Hey everyone,
It seems that alot of people switch to other species after the crappie spawn so I was wondering, do you continue to crappie fish through the summer and if so, where do you find them and how do you catch them?
Summertime Crappie Fishing is my favorite time of the year. If you can stand the heat. Crappie will be hanging out in standing timber and shallow stumps.
I use to fish for whatever was biting. A fair weather fisherman! Now, I primarily fish for Crappie and Catfish.
I’m trying to learn how to catch Crappie year round. One of the best thing I ever did was start hiring guides. You’ll learn a lot by watching what they do and asking questions.
EB said something the first time I went out with him. It has stayed with me ever since. He probably doesn’t recall saying it, but it stuck with me as one of those simple truths in life. It was an “Aha” moment! He said
“People fish for Crappie during the spawn because they know where to find them. If they could find them at other times of the year, they’d fish for them then”
“Finding them” has been my problem, but the learning curve has been flattened out a lot by hiring guides at these times and then taking what I learn and applying it to lakes I fish.
Brian showed me how to catch Crappie along ripraps and standing timber in Summer and I’ve been able to replicate those patterns on other lakes. The really cool thing is that the fish are shallow usually, even when it’s in the 90’s or above. I’ll catch them in less than 5 feet of water. Now that’s some fun 
This year, I look forward to trying night time fishing and also giving longline trolling a try. It seems to be a popular technique in other states (here’s a thread on the main board) Longlining for Summer Crappie
Let’s make this a Sticky until the end of the Summer. WTG Meatdragger, good idea!
Thanks Reaper, good idea to make a sticky out of this. My learning curve has certainly steepened thanks to this board as well as, Lip Rippers, EB, Chatt Martin, Odie and others. I never would have tried fishing shallow for crappie during the summer until now. I am indebted to many of you. Thank you again.
I have to go to Tenkiller for my wifes family reunion on June 17th and I plan on fishing the shallow stump fields in Sallisaw Creek on Kerr. I have heard reports that the water temp already is around 80 degs in that creek.
I used to be a spawn only crappie fisherman and a bass fisherman the rest of the time. In the last 7 years I have been bass fishing less than 10 times. I forced myself to try and learn how to catch crappie year round. I did that by reading every article I could find on summer, fall, and winter crappie fishing and fishing every time I got the chance. The summer and winter are now my favorite times to fish. There are a lot less people out fishing and it is a whole lot like hunting. If you know me, you know hunting deer is my other passion. Since this thread is about summertime fishing, I will talk about the pattern I have found during the summer. When the water temps approach the mid 80’s and the water becomes still (no current) the thermacline develops. The fish will not go below the thermacline due to low oxygen levels. If you have a good quality locator and turn up the sensitivity the thermacline line is visible. It is a solid line on my locator. On Oologah, on the main lake, that usually is no deeper than 16 feet. Brushpiles in less than 16 fow are what to look for and the fish are usually suspended above the brush. My son and I caught them on brush in 6- 8 fow last summer. My favorite summetime piles on Oologah are in 12- 14 fow. I also have found fishing during the summer on Oologah that minnows out perform jigs. I am a die hard jig man but fish with minnows most of the time when fishing summertime brushpiles on Oologah. Dipping standing timber can be fun, with early morning and late evening being the best for me. If you can find them during the summer, you can load the boat in a very short period of time. Hope this helps and everyone else weigh in and give us some tips.
Odie
We fished up in the creeks during summer years ago to escape the boats and weekend warriors, and to our surprise found the crappie as well. I love to vertical jig timber and laydowns in the summer. The weather and water levels are stable and once you pattern them it’s very predictable every time out. I’m like Odie…hate minnows but late summer / early fall sometimes that’s all they will hit. One year in early Sept. we fished Rock Creek and a dead minnow is the ONLY bait they would hit, we finished the day with 90.
Odie, your experiences with fishing them on brush during the summer are the exact same as mine although I like to go a little shallower and seem to catch less small ones when I do. I believe what you say about the thermocline to be true and I began to explain this in the Oologah thread when Peke asked me about the summer pattern on Oologah but until you confirmed my thoughts, it was just a theory of mine and my fishing buddies. I’m glad to have someone else confirm it for us.
I will say this, once things settle for the summer, if you can find them you will probably catch them there ALL summer. It’s a great time to fish for them.
