The ideal vessel for crappie fishing is a kayak, providing the advantage of proximity to the vertical structures crappie favors without causing them to become startled. Being positioned close to the water, a kayak facilitates side-arm casts, allowing you to skillfully skip a jig far under a dock in pursuit of the hefty slabs concealed in the shadows.
For beginners in crappie fishing or individuals new to kayaks, delving into the specifics of kayak crappie fishing is crucial. Keep reading, as we will thoroughly cover all the information necessary for you to start this adventure!
Crappie Fishing: A Very Brief Introduction
The genus Poxomis boasts two highly popular species, namely P. annularis and P. nigromaculatus. Whether recognized as sac-a-lait, papermouths, calico bass, or by any of their numerous aliases, all refer to the crappie.
The black and white crappie, beloved game fish in America, are renowned for their easy capture, thrilling fights, and delicious taste. With these spotted predators, few anglers can resist their allure.
Similar to many species, crappie undergo spawning during spring, initiating their life cycle as minuscule fry. Maturing, they transition from a diet of marine invertebrates to predominantly piscivorous habits, emphasizing their inclination toward consuming fish.
Live baits prove highly effective for mature crappie, with artificial jigs following closely as impactful bait choices. Moore, honing his skills in crappie-rich locales like Lake Winnipesaukee and Sebago Lake, has a strategy applicable to the species’ habitat. By targeting seasonal depths and cover, this approach provides crappie anglers with a versatile game plan across a significant part of their distribution.
Kayak Benefits
- Anytime Access
Remains unfazed by confined spaces. Kayaks effortlessly maneuver through areas too narrow for motorboat traffic.
Lack of a ramp? No issue at all. As long as you can access the water, launching a kayak is a breeze.
Not all waters in New Hampshire with crappie have a boat launch, prompting Moore to highlight advancements in angling kayaks. According to him, contemporary angling kayaks have minimized limitations. While lacking a motor, kayak anglers compensate with the capability to launch practically anywhere, granting them unprecedented flexibility.
- Solitude
Fishing in waters without outboard motors often means great angling opportunities with less pressured fish.
- Stealth
Opting to sit rather than stand minimizes his vertical profile. Additionally, a sleek vessel with lower water displacement than even a skiff results in reduced intrusion into shallow waters.
“In early summer, the smaller profile of a kayak provides a significant advantage, preventing the spooking of fish from an area,” noted Moore. “Come fall, the smaller profile also helps in managing wind, allowing me to stay atop a school for a more extended period.”
Top Tactics
Moore outlines two primary strategies:
“After spring spawn, crappie favor shallow areas, often near structures like pond lilies and dead wood,” he explained.
“As the lakes undergo turnover in the fall, crappie tend to assemble in sizable schools and suspend over basins. They exhibit aggressive feeding behavior, often persisting throughout the day.”
In the fall, Moore prefers the Live Baby Shad from Lake Fork Trophy Lures, with electric chicken as his chosen color. Subsequently, he rigs the bait on a 1/8-ounce round jighead and drifts it.
“The crappie just can’t resist it,” he attests to the effectiveness of this straightforward rig. “I drift over basins using my electronics to locate a school of fish. Then, I repeat that drift, often continuing until I decide to stop catching crappie. The fall fishing experience is often non-stop.”
Trolling a small jig with a spinner through the school is another effective tactic. Another approach is to slow-troll a few jigs under a bobber.Effective in shallow Eastern Shore millponds with depths of six to 10 feet, this method proves particularly successful for fishing.
Additionally, when searching for crappie, it’s advisable to seek out concrete structures. Bridge pilings and reservoir drain intakes serve as prime crappie attractors. These structures absorb heat from the sun, warming the surrounding water and consequently drawing in baitfish.
Crappies can also be located over deep brush, including old Christmas trees strategically placed as fish attractors. Throughout the years, Eastern Shore mill ponds were stocked with these trees, creating an ideal spot to deploy a minnow or two.
Opting for live bait, minnows emerge as the optimal selection for crappie fishing. A productive technique involves placing a small hair jig under a bobber, with the minnow lip-hooked. Fishing the mentioned locations with minnows is effective; placing the minnow in the right zone within the water column is crucial. In winter, fish are less likely to roam for food, requiring strategic bait placement within the desired depth range. Experimenting with various depths becomes crucial until you successfully locate the fish.
