The Crappie Motherload

After months of being flooded and high due to all the spring rains we've had, my favorite crappie lake has finally been pulled down to normal pool elevation. A couple reports from earlier in the week said that the crappie bite had been "on" and that the fish were running larger than last year, many in the 10"-14" range. That combination, along with a weather report that included light winds at best sent me packing with a pair of jig sticks in the tin boat on a search for crappie. Things were slow for the first couple hours as fish seemed scattered and boat traffic was pretty bad. But 2 hours into the trip things changed for the better, and in a mighty big way.

I found the MOTHERLOAD! Quite possibly the best school of crappie I've ever found in Indiana. Fish, after fish, after fish for nearly 2 hours solid. I can't tell you how many I caught because I stopped counting a couple casts in. I don't know - 80, 90, probably 100 or more. What made it so great beside the numbers was the quality. At least 90% of all the fish caught out of this school were between 11"-12". Outside of about 4 or 5 little ones I can remember catching, nothing I checked was smaller than 10.5". I never popped a giant either, but nearly foot long crappie as fast as you can cast is nothing short of awesome in my Indiana book. A jig bite made in heaven. Now, if only they'll hold together until next weekend :)

Comments

[Paul Roberts]

Wow. That's exactly what my milfoil beds look like lol. Wish they were crappie in my ponds.

[Bill Wilhite]

Brian, great job on locating a school of large crappie. My last trip there, I could only locate them spread out and, therefore, had to troll to catch them. This was very effective but not as effective as finding a large school like you did. I'll be trying again soon and would sure like to find them schooled up like you did. Trolling was a lot of fun, but I like jig fishing too with ultralite. Bill Wilhite

[Pup]

Gotta love arches piled on top of arches.

Great job Brian. Still using that 1/16-ounce silver-flecked chartreuse tube with the sickle hook?

[Big Indiana Bass]

Due to the depth and all the boat traffic I upped the jighead to 3/32-oz. with the sickle hook. Threw that color you mentioned and caught some but they were biting darker colors like chrt/blu better for some reason.