# Water temps and patterning



## kleared42 (Oct 21, 2019)

hey all,

this is the first year that i've been dedicated to chasing crappie. i've been doing tons of reading and watching youtube videos on the topic of locating crappie. the one thing that's been consistent is everyone citing season or months, and while that is helpful, most of the content that i'm finding is not specific to ohio. 

lots of the folks i'm getting information from are down further south. they speak of winter, for example, but our winter and their winter are very different. their lakes may only get down as low as 50, so when they speak of crappie behaving a certain way in winter, it's not apples to apples.

does anyone have a table of water temps and crappie behaviors and locations that are applicable for all bodies of water? i understand that every lake is different and therefor patterns will be different to a certain extent. 

the last time i was out, i found huge schools of what i'm guessing were crappie suspended in 10ft+ of open water, but i couldn't get anything to bite to confirm. we caught just a handful that day, but it seemed like they were single fish out chasing forage around laydowns and the day was not particularly efficient.


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## Karl Wolf (Apr 26, 2020)

kleared42 said:


> hey all,
> 
> this is the first year that i've been dedicated to chasing crappie. i've been doing tons of reading and watching youtube videos on the topic of locating crappie. the one thing that's been consistent is everyone citing season or months, and while that is helpful, most of the content that i'm finding is not specific to ohio.
> 
> ...


Lake week fishing a deep lake in N.E (attwood). Ohio we got a few crappie while targeting saugeye. Crappie were all in 14'.


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## Specwar (Sep 22, 2014)

Picked up a few 13-14” at Tappan before the wind worsened today. All on black and chartreuse 1/32 oz jig tipped with minnow in 12-15’ of water.


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## kleared42 (Oct 21, 2019)

sure, those are helpful today, but i'm looking for information i can use to plan the year and the type of fishing that i do as conditions change. for instance: temperature hits 50 degrees and i should start casting to flats for the spawn. three weeks after that, target structure 17' deep. when the water hits 70, crappie scatter and are best picked up the troll etc.

does anyone have information like that or is that secret personal archives? and if it is secret personal archives, i get it totally. 

i suppose that leads me to my next question. what is everyone using to log their fishing? i'm looking for solutions that considers weather, air pressure, water temps. what is the most detailed software out there for mobile devices? am i better off rocking a paper log?


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## Karl Wolf (Apr 26, 2020)

Well, you just got 2 inputs, collect more over time. Check previous threads and compile the information. 

I'm sure if you spent a couple hours searching old threads with dates,you could compile exactly what you are asking for.


Then share it


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## kleared42 (Oct 21, 2019)

oh man. for as long as this site has been around, that's a ton of data to farm. wonder if there's a way to collect it all without reading every post.

sharing that data in a useful fashion is a whole different thing. 

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk


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## Karl Wolf (Apr 26, 2020)

Keywords. Crappie depth


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## Bprice1031 (Mar 13, 2016)

kleared42 said:


> sure, those are helpful today, but i'm looking for information i can use to plan the year and the type of fishing that i do as conditions change. for instance: temperature hits 50 degrees and i should start casting to flats for the spawn. three weeks after that, target structure 17' deep. when the water hits 70, crappie scatter and are best picked up the troll etc.
> 
> does anyone have information like that or is that secret personal archives? and if it is secret personal archives, i get it totally.
> 
> i suppose that leads me to my next question. what is everyone using to log their fishing? i'm looking for solutions that considers weather, air pressure, water temps. what is the most detailed software out there for mobile devices? am i better off rocking a paper log?



The paper log you speak of is a good option. Keep it simple. Date, air temp, water temp, depth you find fish. Then expand from there with bait, presentation, and action to trigger a bite. You got this.


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## tsquare (May 7, 2004)

kleared42 said:


> hey all,
> 
> this is the first year that i've been dedicated to chasing crappie. i've been doing tons of reading and watching youtube videos on the topic of locating crappie. the one thing that's been consistent is everyone citing season or months, and while that is helpful, most of the content that i'm finding is not specific to ohio.
> 
> ...


give crappie.com a try I found pattern you're looking for there basic information about water temps and crappie habitat. Open water fishing is the hardest since there's no structure to orient to, try trolling for them. good luck


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## crappiedude (Mar 12, 2006)

I've been crappie fishing exclusively for probably 20 years. At 1st I used to read a lot of material and then go out on a lake and try to figure them out. All I can say is most of what I used to read was a waste of time. I really don't think anyone could give you a magic formula that will work everyday all year long.
What will help you is on the water experience.

One thing I've learned is on almost any given day you can find some crappie in almost every depth range from deep to shallow and conditions will be different on different parts of any given lake.
For example; one lake I fish has a tendency to have a fish kill on the lower end of the lake during fall turnover. In 25 years of fishing this lake, I've never seen a fish kill during turnover on the upper end of the lake.
Another example: One cold winter day while fishing with a friend I started the day with a jig and cork set 18" deep in 3 fow. My friend pointed to some ice floating by and said it's too cold to be fishing shallow like that. After we caught about a dozen really nice fish in that spot he changed his mind. Once we finished with that spot we moved out to some deeper water and caught fish 4' deep in 8-15 fow.
Since I have found over the years that you can find fish at almost every depth on any given day I have a tendency to move quickly but check out a variety of water to see the mood of the fish.
Last winter a couple of friends met me at a lake. It was one of those cold but quiet, overcast days. It started to snow and we were fishing a spot in 25-30 fow. We were getting a few nice fish swimming jigs deep but overall it was kind of slow. 2 weeks prior to this outing this spot and deep jigs was hot. I pulled my trolling motor and told the other guys to follow me, we ran up the lake and pulled in a cove. I immediately started catching fish while my friends still struggled. They were still fishing jigs deep like the other spot and I showed them I changed my set up to jig and cork setting the jig 6' deep and I fished 10-25 fow. I was smoking them, once they changed tactics they did too.
Even in summer when the fish are supposed to be deep I've caught fish 12" deep one one end of the lake and 25' deep on another part of the lake.
My advice would be to learn to fish a variety of techniques at all depths and don't fall in love with any one spot. The best tool on your boat is your electronics. Normally you will see some fish on the depth finder if they are there but there are times when the fish are so shallow the don't show up. You don't need anything too fancy to find crappie but IMO having GPS is a must to be able to mark spots.
Off your boat your best tool is your eyes. Look for any surface activity or look for sea gulls. The gulls will follow the shad just like the crappie.
Part of the fun of crappie fishing is just figuring the fish out.
Most days I just use jigs either swimming them or jig and cork. There are days the fish seem to prefer minnows but I'm lazy and don't like messing with them. Trolling bores me but it can be effective, it's not for me.
Good luck out there and let us know how you do.


