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CATCHING CRAPPIE IN COLD WEATHER
Catch Crappie Now in the Winter
 Editor’s
Note: Santa Claus has come down the chimney, and we’ve
launched a new year. Most crappie fishermen have their
poles rolled-up and stored under the porch, but not
Whitey Outlaw of Gadsden, South Carolina. He fishes
for crappie year-round and fishes on both crappie circuits,
Crappie USA and Crappie Masters. To help you catch papermouths
this winter, we’ve asked Outlaw where he finds
crappie and how he catches them.
At this time of year, crappie are holding on their
winter pattern. In most of the lakes we fish, the crappie
hold at 12- to 18-feet deep. They will be on the ledges
and/or under stumps and will be very dormant because
the water is cold. Although most crappie fishermen believe
these crappie are hard to catch, they really aren’t.
You just have to fish slower than you do in the spring
and the summer. To find the crappie, we use a lake map
to pinpoint creek channels, drop-offs, ledges and old
river beds. Then we get out in our boat with our depth
finder and drive along these drop-offs to look for the
fish. We will see them schooled-up or holding around
structure.
 To
catch these dormant crappie, we use light line, small
hooks, small minnows and small jigs. When we find a
school, we tight line with eight B’n’M poles
on the front of the boat. I like the 14-foot Pro Staff
B’n’M rods at this time of year. These poles
are long, so they hold the baits well away from the
boat, and they are stiff enough and have enough backbone
to pull the crappie away from the cover. In the past,
we used 12-foot B’n’ M poles, but we now
use the 14-foot poles, especially when we fish in clear
water, which you frequently find at this time of year.
In that clear water, we believe the poles help keep
the baits well out in front of the boat so the crappie
don’t see the boat before they take the baits.
Once we have our poles out and baited with minnows,
we move very slowly along the edges of these drops-offs
and ledges.
When we catch a crappie, we throw out a buoy marker
because if you catch one crappie, you can be sure there
are other crappie close by. Once we have our marker
out, we hover around that region, watch our depth finder
and try to determine what kind of structure is in the
area. Usually we’ll catch a few fish at that site,
and when the fish stop biting, we’ll pick up our
marker and continue on down the ledge until we locate
another stump, brush pile or school of crappie.
Now if you fish a really-clear lake, don’t be
surprised if your crappie are down 25 to 40 feet. Most
people won’t fish that deep, and that’s
the reason we catch crappie and they don’t. This
time of year, I exclusively fish minnows on a Kentucky
rig with ½-ounce of lead. On the main line, I
tie a three-way swivel. Then I tie about 10 inches of
leader to one of the other eyes and tie on my lead.
I tie a 12-inch leader below the lead, and then tie
on another Aberdeen hook. This rig allows me to fish
two minnows, one on each hook.
 The
size of the minnow you use is critical to the number
of crappie you catch. To know what size minnow is best
for the day you fish, you have to let the fish tell
you what size minnow they want that day. Some days they
may want a minnow that is 1-½ inches long. Other
days they may prefer a 2-inch minnow, and on another
day they may like an extremely small minnow that is
1-inch long. I have found that during the cold winter
months, really-small minnows seem to pay the best crappie
dividends. When I go to the bait store, I usually buy
a bucket of small minnows and a bucket of medium-size
minnows. If the fish are biting well, we usually need
a pound of minnows, which is about 25 dozen. On a good
day, we expect to catch 50 or 60 crappie and cull back
40 or 50 fish to take home 10 or 20 slabs. Some days
we may catch only 15 or 20.
Crappie fishing is funny. Many factors affect your
success including the barometer, the wind, the chill
factor, water temperature, water color and the mood
of the fish. But I have learned that if you find the
crappie, you can make them bite. Sometime during the
day, those fish are going to eat, and all you have to
do is stay on top of them and keep that bait in front
of them until they decide to eat.
 I
have learned at this time of year, you’re lucky
if you find one good school of crappie. So when I find
that school of fish, I remain with it all day long.
Sometimes a school of fish will be 50-yards long, and
sometimes it may only be 25-yards long. But if you fish
all around that section of a river or a lake, sooner
or later you will catch them. I have found that my best
place to fish is out on the main lake, right along that
river-channel ledge. A river-channel ledge will always
have stumps, logs, trees and trash on it, and that’s
where the baitfish will hold. So that’s also ally
where the crappie hold. Those fish want to be close
to deep water. Most of the time, if you will get out
on the water at this time of year, the crappie you catch
will be good ones. They will average 1-1/2 to 1-3/4
pounds.
My favorite place to fish is Santee Cooper Lake. Like
Uncle Remus said about B’rer Rabbit, I was born
and raised there, and I know I can catch enough crappie
on that lake to eat any time I fish there. Just remember,
crappie don’t die in the wintertime,and they have
to eat in the winter just like they do at the other
times of the year. So if you’ll get out on the
water, look for the fish on your depthfinder and fish
for those crappie, you can catch them.
To learn more about B’n’M poles, go to
www.bnmpoles.com
TOMORROW: ICE FISHING
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