FINDING CRAPPIES IN SHALLOW WATER

It is no secret that crappie relate to structure. Finding good structure for them in shallow lakes can be difficult.

Russ Bailey, veteran crappie angler, has developed a pattern for shallow water lakes. He spends countless hours on the shallow lakes near his home in northwestern Ohio.

The home lakes that Russ fishes were once part of a canal system and are only 5 to 6 feet deep with virtually no bottom structure. The only structure is man-made in the form of docks, boat lifts and brush piles.

Bailey finds that aluminum structures hold the best opportunity to locate suspended fish. An aluminum boat lift will hold crappies all year around unless there is a freeze.

Using a 10 1/2 foot jigging pole, he flips jigs to docks. With the aluminum boat lifts and aluminum docks he prefers to vertical jig. On sunny days the water around aluminum structures will usually be one to two degrees warmer in the afternoon.

Russ works the outside edges of the structure first and then the inside as well as the cross members and cables that hold the structure in place. He moves very slowly being especially alert to any slight feel on the line.

The basic pattern is to lower a one-eighth ounce jig head to the bottom and then bring it up about six inches. He dresses the jig with plastic grubs in white, pink or chartreuse. He adds “stinger shad” grubs in the cold weather.

On bright sunny winter days the aluminum structures are the best locations once the weather has stabilized. These are the days of change between seasons of the year.

In cold weather situations, Russ uses “ice corks”. These are small floats that are popular with ice fishermen. He likes the ones with the point end down and a rounded bulbous end up. Once the fish are located, he pins them with a toothpick or the small wooden stick that comes with the corks. Once in place, he breaks the stick off so it does not interfere with the line when retrieving a fish. It also allows Russ to fish the same strike zone immediately after removing the fish from the hook.

In this situation the slightest movement should allow the angler to pop the hook into the top of the mouth. This part of the mouth is thicker and less likely to tear, as will the paper thin lips. Let the rod do the rest of the job. Do not yank the line.

The cork movement can be the float lying over, move sideways, pulled under, or just jiggled. The key is to spot the slightest movement.