Simply Crappies
All throughout the Midwest, crappie anglers are superstars when fish are shallow, vulnerable, and abundant in spring. For a few weeks, everyone is catching them it seems, and it’ll be the only time of year they get targeted by the majority. But come summer, the game changes. The waters warm and shallows get vacated, with fish relocating to offshore areas where they school heavily and might roam and suspend at for the remainder of the year. The playing field levels out and crappies have the advantage. The bad news is they move around a lot so you’ve got to go find them. The good news is you don’t need massive boats to do it, a boatload of tackle to catch them with, and live imaging with forward facing sonars to brag about. The best news of all is small lakes are my targeted fisheries for this open water/ roamer crappie bite in summer and fall. And I do it all out of a 12-foot row boat equipped with only a Minn Kota trolling motor and a set of oars.
Crappies at Small Lakes
Small lakes are everywhere. They remain the least pressured waters and fishing destinations for plentiful and quality crappies. Only issue with small waters is they’re pro