Catch Crappie in Discharge, Ditches and Near Docks

If you can locate a creek or an area of the lake with a warm-water discharge coming from a factory or a plant, you'll also find the most pre-spawn crappie. The fish will move into these warm water discharges because that's where they feel most comfortable and where they'll find the most bait. Look for the crappie to hold in the first or second eddy pool closest to the warm-water discharge yet out of the current.

Too, in many areas of the country, crappie make spawning runs like salmon. When they move upstream toward dams and locks, you can catch them in eddy breaks and pools just off the current. Look for fat pre-spawn speckled-sides behind underwater boulders on the back sides of islands close to dams and behind riprap that sticks out in the water.

You'll also locate crappie during the pre-spawn in little ditches only a foot or two deep coming off creek channels and leading into spawning areas. Crappie will move into these ditches and hold there waiting on the right water temperature to spawn.

Lake residents may show you where to find productive brush piles that hold crappie in the pre-spawn. If you notice a dock that either has poles on it or pole holders on the front, there's a very good chance you'll find a hot, pre-spawn crappie spot in front of that dock. Most lakeside residents will build brush shelters about a pole's length from the ends of their docks in 8 to 15 feet of water. These brush shelters will hold crappie throughout the pre-spawn.

Check back each day this week for more about Pre-spawn crappie...

Day 1 - Ducks, Bass Fishermen, and Sea Gulls Will Mark The Spots
Day 2 - Find Crappie In The Mouths, and Troll the Ledges
Day 3 - Hunt Cover, Not Crappie
Day 4 - Find Underwater Highways and Railroads, and Fish Concrete
Day 5 - Catch Crappie In Discharge, Ditches and Near Docks

John's Journal