Spring is the Crappiest Time of Year!
When winter finally loosens its grip and spring is springing in the Kawarthas, shallow water bays are the first places on the lake to warm up. At this time of year these areas are teaming with life, minute minnows searching for microorganisms to feed on, bring pan fish in looking for an easy meal and warm water to start their spawning cycle. The most coveted species of pan fish for sport fishermen is the Crappie! 
Crappie are tasty table-fare and offer a nice fight on light gear. They are members of the Sunfish family which also includes both Bass species, however they are not always an easy catch like their cousins. Springtime can offer some of the best times for success when pursuing Crappie, as they can be found in huge schools in the mouth of bays looking to feed up and get ready to spawn. Depending on the year this usually begins in mid April and can last till mid May in our area and it can be broken down into three periods.
#1 Pre-Spawn: which usually happens when water temperatures in these pockets reach 51-60 degrees F. Crappie leave their wintering holes for the shallow warm water and aggressively gorge on small minnows to get ready for the spawn. In this period, they can be caught on small moving baits such as tiny crank baits, spinners or tiny swim baits work fast and cover a lot of water to find these active schools. 
#2 Spawning: which occurs when the water temps reach 61-68 degrees F. When this happens, you can find fish on shallow beds usually located around submerged wood. Get yourself a good pair of polarized glasses and you can sight fish them with small tubes or grubs. This is my personal favourite way to catch ‘em.
#3 Post-Spawn: when they are done spawning Crappie again feed hard in these shallow areas slowly moving out to adjacent shoreline weed flats or points before heading deep and becoming more docile for the summer months. The post spawn time of year offers the best opportunity to catch a giant Crappie that are affectionately called slabs. These bigger females are done spawning and are hungry! They can grow upwards of 2.5lbs around here, and you can fish for them on bigger size spinners like a beetle spin grub combo, or use a float or bobber and use small live minnows or artificial style minnow baits. The float can be set to a certain depth and allow the bait to stay in the strike zone longer as Crappie are usually suspended in the water column.
The type of gear you need to have to Crappie fish can be as simple as a young kids combo rod with 6lb monofilament and a hook and bobber. The set up I like to use is a 6’6”-7’ light to medium action Daiwa Fuego spinning rod with a Daiwa Fuego 100 spinning reel with 6lb Daiwa Samurai fluorocarbon line.
Whichever way you decide to go after them, hang on because the action can be non-stop, fish after fish when you find an active school. So if you have never done it, get out there this spring – keep an eye on water temps in the bays, and try some Crappie fishing! I guarantee you it won’t be a crappy time!
Tight lines, happy fishing!!
Mike Williams
