Northern Crappie Views

It feels like it's been a long winter, at least in the Toronto area. This area does not traditionally get large snow accumulations. However, with three foot snow drifts in my front yard, it felt like a much longer winter than usual. Speaking of winter, where the (^%#&%) did the crappies go? At least that has been the most commonly asked question of me this winter. Outdoor writers, professional guides and ice hut operators were all asking the same question as well; that question or the "The crappies arn't biting".

It isn't that the crappies weren't biting, it's more like the crappies hadn't made their traditional feeding movements. In other words the crappies weren't where people thought they should be.

Think about it. One of the best locations to catch winter crappie are impoundment's (restricted areas of a main body of water), such as marinas, canals, bays, smaller lakes within large lakes, and some rivers. What type of location do you fish, and does it match the locations mentioned above?

One thing I did notice this winter was that fishermen on drop-offs at 20 to 40 feet did relatively well, which I deduced to mean that the crappies had stayed deep and did not follow their usually winter movements.

This was the worst winter crappie fishing I have had since I started nine years ago because all the locations I normally fish were void of crappies. But, after a little research, I also found them on deep drop-offs.

From larger lakes to small lakes I found that the crappies were stationed from twenty to thirty feet down on the closest drop-off. Crappies normally frequent these drop-offs in the winter, but only to use these areas as a staging area prior to the feeding migrations. The big difference this year was that the majority of the (large) crappies did not move, and instead stayed on the drop-offs concentrating the fish and making drop-offs the number one choice spot.

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