Outdoors column: Fishing for crappies before winter

I am never quite sure about the best time to winterize my boat and put it into cold weather storage. I always think I am going to find a day to get out on the water one more time. This fall, we actually got it done.

With the recent stretch of mild weather, it was impossible to find an excuse for not going fishing. On a beautiful afternoon, my wife and I loaded up the boat and headed to one of our favorite crappie lakes.

Crappies in the fall can be found in one of two places. They will either be in deep water staging for the winter or in still green weeds in shallower water. We chose the shallow water option.

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The weeds in the fall of the year can be a somewhat hit or miss affair. With the summer growing season over, quality weeds are more difficult to find. Patches of green coontail are quite common, but cabbage is not as dependable.

Because the weeds were not consistent in the eight- to 10-foot range we were targeting, I utilized my Garmin LiveScope to help guide us from one patch of weeds to another. Being able to identify clumps of weeds 30 to 40 feet away as we were slow trolling our tiny jigs helped us stay in the fish zone.

The crappies were not committing suicide by any means. It was a slow and go affair at best with one fish here and one there. However, there were northern, bluegills and an occasional largemouth bass in the mix that helped keep our interest.

As we moved around the lake looking for green weeds, we clearly established a pattern. Although not every weedy area held fish, we did not catch a fish of any species in places where the weeds were thin or nonexistent.

Because the weather was so beautiful, we were quite content to stay longer than we normally would have. Knowing this probably would be our last open water adventure of the year, we made the most of the opportunity.

As the sun dipped lower in the sky, we realized it was time to quit. With plenty of crappies for a couple of meals, we reluctantly ended the season.

This is the opinion of outdoors columnist Jerry Carlson. Contact him at jerrycarlson@cloudnet.com.

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