Page 4 - Crappie NOW | November2015

Championship Patterns

W inning patterns are different Jim and Jason Westerberg work a ledge
between lakes, seasons, weather and water near the mouth of a major arm on Kentucky
conditions.. At Kentucky Lake during the Lake. Here they are netting a small crappie.
Crappie Masters’ National Championship in
late September, the lake was turning over in
different areas during the week. Fish were water.
scattered from shallow water out to deep Pattern one included shallow drops or
water. Small fish were biting but keeper fish flats near the drops. Kentucky Lake is literally
were difficult to catch. The follow is the main full of man-made cover, usually stakebeds.
pattern and variations that worked best. Every pattern started with detailed
They’ll still work now although depths may electronic scanning of the areas to be fished.
vary. The drop-offs, other contour changes, and
crappie beds could be found and marked.
Once this was completed and the area
Pattern Number One looked promising, GPS points were used to
Fishermen found fish were no on one fish different beds found.
specific pattern. It was difficult to figure out The first pattern provided more fishing
exactly how to catch fish the bigger fish. The action than the other depths but fishermen
first pattern was a shallow pattern. Fishermen learned that smaller fish with an occasional
could catch numbers of fish in 2 to 6 feet of

4 Crappie NOW November 2015