10 Things You Need to Know About Fall Fishing for Crappie

Crappie are always valued as tenable targets for anglers during the spring and winter months, causing the fall season to be overlooked when fishing for them. Fall is one of the best times to catch crappie, especially in the northeast, as the water begins to cool, prompting them to migrate to thicker waters or to the shallow flats out of their deep-water haunts. It’s also a good time to fish for them as they start to prepare for winter as they hunt and gorge on feed. Casting live baits can yield you great results. 

During the early autumn month of September, it’s natural for the fish to swim to deeper waters and push away from shallow weedlines. They will often move towards deeper vegetation and covers as well as gather along structures in mid depths. Crappie bites are excellent in October, especially if you’re looking for one in larger sizes. It is because during this time, feeding can be very aggressive. As it reaches November, anglers would have to put in more effort to score crappie as they will be on the move as the season transitions into winter. 
 

Here are Some Tips to Up Your Crappie Fishing Game During the Fall

1.Follow Their Feed

During the fall, crappie do a lot of movement from the deeper waters to the shallows to the deeper parts again, and this includes when you consider their sizes, when the water gets cooler and the sizes of prey they hunt for changes. The hatching of shad during the summer near the shores causes crappie to feed on small bait. But when the autumn season arrives, they prefer larger meals so they go back to hunt to deeper areas. 

2. Pay Attention to the Wind

The wind is a huge help to anglers during the fall because it triggers a domino effect of provoking microorganisms that bait fish feed on, and eventually, crappie come in after they are drawn to the latter to also feed on them. Windblown spots are good to look out for to find concentrations of fish activity. 

3. Seek Dark Areas

Crappie are most likely easily caught out of dark spots during autumn. The fish can be found in shallower waters during low light periods but return to areas with higher depths during the day because they like low light. Additionally, you can find the fish in brush piles, shady banks or nearby or under docks, trees and other structures. 

4. Live Baits Are the Best

As fall is the season they want to fatten up before winter comes, luring them in with live bait will get you the best chance to score crappie. Otherwise, adding scents to artificial baits and lures can help attract the fish. Crappie get picky when they move in deeper waters and generally prefer smaller baits but during the fall you can go bigger with the baits as smaller crappie go for larger lures as the bait had the entirety of the summer to grow and multiply. Using smaller baits can be hard to gauge and assess when the water is thicker, not clear or when you’re fishing in deeper holes. Small but heavy jigs, blade baits and small lipless cranks are solid choices to attract crappie if you can’t utilize live bait.

5. Spider Rigging for Fall Crappie

Schools of crappie move around a lot during the fall so spider rigging can help cover and eliminate ineffective colors, depths, and lures. Anglers can cover tens of feet of water at once, raising the likelihood of scoring catches.

6. Slowing Down Your Presentation

Crappie are less inclined to expend too much energy as the water gets colder. Cast a bait vertically with a slow swing when the fish are sluggish and slack. Using a bait with a low fall rate is also advantageous. This goes along with keeping yourself at a strike zone which increases your chances of crappie fall fishing success. The fish also tend to feed upward so you can cast your bait with a slow fall rate just above them within the water column. 

7. Use a Bobber

To avoid startling and scaring off crappie when the water is too clear to present your bait vertically, you can add a bobber to your line and position it at a depth in the water column where the fish might be holding at. To make long range casts, a slip bobber rig is preferred to make up areas including docks and laydowns situated in clear water.

8. Follow Crappie Highways or Channels

Crappie travel along river creeks and channels as they migrate during the fall. A depth finder and looking up local maps will add to your advantage as they will help inform you of key spots along the fish’s migration path that include main and secondary points, humps, channel bends, small pockets, shallow flats, creek channel intersections, ledges, sharp creek channel bends, and sharp points. 

9. Be on the Move

Anglers shouldn’t continue to fish in the same spot if they can’t catch a bite or aren’t seeing any action after a while. Once you determine the right combination of color, presentation and depth, you should keep moving, as crappie can’t be found everywhere within a body of water. The fish are also the type to roam around during the autumn season as the weather, temperature and climate adjust. 

10. Return to a Spot Later

If you come across a spot that delivered a few scores of crappie and then it suddenly goes cold, leave it. It is likely that fish remaining in the area are spooked, won’t bite and may have moved to a different spot. After an hour or so, they may come back and settle down in the same spot again.

Fall fishing for crappie can provide an exciting and rewarding experience for anglers as it brings out and tests one’s arsenal of fishing knowledge, skill, technique, ability to evaluate an area’s state and viability to host the fish and adapt to it according to their findings, as well as challenge their patience and decision-making skills. Following the general rules and tips will help you get in the hang of crappie fall fishing and ensure you get a successful and noteworthy autumn fishing experience.