During winter kayak fishing, adopting a slower pace and strategically leveraging the wind in your vessel are crucial tips. Allowing your bait to maintain a natural cadence enhances the likelihood of getting a bite.
So, keep in mind that refraining from making a cast translates to a missed opportunity for catching a fish. Systematically work around the dock, directing shots to all corners and the flat region where the walkway intersects with the dock.Unlike other seasons, there’s limited need to let the jig fall in winter, as crappie will readily strike upon entry. Optimal choices for shooting docks include a 1/32-ounce jighead with a rubber body and marabou tail.
On a kayak, essential gear for crappie fishing should encompass a quality sonar unit equipped with a topographic map. This month, target prime areas like channel edges and drop-offs, as fish transition from 15 to 7 to 4 feet. Keep an eye out for spawning crappie during the pre-spawn migration, often high in the water column around baitfish.
Consider adding a landing net with an extended handle to your gear. An affordable and effective method for securing a flopping fish, especially in tight spaces, is a long-handled crabbing net at the end of a pole.
Lastly, ensure you bring along a cooler to store your catch. It’s a necessity.
Properly equipped kayaks can be very effective crappie fishing boats.
Transforming a standard fishing kayak into an efficient crappie-catching setup proves to be a relatively straightforward and affordable process. When setting up a kayak for crappie fishing, prioritize presenting multiple rods with varied lures at different depths. Determine crappie depth and preferred food source daily.
The crucial element in outfitting a kayak for crappie fishing is the incorporation of effective rod holders. While most stock kayaks come equipped with basic “rod holders” designed primarily for transport, these prove insufficient for crappie anglers. To enhance functionality, kayak anglers should consider installing a suitable mounting system on the kayak. Numerous brands and types of mounting tracks are available, all of which perform effectively. These tracks empower crappie anglers to affix varying numbers, sizes, and positions of rods, ensuring optimal bait presentation capabilities.
Some kayak anglers exhibit an array of rods, giving their kayak the appearance of a bug with antennae extending in all directions. While I admire these individuals, managing that many rods simultaneously is not something I can easily handle.
In my case, my trusty old blue Hobie kayak is fitted with rod tracks on both sides of the foredeck. This allows me to adapt to changing needs by switching a rod holder from one side to the other.I opt for simplicity, usually handling a single long “rod holder rod” and a short ultra-light spinning rig dedicated to tossing jigs.
Give Them a Choice
Efficiently determining the optimal presentation is key for kayak anglers, achieved by offering baits and lures at different depths. Crappie, sensitive to depth preferences, benefit from diverse rod choices—long, short, horizontal, and vertical—offering the variety they may seek.
In my experience, employing a lengthy crappie pole, measuring 8 feet or more proves effective. This extended pole places the bait a significant distance from the boat, maintaining it at a selected depth. Casting my ultra-light spinning rig simultaneously covers a broad spectrum of depths, aiding in locating feeding crappie schools.
The extended pole’s stationary bait, paired with the spinning rig’s active movement, helps determine if crappie prefer moving or non-moving bait.
Kayaks, adept at navigating through dense cover, enable anglers to reach the largest crappie. Moreover, the setup for kayak crappie fishing is budget-friendly, with the rod and reel rigs for crappie costing less than $50 each, and the tracks and rod holders being reasonably priced. Once installed, the tracks and holders exhibit durability, offering a long-lasting solution for anglers.
Use the Wind in Open Water
Post-spring spawn, crappie move from shallow, brushy areas to deep, open waters, focusing on bait schools. A kayak aids anglers exploring and locating feeding crappie schools covering considerable distances.
Using the wind strategically aids kayak navigation on open water flats, helping anglers find concentrated areas of slabs. In large Tennessee River lakes, I’ve seen kayak anglers use paddle boats for drift fishing on deep flats after crappie move from spawning shallows in late spring. These anglers achieved remarkable success with post-spawn crappie.
Equipping a kayak with a sonar fish finder allows anglers to position upwind of feeding schools, efficiently covering water and enhancing success.
Spring fishing- Shallow Structure
In spring, crappie migrate to shallow, wooded areas for spawning. In such scenarios, kayaks prove optimal for anglers to capitalize on the spawning crappie
During the spawning season, kayaks play a crucial role in locating and catching substantial numbers of sizable crappie, particularly in sheltered spawning shallows.