As I said in the Oologah thread, I would like to try dipping some timber as well. I think I might catch bigger fish dipping timber than I do fishing brush.
It seems strange to people to catch crappie so shallow during the summer. I see people trying to fish deep piles because they figure the fish want to be down in the cool water but that isn’t the case.
It’s good to hear most of us are still out hunting them. The forum just seems to slow down duringthe summer so I assumed alot of people were moving on to catfish and sandies. It’s just a busy time of year I guess.
Stay after them and good luck everybody!
Meatdragger, It is getting close to time for the summer pattern to start. Once the lake stabilizes it will be on. The water temp was 84 last Thursday. I’ll PM you my phone number, call when you are coming up this summer and me and my 13 year old son will meet you on the lake. I absolutely love the summertime fishing on Oologah. I’m going to experiment with another new pattern this summer and will report the results.
Odie
I’ve had days that the only thing that would get bit was a dead minnow. Is why I stopped chumming the water with them.
My best days have come in the heat of summer. Usually fishing standing timber in 12-20 fow with the crappie suspended anywhere from 4’ down. I have found that the better ones are usually huggin the bottom. Just a note on winter fishing, when I was first starting to get into crappie fishing, a lady who was an avid crappie fisherperson (?) told me the best days are the ones that are so cold and bad that you have to convice yourself to go. I think that applies to summer time also, the hotter the better!
Now all the Ham&Eggers are gone and the true crappie men go to work you can still fill the boat just like spawning time if you got good electronics and know how to use them its no secret to catching them just dont stay in one place to long if the bigger ones arent there and as Odie said ya better have a bucket of minners with ya might save ya from a wash out If I can help any of you let me know
Absolutely have minnows with you. I caught more last Thursday on jigs than I had in my entire life!! about 10. Minnows, don’t leave home without them!!
minners…they do best!:p;)
Summer crappie fishing can be extremely fun when you find them. The pattern can fall on two planes: one being deep brush piles, and the other being shallow timber. When you talk about deep brush it depends on the lake you fish. We normally fish brush no deeper than 15ft. on Oologah. In the timber I simply bounce around until we find a pattern. You would be amazed how shallow some of them slabs will be. I waste very little time when timber fishing, it’s more of a dip and rip. If they are there you’ll know it, plus I’m trying to fish as many trees as possible, and I’m looking for Big Momma or Daddy. I have found that the warmer the water temp the better the timber fishing. That means in the dead dog heat of the day you can be out there killing them, but you have to be safe. Don’t be afraid to try different techniques for summer crappie. Trolling cranks on Oologah can be deadly. We have loaded up a ice chest on numerous trips trolling bandits (200 & 300 series). When trolling cranks remember you are fishing for crappie not sandbass, so slow down. We watch many sandbass fishermen trolling around us catching sandies while we are moving slower catching crappie. Summer crappie will let you know how fast or slow you should go. Slow trolling is also a method i use during the summer once we locate the fish. Don’t put up the rods, but if you do that means I have a better chance a catching that Big one.
The consensus seems to be that minnow work better during the summer. Just curious, do you all typically rig minnows on a jig head or with a hook and split shot? Or does it depend on how your fishing it?
I never use jigs with minnows. I just hook them up thru the bottom of the lips with a minnow hook and a split shot about 6 inches up. I used to put the split shot about 12 inches up but I found this gives the minnow too much line to roam around and get caught in the brush. Also, the deeper I’m fishing , the bigger the shot I use.
#2 circle hook the same way. If I find they are holding out from the tree or brush I still put the split shot a little higher but if they are tight, just like you said, you have to put them on a little shorter leash!!
It’s no secret that day in and day out, minnows will out-produce jigs on Oologah, due to water clarity. However, I’ve found during the summer, jigs can produce some good fish and nice stringers buy changing jig colors during the day.
If the bite slows down on a particular color, change. I usually keep several rods rigged with different colors, and switch back and forth several times during the day.
Gman.
Gman, can you elaborate on your water clarity theory? Is it the murky water that makes minnows better than jigs? I can’t see the reason in that since Eufaula is just as murky and jigs far out produce minnows, at least for me.
I’ll guess I’ll just ask a general question to everyone. What do you think is the difference between Oologah and Eufaula that makes minnows better at one and jigs better at the other?
