This is an old Post of mine from another forum. I share it where appropriate.It mostly deals with lake fishing for Crappie but some of it is adaptable for fresh moving water. [h=2]A tutorial on crappie fishing.[/h]
The last dramatic event that factors into fishing during the spring and before summer arrives is the appearance of the shad . The shad schools hold the highest probability of predators of all species due to the mere size of the bait fish , the oily scent for tracking and the much higher food value in the shad . All lake species will target shad schools and vast expansive areas of shad may be herded around like cattle by the bass , crappie , stripers or even catfish , squawfish and carp . These huge schools keep deep for the winter months , staging over humps , deep points and suspended over deep water , but reappear late spring around coves , off points and around grassy shorelines where their reproductive needs are met . Shad schools balled up tight together are in a defensive posture and the ball design is their defense mechanism . Seeing the "bait ball" tells you that predators are active and possibly cacheable . However , the predators may be catfish , bass or any lake species since shad is the primary food source . Now is where the fishing comes in .
The shallows become the muddiest or most colored waters , where as most of the rest of the lake may still be crystal clear . Darker water ,or especially muddy waters , warm fastest and hold that warmer temperature longer , as do rocks on rocky shorelines . Off colored waters are most productively fished with chartreuse or chartreuse combination spinner baits , fat bodied crank baits , full size plastic worms , lizards and brush hog type plastic baits that crawl or hop slow over the bottom and around shallow structure . Rattle back type jigs with a bit of chartreuse tipped skirt or with a large craw trailer can also be deadly in this situation . Revisited from years ago but becoming again popular in the rocky shore lined lakes , is to rig a _ to _ ounce football head jig with a wide gap hook, dressed with a 5" skirted twin tail grub . This should be cast to a rocky shoreline and slowly "slid" down , not hopped , to deeper waters , allowing a slight pause , but always keeping a snug line . Try brown or melon colors . Otherwise always use the lightest weights possible in worm weights , or jig heads . In muddy or obscured vision waters , the bass primarily find food by sensing vibrations through their lateral line , homing in onto the prey and depending on actual sight the least .thus , bright lures , chartreuse and fire tigers , fat wide wobble bodies and noisy lures put fish into the boat . Cast to any structure , bush , lay down tree or a lone object on a baron shoreline . Cast into structure with the spinner baits and plastics . Fish as slow as possible---fish need to find the food before they can eat it ! Target individual bushes as opposed to blind casting everywhere , fish the coves and flat points . Although a solid top water bite has not yet started , buzz baits fished through shallows and parallel to shore and around bushes can produce some tremendous strikes . The feature behind the buzz bait is that it is thought to annoy the fish around bedding areas . Try bright colors over muddy shallows , black at low light conditions and white / chartreuse during the sunny day .
For the crappie , first try early morning trolling the shallows. Troll the edge of the creek channels where deeper water comes up to much shallower and brushier bottom . Troll as slow as possible using 2" to 3" shallow diving minnow style lures in chrome or bright colors . As the sun comes out , change to chrome or shiny thin lures , actually scaling up the size to 4" to 5" . The bright sun reflects off the larger lures making them more visible from a greater distance . If you catch fish trolling , pay attention to your speed and direction and duplicate it on subsequent passes . Crappie gang up , so another option is to troll to find them , then stop and cast the area looking for more fish . Remember , crappie move in fairly large schools and catching one indicates that maybe 10 others saw your lure too . When casting for crappie in early morning, try casting as close to brush as possible , even inside . As the morning progresses , fish in front of the structure , only allow the mini- jig to fall deep , directly in front of the bush . As with bass , and most fish species , their eyes are sensitive to light and they move from bright to dark and onto the shaded side of structure . Always fish slow , sometimes barely moving the lure . Given the opportunity , try vertical fishing by using a controlled , slow drop –gentle rise---slow drop again technique . 99% of the time , crappie will "tap" your lure on the fall or you may even detect a strike by the line simply stop falling over deeper water . Remember , fish do not have hands---you feel a crappie strike , simply lift the rod tip . A good trick when casting is to use a meal worm on any mini-jig used , and the colors of chartreuse , bright flecks and two tone color combinations should be your first choices . This combination presents the fish with multiple color choices , scent and movement with the curl or multi- fragmented tail . Also , keep the weight as light as possible –1/16 best all around choice .
Sometime in may the crappie move out of the shallows or where ever spring brought them , and they focus feeding on shad . Look for signs of shad pushed into shorelines or into small pockets or the back of coves . Look for the crappie on brushy points and around any kind of ambush structure . Use the mini-jig and meal worm combo and fish slow and cover lots of individual bushes . Fish as early as possible and as the sun brightly shines , fish those same brush areas deeper . Look for "twinkling" shad along the shore and fish slow and deep those areas . If you locate the crappie around deep brush , keep working that spot until they seem to stop biting , then change colors . This basic pattern for crappie will hold until fall , slowing a bit during mid-summer mid-days .