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Discovering Crappie in the Winter isn’t as impossible as many others believe. In fact, once you find Crappie in one area, you can pretty much find them in the same type of areas any place on the body of water you are fishing.

Also, once you find the pattern on a given body of water, Winter Crappie will normally hold that same pattern for many days, sometimes weeks. Of course, a storm front may shut them down for a day or so, but generally they’ll come right back, hungry as ever!

Start your search for Winter Crappie along deep channels that have a lot of brush. Don’t be surprised if you find the deep brush but the Crappie are suspended near the surface. This happens quite a bit during the Winter, especially on those warmer than normal days. Also be on the look out for man-made brush piles in deep water. These are Crappie magnets. You might even want to consider sinking a few yourself!

It’s true that Winter Crappie spend most of their time hanging around brush located along deep drop offs. But not always. Several days of warmer than normal weather can cause Crappie to move up to within a foot or so of the surface. It may also cause them to leave their deep water hangouts and move across shallow flats.

The right tackle will make you or break you for Crappie fishing in the Winter.

Many anglers go after Winter Crappie with the same setup they use during the Spring and Summer. That is, they use heavy line and big jigs or large minnows. Winter Crappie can be finicky and you chances increase as the size of your terminal tackle decreases.

I like to use a light graphite spinning rod, four pound test line and small tube jigs or minnows to locate deep water Crappie holding in brush. My set up includes a 3/8ths weight tied to the bottom of my line with two drops space about 12 to 18 inches apart above the weight. This way, I’m able to “feel” my way around those deep brush piles.

My other Winter Crappie fishing gear includes tiny ice fishings jigs or spoons, jigs in the 1/32 or 1/64 ounce range and 2 to 4 pound test line. I know what you’re thinking. But Winter Crappie do not put up much of a fight and you should be able to horse any Crappie from a brush pile with this setup. Sure, you’ll lose a few, but you’ll catch more by downsizing than you will by using heavy rods, lines and baits.

Cold Crappie won’t chase down bait during the Winter. This means you must put your offering in front of their nose and leave it there. In fact, many times I’ve had more success by not imparting any motion with my jig. Make it easy for the Crappie to eat your bait. This isn’t rocket science, so don’t get all technical with your presentation. Just hold it in front of them, they’ll bite it!

For more information on how to catch Crappie anytime of the year, please visit the links below.

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