Page 11 - Crappie NOW | November2015

I can see exactly how the deep the fish are
holding and where they are, left to right,
and I can be extremely precise with my
presentations,” Dannenmueller said.

Finding & Patterning Crappie
When Dannenmueller fishes a new
lake or prepares for a tournament on waters
he hasn’t fished recently, his research
begins at home. He’ll spend significant time
studying maps and scouring the internet
in order to identify areas to look at on the
water.
For less familiar waters, he begins
with basic things about the lake’s character:
average depth, shoreline make-up, cover
types, forage sources, normal water
color. For any lake, he learns all he can
about current conditions, including water
temperature and color, types of areas
fish have been using, patterns that have
prevailed the same time of year, whether
water has been rising or falling, seasonal
aspects like whether a lake has turned over
in the fall.
The list could go on and on. The point
is that he gathers a bunch of information Dan Dannenmueller is a master at using his
to get a working picture of the waterway, electronics to find structure and fish. This
conditions and likely fish behavior. That allows a more efficient strategy.

allows him to maximize efficiency once he
gets to the lake and goes to work searching
with his electronics. said. “I want to get a feel for things like the
One the water Dannenmueller almost depths the crappie are using, whether they
always begins his searching with no lines are suspended and how they are relating to
down, operating the big motor and watching the baitfish.”
the Garmin unit that is console mounted. Dannenmueller generally does his
For a major tournament, he might spend initial searching with the screen divided into
hours just looking. For a day of casual quadrants with views that show him a map,
fishing on more familiar waters, that part traditional sonar, DownVu and SideVu. The
could be quite quick. DownVu and SideVu collectively provide a
“I’ve learned that I need to take that very complete look at the bottom, allowing
time and use the motor to my advantage him to find both natural and manmade cover
to look at a more area,” Dannenmueller and to see how the crappie are relating to
the cover and to the bait.

11 Crappie NOW November 2015