Guides here in Oklahoma say the crappie are on summertime pattern. So what does this mean and how can I find these summer crappie? They’ve moved out from where I was catching them a few weeks ago. Also the shad are spawning.
Sent from my iPad using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app
In my neck of the woods, it usually means..deeper..suspended..and more than likely, fishing at night, or very low light. Also, good patches of ‘cabbage’ weeds, the ones with broad leaves. YMMV
Out in deeper water on structure…above the thermocline if there is one …in the shade of timber and under deeper docks and or bridges during the bright sunshine days …possibly suspended under bait schools as well in open waters …but not for sure
Well on some posts they say summertime pattern and are catching them in 5’ of water.
Sent from my iPad using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app
If your year has gone like a lot of ours has, then yeah … they may well still be in shallow water or suspended shallow over deeper water. Most answers are given as to how a “normal” year’s pattern would be. This year’s weather has been anything but “normal” for most of us.
I might catch a few early, in shallow water … if that water is in the shade for most of the morning. But, let the Sun shine on that water and poof … they gone. Then your choice is to go find deeper cover, or get out the trolling rods & cranks/jigs and start Pushing/Pulling over the flats or along the channel edge (esp. when the Shad schools are present).
Other places, a Summer Pattern may be night fishing under lights (esp with little to no Moon present).
The last time I was out, the bites I was getting were “very reluctant” bites … no thump, no hammering the bait, just all of a sudden there was a little extra resistance in the retrieve. Why ??? … I think it was because most of the fish that bit that way were females still full of eggs and they were just instinctively biting the lures & not so much due to hunger. The quick change from cold water to flooded lakes to more cold and then almost instantly to hot weather just didn’t give them time to develop their eggs before the water temps were quickly approaching the maximum temp range for any potentially successful spawn. At the lake I was at, the surface temps are in the low 80’s on the surface to around 5ft deep and in the high 70’s at 10ft deep. Around here that’s mid to late June temps … and we’ve had them most all this month.
Up here in the northeast, water temps are just starting to get up into the mid 60’s. It’s been a slow, very erratic spring, with highs & lows varying 30 degrees or more! Surely that’s affecting the spring bite. But once the water gets into the low 70’s, count on shade and water depth as your “summer pattern”. If there is ample bait balls cruising the main lake basins, chances are that’s where the crappie will be, down there below them, suspended over deeper water.
Good you noted that pattern . Many waters in Texas hold fish shallow in the summer time . I think it’s the fry in the brush in shallow water holding them but to be sure we find them on several lakes that shallow in 100 plus temperature sunshine days …
Texoma up around big mineral is well known for monster slabs in real shallow brush in the summer btw …4 to 5 fow on laydowns and such …been there done that
Kind of strange but it was hot here Monday afternoon but wife and I didn’t want to set around the house. We hooked up boat and headed to the lake. I thought I would go ahead and fish shallow in the areas that we had caught them during the spawn. We fished along rock in about 5 feet of water and we were picking up one here and there. Nothing to brag about but a cleaner every now and then. Came to a spot I rarely fish and bingo. We boated 20-30 really nice crappie, a couple right at 1.75 in about a 50 yard area. We went back and forth through it double dipping and caught fish every time. I scanned it with my HDS and there was really nothing any different about the area than the rest of the area we were fishing. So, I don’t know that I learned anything about this “summertime” pattern??? Dem fish is cray…
I’ve been having a tough time dipping jigs. Seems like the thermocline hasn’t fully developed yet, and the bigger fish are scattered and active, chasing bait.
Aside from a couple here and there, the only thing that’s been reliably producing for me is trolling.
Once we get into a true summer pattern, I normally do pretty good on bridges and trolling.
What does YMMV mean?
YMMV = your mileage may vary
All these acronyms, I feel like I’m back in the army!
Tanks for the replies. Hopefully someone else will also give some input.
We got water temps in the high 70’s to mid 80’s. Our summertime patterns mean fishing the thermocline. Either with a slip bobber over brush or trolling. We troll pushing minnows or pulling crankbaits. The thermocline usually sets up about 15 ft. deep on my lake and most every fish in the lake is 12-15 ft deep.
The "summer pattern " to my grandparents was 12-14 ft. deep with minnows and a 1/2 oz. split shot . They were spider rigging in the early 60’s on Grenada .( WITH HOME CUT TOMBIGBEE BOTTOM CANE) . It was called fishing back then . :biggrin
thermoclines are setting in on lots of spots here …makes ketchn easier for sure . fish stay above it and it reduces the amount of water you need to dip your jig into .
I love one set up at around 15 foot down , of course its because I like light jigs and they don’t go well with deep water .
Remember the tip about the fry in the water …small gets bit right now in lots of spots .
and for sure scent on your jig is important as ever …just saying
Some other things to consider is the depths of the lakes which has a lot to do with the patterns. I fish three private lakes that are all connected by water flow. The original lake is only 6’ deep, the ones he built are 10’ and then 20’. Each of them may have a different pattern on the same day.
OK. So the thermocline is the “summer” pattern around wood? Maybe rip rap? Around here the guides are posting that they are catching them shallow around the mayfly hatch and shad spawn. Will the crappie suspend above the thermocline in the creeks or are they in main lake areas?
The “thermocline” is not a “pattern” as much as it’s a limitation factor to how deep the fish (& baitfish) can go & stay for any extended period of time. The thermocline is not limited to what type of cover or bottom structure a lake has, since it’s simply a “condition” of warm oxygenated water sitting on top of cool oxygen poor water.
Creeks with constantly running water will not set up a thermocline, but creek arms of a lake can & do. Any flooding & water output to alleviate the high water levels will stir up the water & disrupt any existing thermocline … until the lake has settled back long enough for the temperature stratification to return.
