover.
advantages of lily pads in a northern lake.
We were fishing three to four foot deep
Catching from the Pads water filled with pads.
A 2014 trip with Russ Bailey to “The fish might be in the tightest pads
Pymatuning, Pennsylvania, highlighted the or they might be in openings, “says Bailey.

4 Crappie NOW May 2015