Master the Shot
Now, let’s delve into the core of the technique, where expertise becomes evident—shooting the jig. This skill involves four essential components:
- The grip
- The perfect length of the line
- The load
- The release
The initial and foremost aspect is to focus on how and where you grip the jighead. Alabama crappie guide Lee Pitts suggests gripping the hook’s head or bend between thumb and forefinger, akin to preparing a bow.
Pitts stresses the need to avoid excitement-induced errors, cautioning against grabbing the jighead in a way that aligns the hook with your hand, risking self-inflicted injuries.Instead, he suggests pinching the jighead at the bend in the hook to position the point away from you. For a safer cast without the risk of getting hooked, one can pinch the head with the hook point facing away.
After mastering the grip, release enough line to align the jighead and plastic from the rod tip to the last guide. In simpler terms, you should aim for having 3-4 feet of line extended from the end of the rod.
Next, hold the lure in your hand and aim the rod towards the dock opening where you intend to shoot the jig. Pull back on the lure to bend the rod, effectively loading it for the shot.
Not All Docks Are Good
The technique’s most challenging aspect is realizing a dock’s visual appeal doesn’t guarantee productivity.Determining the distinction between good and less favorable docks requires extensive fishing experience. I’ve observed that docks within a specific depth range tend to be more fruitful; For instance, a dock located approximately 2-3 feet from the walkway and about 10-12 feet in front is usually promising.
Despite general observations, unremarkable docks can yield abundant fish, while visually impressive deep docks may not produce any. Hence, investing time to discern which docks in various creeks on your lake consistently deliver productive results remains essential.
Mind Your Angles
Respecting others’ docks exhibits good etiquette and saves tackle. Practice low stances, loading the rod, and executing skips before targeting dock openings.
With improvement, you’ll discover that certain angles of entry and retrieval are more effective in attracting crappie. This process is akin to finding a sweet spot on a ledge. Under the dock, there’s a specific spot where crappie prefer. The goal is to accurately place the jighead and plastic there for a successful catch.
Favorites For The Technique
Wally Marshall has crafted a range of exceptional baits tailored for this technique. Among his favorites are the Strike King Mr. Crappie Shad Pole, Slabalicious, and Slab Slanger, specifically designed for shooting docks. He typically rigs these on 1/16-ounce Strike King jigheads.
Lee Pitts, on the other hand, favors the Bobby Garland Baby Shad, Slab Dockt’R, or Slab Slay’R for dock shooting.When facing clear water or targeting pressured fish, Pitts may choose a smaller 1/64 or 1/32 ounce head with an “Itty Bit Swim.”
Both Wally Marshall and Lee Pitts utilize Lew’s Mr. Crappie Signature Series rods, available in either 5 1/2-foot or 7-foot sizes, paired with Lew’s Mr. Crappie reels. Both appreciate 5 1/2-foot rods, but a special fondness is expressed for Wally’s 7-foot Signature Series rod from Lew’s, especially for shooting docks. The rod’s effectiveness became evident while teaching the technique to the user’s son in a single afternoon, resulting in a successful crappie-catching experience.
This setup is favored, especially in spring when crappie move up to spawn or shortly after the spawn. However, it’s noted that crappie can be caught using this technique at other times as well. Deepwater lakes with ample shade provide excellent opportunities for crappie fishing, especially in warmer water conditions.
Final Thoughts: Crappie Fishing from Your Kayak Throne
In this article, we’ve navigated the shallows of kayak crappie tactics, from choosing the right gear to pinpointing prime crappie hideouts. But remember, the true map to crappie nirvana lies not just in technique, but in the spirit of adventure. So, cast off your inhibitions and embrace the unique challenges of kayak fishing. Savor the silence broken only by the plop of your lure and the whisper of the paddle. Be patient, be observant, and be ready to adapt. The crappie, those elusive specks of light, will reward your dedication with a fight that belies their size.
And when you finally reel in that trophy crappie, let the victory be not just in the catch, but in the journey itself. Remember the thrill of the chase, the camaraderie of fellow kayakers, and the breathtaking beauty of the world from your watery throne. Because crappie fishing from a kayak isn’t just about filling your cooler; it’s about filling your soul with the quiet triumph of conquering the water, one paddle stroke and crappie cackle at a time.
So, tight lines and happy paddling, crappie warriors! May your kayaks forever glide towards shimmering scales and sun-kissed memories.
