By Mike Frisch
Many anglers across the Midwest start their open water fishing seasons chasing crappies in April and May. That’s a good plan as these fish are shallow at that time and often feeding aggressively. Once summer comes and the fish move deeper and the game fish seasons open, lots of folks forget about crappies. That may be a mistake as these scrappy fish are still often aggressive biters now too.
Once the spring feeding and spawning rituals are over in the shallows, crappies can often be found roaming the deep weedline. The deep weedline is the outside edge of weeds that often grow along a lake’s drop-off edges. Depending on water clarity, the deep weedline is often in 12-20 feet of water. Various weed types make up these edges, with high percentage crappie holding spots often being weedlines with cabbage weeds presence.
A very simple cast and search approach works for finding and catching summer weedline crappies. A small panfish plastic threaded on a light jig-head and cast to the weeds and slowly retrieved back to the boat is a great way to cover water and find active crappies. My two favorites are a pair of Mr. Crappie baits called the Shadpole and Slabalicious. Fished on light line like 4-pound test monofilament and reeled back to the boat with a slow, but steady retrieve is often a productive way to put these baits to good use when searching for summer slabs!
Photo – A young angler lifts aboard a spring crappie that ate a small plastic bait. That same bait will put summer crappies roaming deeper water in the boat too!
