Where to Find Summer Crappie

Here are some tips on where to find summer crappie. Crappies are one of the most popular of all the panfish and with good reason. Crappie are fun to catch, great to eat, and can be caught quickly when a school is found. However, the schools can be difficult to locate after the crappie move out of their shallow spawning areas. Here are some tips to help anglers get on the crappie quickly this summer.

Where to Find Summer Crappie - Points

Whether fishing in lakes, rivers, or smaller streams, points of land jutting out into the water is a great place to look for crappie. Points almost always provide a change in current, access to both deep and shallow water, and generally some underwater structure. All of these help to make points a great place to find crappie.

Where to Find Summer Crappie - Creek Mouths

Creek mouths or other places where tributaries come into the larger body of water are a common place for crappie and other game fish to be found.

Where to Find Summer Crappie - Near Vegetation

Crappie anglers should not go past vegetation without casting a few times. Vegetation growing in the water or hanging above the water can provide shade as well as habitat for smaller prey fish that crappie feed upon.

Where to Find Summer Crappie - Underwater Structure

Any submerged structure from sunken logs to rocks can hold crappie during the summer months. A few years ago some Christmas trees were dumped off of a bridge in a local lake. That summer the water near the sunken trees produced a number of crappie on my trips past.

Where to Find Summer Crappie - Near Prey Fish

Fishing for summer time crappie near prey fish may seem obvious, but many anglers overlook this common sight. When on the water, fishermen and fisherwomen need to keep an eye out for schools of minnows and fish near them when spotted. If the minnows can be seen from above the water, the crappie swimming in the water can spot them to and will likely be nearby.

Summer is a great time to be on the water. Though the higher temperature may drive the crappie deeper than where they were found in the spring, they are still in the water waiting to be caught. So grab your tackle box and minnow bucket and go catch a stringer full of crappie.