Cold Weather Crappie Fishing (Winter & Cold Water Guide)
Crappie fishing in cold water or winter can be very productive with the right approach. Knowing exactly where crappie go in cold water and how to pattern them will yield great results.
Fishing for crappie in winter or cold water can be very good as these fish will congregate in big numbers among deep structure like brush piles or rock. A slow, methodical approach with live bait or small jigs can produce great fishing in colder water.
All fish eat all year, although some are more difficult to find in the winter. When the water becomes cold, crappie are more straightforward to find than other species because they concentrate around covers like brush piles or standing wood. It’s not to say crappie fish is “good” in cold weather, but it is definitely better than other species.
Making a milk run of brush piles on most lakes is one of the most effective strategies to catch wintertime crappie. Crappie may be found in brush piles or standing timber around the mouths of large streams on lowland lakes, where the fish will be holding at depths of 10 to 20 feet.
Ice fishing is also great for crappie fishing. Since they enjoy the cold weather more than other fish, they will be significantly easier to catch. You will often find them in reeds below the surface since they produce oxygen for the crappies.
Do Crappie Bite in Winter?
Crappie will bite in winter. In fact, January through early March can be some of the best crappie fishing all year. This is when the spawning season begins, which runs from February to May.
Both male and female crappie migrate from deep sites to shallow, concentrated spawning regions during the spawn. Because they are constantly feeding and guarding their nests, they are pretty easy to catch.
Some crappie anglers will tell you that the most significant time to catch crappie is during the winter or pre-spawn months. They’re starting to form larger groups in preparation for the spawn. They’re eating a lot, and they’re usually the fattest at that time of year before laying their eggs.
A depth finder or fish finder may be a precious tool for finding big schools of crappie in deep water throughout the winter. You can identify schooling crappie and the depth at which they are staging by gently idling your boat over the deep sections of your lake. I recommend using the Humming Bird Helix 5 since it is incredibly effective for its price.
For a complete breakdown of the best temperatures for crappie fishing, please check out this helpful article I wrote.
How Cold is Too Cold for Crappie Fishing?
When water temperatures drop below 35 degrees Fahrenheit, it becomes progressively harder to catch crappie. Crappie will be hard to find and will cling to ledges along river channel ledges and conditions will require a slow, methodical approach.
The most important thing to remember when fishing in these conditions is to take it easy. In cold water, a quick presentation will rarely succeed; patience is critical.
When water temperatures get below 30, crappies will stop biting all together. Some fishermen will say they can still catch crappie until 25 degrees, but it will be challenging to even land a bite.
One of the best tips is to attach a thermometer to one of your poles to make it easier to drop down and reel up the fish. The idea is to get rid of unproductive water as soon as possible.
Once you’ve located the active zone, you’ll be able to eliminate a large portion of the lake and concentrate on the proper depth, cover, and presentations. I’ll generally be close to cover on a point or ledge along a stream channel. Because fish are lethargic, your bait will be as well.
Best Water Temperature for Crappie
The best temperature range to catch crappie is between 55 and 60 degrees. These temperatures can be found be pre-spawn as well as the beginning of the spawning period which offer great crappie fishing action.
Crappie may be found shallow when the water temperature reaches 55. The annual crappie season is in full swing, and bobbers and minnows will be selling out fast.
Crappie will be in a feeding frenzy around 55 to 56 degrees Fahrenheit. If you discover the crappie, minnows, or jigs are likely to capture them. During these temperatures, crappie may be found all around the spawning bay. They’re looking for a suitable location to deposit their eggs.
By this point, the males had taken shelter. Stake beds, stumps, and laydowns are all excellent places to look for spawning crappie.
This cover will restock with fish during the spawning season, so come back regularly to capture additional crappie as they will be incredibly active through the entire spawning period.
The bigger females will migrate into the cover to spawn when the water temperature rises over 56 degrees, which implies the surface temperature is 56 degrees or above starting in the morning.
This occurs when larger crappie are captured in the same areas where more petite guys were caught the day or days before. If you can find cover while the water temperature is below 57-58 degrees and can’t bring them out. You can return later when the water temperature rises and capture slab crappie as they go up to spawn.
When the water temperature reaches 57 to 58 degrees, start hunting for spawning crappie. Hit all of the transparent covers in the spawning area, but also look for completely hidden locations.
Other fishermen have hammered the visible cover. While a few hours of relaxation can allow this cover to repopulate with crappie, you should also check for the unseen cover in shallow water. Unseen locations might house a lot of crappies that haven’t been fished for.
Don’t ignore this cover since it has the potential to quickly fill your Livewell. Although invisible cover necessitates a bit more effort, it may be a goldmine during the spawn. Depending on clarity, crappie will spawn in 2 to 19 feet of water, so keep that in mind.
How to Catch Crappie in Cold Weather
When the water temperatures begin to drop, crappie will retreat to deeper water for the winter. They’ll spend the winter there, feeding on shad and other baitfish.
Brushing in deep waters might be beneficial. Large schools of crappie will be found in structures such as ledges and stream channels that drain into the main river channel. All of this will take place underwater, and you’ll need your electronics to find these stream routes.
You may use a decent map or an APP to lead you to these locations where you can seek winter crappie. Knowing when crappie temperatures drop 10 degrees in a short period may help you determine whether to target deeper water to capture wintertime crappie.
Crappie will cluster near any deep water in standing wood along steep cliffs or artificial brush piles. The biggest crappie may be found in brush piles about 40 feet deep on the bottom of a creek channel during early winter.
