Fall Crappie Fishing a Highlight of the Season

There just aren’t enough days during the fall to do everything a sportsman desires. Choosing between deer hunting and duck hunting is hard enough, but when you thrown in fall fishing it can be down right out unfair when having to decide how to spend a warm November Saturday. But, when the fall crappie fishing bite is on, anglers can stay busy filling freezers with fillets.

I enjoy crappie fishing all year. My favorite is when the fish are up close and personal with the bank. I’m not a fan of going deep for panfish. If you like fast action panfishing in shallow water, then fall is a great time to be on the lake.

As main lake water temperatures continue to drop, crappie are drawn to the warmer shallow water along the shore and in the back of bays. Standing timber in shallow water should be one of your key targets. Fallen trees, brush piles and man-made structures, like docks or water intakes, are also prime locations for fall crappie fishing.

Personally, I’m a bobber man. Grandpa used to get all fancy with his slip bobbers. He’d use these long, tall finesse jobbies. I believe he thought of himself as some sort of panfish master, making his own jigs and all, but I don’t think one needs to make it so complicated. Just stick with a nice, simple slip bobber. My preferred bait for targeting fall crappie is minnows and I usually fish them between two to four feet deep. Rusty Collier, owner and operator of J&R Guide Service in southern Indiana, swears by his Southern Pro Jigs.

Rusty fishes both Monroe and Patoka regularly and he’s a crappie catching machine. He sits up front and casts those simple jigs towards structure, lets it sink down for a couple of seconds, maintains a nice slow, methodical retrieve, and hauls them in one after another. You can’t doubt his tactics, but for me, there’s just something about watching a bobber dance. So whether you like casting or pitching minnows under bobbers, both methods work extremely well when the bite is on.

As far as specific locations on either of these lakes, you’re going to have to do some exploring. A tip I tend to follow when targeting a big body of water is to break the lake down into smaller lakes. There are crappie all over on Monroe and Patoka, so what you want to do is pick a cove or a finger and dissect it. Learn it. Know it. You’ll be way better off having a thorough knowledge of a particular area than a general knowledge of the whole lake. In other words, specialize.

It’s hunting season and I assume many of you are busy chasing critters. It’s a shame November can’t last all year. Don’t overlook fall crappie fishing just because there are ducks and deer to pursue. Many of my most memorable Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners included fresh crappie.