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Hope you’ve been whackin’ a bunch of slabs! Back with another Target Crappie – hope we're helping you fill the cooler this spring!
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If your email program cuts off the bottom of the email click "View this email in your browser" up top to see the whole thing. Sorry about that – email programs keep changing stuff!
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Dan Langston goes 3 for 3 with Brannon Shelby
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Meaning 3 Crappie Masters wins 3 years in a row for Dan Langston (right) on Lake Eufaula, OK, this year with his fishing partner Brannon Shelby! Dan runs River Bottom Boys Guide Service out of TX and OK with Brannon, and looks like guiding ain't the only thing these guys can do!
Had Dan on a recent Target Crappie and the dude is a straight crappie intellect – here he is talkin' about how their week went:
Practice
> "I wanted to see if the tournament could be won on black crappie. I went to the areas I knew had larger black crappie and found 'em. Unfortunately they were on the banks – 2-6' of water, spawning.
> "I knew that if the [black crappie] weren't on the banks, it definitely would be won on black crappie. But they were already there [and] I could not find any more fish that I felt like were making their way in to spawn, either."
Why the fish on the bank deal was bad news for him: He said a) because they were spewing eggs they could lose up to 0.5 lb overnight, b) there's no telling if those fish are going to be there day-day and c) those fish are focused on spawning, not eating.
> "I went to the extreme north end. Didn't see a ton of crappie [but] found crappie out deeper that were really big. I thought the tournament was definitely going to be won somewhere north of the 150 bridge.
> "We [also found] some really big pre-spawn fish down south. [But] we had a massive thunderstorm that came in Thurs evening, the tournament's Fri, and it mainly hit the entire south end of the lake.
> "[Brannon found some 3-lb white crappie up north] and we agreed to start there to grab one or 2 or 3 kickers, then [go south] for black fish....
> "...the problem that we ran into was timing. In one area, they're not there in the morning but there from 10am to noon. The next area is an afternoon bite.
> "It took us going back to those areas throughout the day several times to pinpoint that. We thought we had it absolutely nailed."
Tournament
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> "We started [on the north end] above the 150 bridge and within an hour, that was a bust. We trailered to one of our black fish locations and that was a bust.
> "Then we trailered to our 3rd one, only had 7.27 lbs on our scale and were able to [get up to] almost 10.5 lbs in those last 2.5 hours."
Dan said the northern muddy-water fish didn't work because they were sitting too low – they needed to be within 6' of the surface. The big fish they were targeting were 10' down and seemed to be in sleep mode.
> "We were fishing channels, channel ledges and flats, going into the mouths of coves. We fished the same pattern both days in different locations.
> "We wound up chasing a new wave that were coming into an area to spawn. Thankfully, our last pattern [from day 1] where the fish came up, you could catch 'em.
> "A lot of times on the clear-water fish, you can go into areas and you don't even see crappie. You'll see some baitfish, some trash fish, then all of a sudden – I don't know what causes it – those [crappie] rise, and when they start rising, you can go from bust to boom extremely quick.
> "I really, truly believe that a lot of your clear-water fish are mainly nocturnal. The best way to determine what's in an area of clear water is to go out at night. We did a lot of that, pre-fishing.
> "[On day 2] we were fishing the south bank, and we were going to have extreme north winds coming in. We knew we were going to have fish to ourselves as long as I could fight those wind conditions.
> "We made a decision to fish our day 1 last spot the whole day."
Dan wouldn’t disclose erry-thang he was doing because he expect to run a similar deal next year, but he did say they were casting to ’em and paying real close attention to the fall ratio. I was all:
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😁
> "There wasn't much to it. The key to this tournament for us was to figure out the timing [of when fish would show up in certain areas].
> "We thought we had it figured out day 1, and then we started to make adjustments and change.
> "During the spawn, you have to be willing to make adjustments on the fly, and on a lake the size of Eufaula, you have to be able to quickly recognize when something has changed and adapt in a very timely manner."
Electronics
> "I'm running a Garmin 8616 with a Garmin LVS 32, then I was running Lowrance HDS Pros – 1 of the console, 1 of the one at the bow. Those, those were critical for mapping.
> "I used a combination of Garmin mapping, Navionics and C-map for Lowrance. It all made a major difference...[the ability to] locate secondary river channels and main-lake channels as well as depressions. The relief shading I had showed depressions that were not on a normal Navionics map."
> "Black crappie stick to superstructures – major depressions, rock cliffs, different bowls and stuff that...it makes a major difference. If you can find areas like that in proximity to spawning grounds, you're gonna find 'em."
Dan and Brannon's casting setup
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Muddy-water intel from Dan
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😁 Just messin'! Here's a little more from Dan "lookin' for dirty water" Langston on fishing clear water that got turned muddy.
He said the exact thing we talked about a couple weeks ago in Target Crappie played a huge role in how their fish set up after that thunderstorm came through.
> "...look at 3 classifications of water: muddy, moderate and clear. If you start with clear, the only time that I've really seen tournament-caliber fish up high [in the water column] is specifically during the spawn. It would be the same for more of a moderate sweet-tea look.
> "Fish in clear water tend to stay on the bottom a lot. If a fish is living in a clear-water environment and there's a sudden rain and a lake gets blown out...any fish wanting to stay in those areas begin to rise to the surface.
> "They're there for 2 purposes: to feed, and the other reason is [because of] the sediment.
> "Think about it like this: You have a major wind disturbance blowing sediment around. Those fish begin to suck that stuff into their gills – it's almost like rising above the smoke.
> "They will hang out [near the surface] until that water begins to settle. I've seen tournament-caliber black crappie, which typically live in a clean environment, behave identically to a Grenada Lake fish [in those muddy conditions].