Still, when a cold front rolls in or the water temperature continues to drop, the bigger fish can be located in brush piles about 20 feet deep on the bottom of a creek channel.
When it comes to fishing wood cover for crappie in clear water highland reservoirs, the weather plays a significant role.
Crappie, get in a brush pile on a sunny day or after a cold front goes through, and you have to work your jig straight through the thickest section of the bush near to a ledge drop-off.
Best Baits for Cold Crappie
When it comes to crappie fishing, live bait is always a good bet. Crappies are attracted to a variety of things, including minnows, worms, and insects.
You don’t have to be concerned about the color of the bait, and you’re simply giving them what they’d normally eat. Most anglers like minnows, and some even use a live minnow tipped on a jig for a double-whammy.
If you’re not using live bait, try switching around the color of your lures. You won’t believe how much difference going from a pumpkinseed grub to a chartreuse grub can make to crappie. No precise science can tell you which colors will work, but some broad principles can help you get started.
If the water is clear, keep baits as natural-looking as possible, resembling something crappie could be eating.
On bright, sunny days, the fish in the water receive plenty of light. You may use pretty much any hue these days, but bright colors should be your first choice. Colors like chartreuse, yellow, and hot pink come to mind.
You’ll need bright colors for darker water, too: anything that will reflect as much light as possible, as there won’t be much of it for the crappies to see.
If the sky is cloudy or overcast, go a little darker for your grubs, but select anything with a brilliant flash, like a chartreuse a bumblebee.
Where to Locate & Target Cold Water Crappie
In cold weather, crappies can be anywhere from 40 to 20 feet in the water. It really depends on the water temperature and weather outside.
When the sun is out and warmer water, crappies will be deeper in the water than overcast or stormy weather. The most popular cold water depth for late winter crappie is between 2 feet, or the 18- to 25-foot zone. Although the water is still chilly, mild periods, along with extended daylight hours, can induce baitfish, and hence crappies, to go up in depth.
Locate suspended crappies in 8 to 12 feet of water in the locations where they typically spawn in colder water. Pay special attention to the depth of dispersed suspended marks on your locator if using one.
Overall, big ponds and shallow portions of lakes with sand and mud on the bottom are the ideal places to look for crappie. Lakes are particularly plentiful because they support diverse species and flora, providing food and cover.
If you want to catch crappie on cloudy or overcast days, you need to read this helpful article I wrote.
Does Cold Rain or Snow Impact Crappie Fishing?
The movement of crappie to deeper water is undeniably aided by cold fronts. They move out to the first significant change in depth, according to consensus. When fishing these fronts, finding that transition zone is the key.
Don’t rush in after a cold front and start fishing as shallow as you did yesterday. You’ll boat over the crappie and frighten them if they’ve migrated deeper. To discover out where they sank down, start fishing deeper and work your way shallow.
Fish deeper with clear skies following a cold front. You may even go fishing after dark. Keep in mind that crappie depth and sunshine intensity are inversely proportional.
After dark, crappie can be found relatively shallow. As the sun rises higher in the sky, the majority of fish went deeper.
Crappie are far more mobile than many think. Some of their migration is driven by variations in water temperature and light penetration caused by cold fronts during the spawn.
Ice Fishing for Crappie
Crappie move a lot in the winter, and keeping track of their movements may be just as tricky as catching them, especially during ice fishing. In 5-15 feet of water, early ice crappie will cling to the cover of weed lines and dense weed beds.
Because they generate more oxygen and attract bait, the healthiest weeds will contain the most fish during this period.
Crappie will migrate to the lake’s basin in mid-winter, suspending 10-20 feet from the bottom relative to total depth. Crappie suspend where there is the most oxygen and bait, usually in the upper part of the water column.
Best Ice Fishing Baits fir Crappie
Crappie generally graze on plankton in pods of three to ten fish during the winter months. To capture crappies and keep the pod active, use a tungsten jig and soft plastic to imitate plankton. Jigging for crappie through the ice is the most common method of catching them.
Drop your bait to the bottom, reel it back up a few feet, and work a 1-2 foot region of the water column with gentle pulsating and stopping up and down. When your bait is going upward, you’ll get the most bites. Continue going from hole to hole until active crappies are found.
Unless the crappie are very aggressive, you may anticipate catching a lot more crappie on baited jigs than on naked jigs. For white crappie, significantly larger white crappie, minnows are nearly usually the most successful bait. Jigs tipped with grubs are generally suitable for black crappie.
Nighttime Ice Fishing for Crappie
During the winter, crappie eat the most at night, with the best bites occurring at dawn and dusk. Make the most of these opportunities to catch the most active fish. For evening crappies, jigging colorful plastics like a chartreuse wax worm with an orange or green jig head works well.
If the night bite is poor, try deadsticking a live fathead or crappie minnow on an ice fishing pole to convert picky fish.
Where regulations allow, another excellent technique for ice fishing Crappie at night is to use a glow stick or underwater light. Bait, plankton, and crappie will all flock to your location if you use a glow stick.
Based on seasonal trends that affect oxygen and light levels, determine where the crappie are hiding. Crappie can be found among shallow vegetation during early and late ice and in the basin or deeper regions throughout the middle of the winter.
Until you discover pods of biting fish, use your gadgets and keep mobile. Present baits that resemble plankton forage. Don’t forget to include live minnows for gentle fish and minnow-like lures for larger and more aggressive crappie.
For a complete breakdown of catching crappie at night throughout the year, please check out this helpful article I wrote. Check out this article for a complete breakdown of the best weather for crappie fishing.