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## chaunc (Apr 11, 2004)

Read Tim Huffman’s book Crappie Secrets. Watch Russ Bailey videos. Then get on the water and try what you’ve read about. Time on the water in every season is crucial to learning how to pattern the fish. I used to use a daily planner book to keep notes in. I always put what area of the lake I fished that day, as well as all the other basic stuff. I found that the fish use the same areas every year around the same time. They may hit something different from year to year but they’ll be in that area. As the seasons change, the fish migrate. Keep track of where they move too. You don’t need luck if you have knowledge and that comes from time spent on the water. Three lakes in my area I’ve been fishing for over fifty years so I know where to look for the fish. I’ve spent a tremendous amount of time on the water over these years to get as good as I am. If you have a few extra hours to kill, go fishin. Learn something every time on the water. What works or doesn’t work. I always try to find what will work best after I’ve found what works. Write in your log every time you’re on the water. From boat or shore. After about five or so seasons you should be able to compare yearly notes and have a pattern figured out. Every detail is helpful in becoming the best you can be. Eventually you’ll fine tune the spots in the areas you have patterned in more detail. Time on the water is the key to becoming the best fisherman you can be tho. This works even in ice season.


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## Evinrude58 (Apr 13, 2011)

chaunc is right time on the water is a major factor. I have fished about 200 days a year for the last 15 years and 160 of those each year are on the same lake. I don't bother with a log but do know what works and doesn't at different times of the year just by the thousands of hours I spend fishing.


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## Deadeyedeek (Feb 12, 2014)

Chaunc is right..its called "paying your dues"


Evinrude58 said:


> chaunc is right time on the water is a major factor. I have fished about 200 days a year for the last 15 years and 160 of those each year are on the same lake. I don't bother with a log but do know what works and doesn't at different times of the year just by the thousands of hours I spend fishing.


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## kleared42 (Oct 21, 2019)

hey all,

i hear you all when it comes to time on the water. i'm all for it. bad day on the water beats a good day at work and etc. 

i'm fishing out of a hobie on hoover. the boat is pedal powered only and i reach a max speed of 4mph, which limits my range also. my buddy and i got stuck out on hoover in that big storm we had on labor day and that really put the fear in me. pedaling home while being pelted with rain and tornado sirens is not a thing i want to experience ever again. it took us nearly an hour to get back to the ramp.

with this in mind, i really need to be more particular with where i launch from, where i'm going to fish and how i'm going to fish. at some point, i'll have a real boat and this will be less of a thing to worry about, but for now this is what i'm working with. 

if i've got 6 hours to fish, i lose about an hour to travel in most situations, if i don't change my strategy. if i do, the day is mostly shot due to extra travel and set up. the decision needs to happen early in the day or there's not much of a point to change strategy. 

@chaunc i have read two of tim's books. great material. reading crappienow when they come out as well. thanks for the reminders you post. it looks like it's going to come down to a planner for me to log all of this stuff.

@Evinrude58 it was nice to meet you at the ice fishing tourney two weeks ago. maybe i'll see you again this weekend if the weather isn't as bad as they say it's going to be.


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## partlyable (Mar 2, 2005)

I think everyone here has given good advise on what you need to do. In my experience even if you have your secret chart for what they are doing at each water temp throughout the year. Every lake is different and what they do at 1 like usually is not the same as what they do at another lake. It all depends on cover, depth of lake, current. If you keep fishing hoover you will have it figured out to be successful more often than not soon. There will always be das where you can’t figure out what’s going on and it seems just like a day from a year or 2 ago that you killed them, but this time you don’t catch anything. Honestly that’s what makes it fun to always try to figure out what the fish are doing. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## chaunc (Apr 11, 2004)

partlyable said:


> I think everyone here has given good advise on what you need to do. In my experience even if you have your secret chart for what they are doing at each water temp throughout the year. Every lake is different and what they do at 1 like usually is not the same as what they do at another lake. It all depends on cover, depth of lake, current. If you keep fishing hoover you will have it figured out to be successful more often than not soon. There will always be das where you can’t figure out what’s going on and it seems just like a day from a year or 2 ago that you killed them, but this time you don’t catch anything. Honestly that’s what makes it fun to always try to figure out what the fish are doing.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I’ve only found that to be tru if fishing from shore. With my boat I have access to much more water to help me be successful every trip. I have plenty of waypoints marked for each season and I’ve been able to find fish on at least a few per day. On my home lake, I never get skunked. If and when I find the fish, I’ll keep changing baits until I find the ones they’ll bite. Just have to find them.


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