> "Some of the fish that you can't even see on LiveScope, specifically in the muddy-water environment, are there to feed. [Up shallow there's] better light penetration, and they're trying to utilize their eyesight...when they are feeding,
> "I've seen that a lot on Grenada. If those fish are at the very top of the water column – so high that you can barely see them – if you get the bait remotely close to them, they're going to smash it."
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Talkin' the BoneHead Tackle Stump Bug! Cool and interesting shape to it with those 3 tails to imitate...well...a bug. Here's a bit from a BoneHead tackle Facebook post on when this deal shines:
> When you’re picking apart thick timber, you need a bait that stands out. The BoneHead Stump Bug features a high-vibration ribbed body that calls slabs out from the deepest cover.
So it sounds like those little wings go crazy, just like a bug. Doesn't just have to be on timber either. When those mayflies start hatching in your neck of the woods, crappie are going to be dialed on that bug shape!
If you're wanting an even more "buggy" color, MO crappie pro Matthew Rogers says that 'bonefire glow' is the deal:
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Check out some Berkley crappie candy 🍬
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That's n a crappie but DANG it's a nice one! That monster bluegill was caught by Berkley bait designer Dan Spengler (above), who specializes in catching giant panfish when he's not designing 🔥 baits.
That big blue slab fell victim to the Berkley Finisher 4 in what appears to be 'black silver'. If you wanna learn more about how that bait catches big 'ol slabs like that one, Dan had this to say about 'em in a recent Target Crappie!
When it comes to Berkley baits, I'm sure you know about the Berkley PowerBait Crappie Nibbles – take a peek at the other Berkley baits that are crappie-catchers:
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Clockwise from top L: Berkley PowerBait Power Vibe, Berkley PowerBait Power Switch, 1.25" Berkley Gulp Alive Tadpole, the new-ish Berkley Ripfish 7 Lipless Crankbait.
A few deets on those baits:
Berkley PowerBait Power Vibe
- Flash and tight vibration, but the single hook fishes through grass, brush and near bottom with fewer snags than treble-hook lipless baits.
- Sinks fast, runs horizontal and can be worked vertically or straight at almost any depth. Soft body also gives it a quieter presence than hard baits.
- Comes in 1.5, 2.25, 3 and 3.75" in 1/16, 3/16, 3/8 and 5/8-oz.
Berkley PowerBait Power Switch
- Real versatile deal here – built for FFS (but not a must) with a weight-forward design that casts straight, drops fast and hovers in the strike zone longer.
- You can control the fall with small rod pops to make it dart, stall and glide. Also works for vertical-jigging, Damiki-rigging, dock-shooting.
- Your "crappie sizes" are coming in at 1.75, 2.5, 3 and 3.5" in 1/16, 1/4, 3/8 and 5/8-oz.
Berkley Gulp Alive Tadpole
- Cool little deal, 1.25". Looks like a neat bait that you could do a lot with – especially of you need a bit bulkier presentation without going to a big 3" bait.
Berkley Ripfish 7 Lipless Crankbait
- 2.76" and comes in a 3/8-oz so it's a little bullet that you can fish like an FFS bait OR how you would traditionally fish a lipless crankbait – if you catch a lot of crappie in grass and weedbeds. Has that true minnow/smelt shape to it too.
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You ever need to go fishing this bad??
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Well, if you live up north I'm betting you either a) would do that too, b) have done that multiple times or c) need to do it or you're gonna lose a bunch of marbles!
Anything for a limit of filets! 😅
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First with a 1.774 from Tyler Durkin (left) on 4/20 and then again by Ren Flicker with a 1.944 on a 3.5" paddletail swimbait.
Any of you CA guys wanna head up there and getcha a true 2-lber? The week is still young!
5. AR: Great crappie bite to be found on...
- Little Maumelle River: Crappie are being caught in 2-3'. Minnows and mainly jigs are the way to go. Try 'red/chartreuse' and 'monkey milk'.
- Beaver Lake: Crappie are right at or on the shoreline. Fish are being caught in 6' and chock-full of good-looking eggs.
- Lake Charles: Crappie are good, with minnows, worms and jigs of all colors working well.
- Millwood Lake: Crappie have greatly improved over the past 2-3 weeks with increased water temps in 5-12' on jigs. Many crappie are also now post-spawn, but continue biting well from 2-2.5-lbs each.
- Lake Ouachita: Crappie are very good. Try a small minnow-colored jig over brush in the 10-20' range.
6. MT: Mystery black crappie die-off at Nelson Rez
No cause found yet, but dang man! Not the slabs! 😭
7. Have you seen the new Gamakatsu shades?
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Use a slip cork in changing spring weather
Little tip from MO bass and crappie pro Jeremy Lawyer in this 1standard Fishing post on how to target crappie at any depth during crazy spring weather:
> "Around the spawn [a slip cork] is gonna get you more bites – it will simply sit in front of them longer.
> "We're in conditions where we're getting a ton of weather – windy, rainy, stormy. They're moving up, they're moving back – they're just a little bit fickle. You can set [a slip cork] to whatever depth you want to be at.
> "You're just gonna have that [bait] sitting there in front of them. You always want to be over their heads, so don't set it too deep. Fish it super slow and just taunt 'em."
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"By the grey in his hair and early-90s chair...not his first rodeo."
- Funny comment under this Ed the Diver shot taken in Marinette, WI of a dude that’s literally livin' on the edge! 😱
You northern folks be careful out there where that ice is melting! 😅
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Take a look-see at this big 'ol tux-ed up male from an Alabama Outdoors Magazine post caught by AL guide Gerald Overstreet on "the Alabama River near Montgomery."
I see a speck on that gill...are we looking at a big hybrid??? No weight listed, but it's a sho-nuff dandy!
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