Fish-WatchingThe human eye and brain are as sensitive, in their way, as crappies’ are in their world. If you want to learn more about crappie location, start with the two “fish finders”...View article
A hot bite, going gangbusters a few minutes ago, is now seemingly dead. Crappies were hitting minnows on Aberdeen hooks before the float could even settle and stand up. One on every cast. It happens...View article
Pete Pritchard, longtime guide for crappies, stripers, cats, shell crackers and, well, just about anything that swims in Santee-Cooper, recently demonstrated on In-Fisherman television how he constructs...View article
Dissolved oxygen (DO) levels within a body of water remain the great unknown to anglers, perhaps the last major mystery relative to fish location, winter panfish notwithstanding. Oxygen, of course,...View article
Tennessee crappie guru Bobby Holmes has some definitive ideas about bigger crappies relating to brushpiles. “For general fishing, brushpiles are like shotgun pellets,” Holmes says. “The mo’...View article
Welcome to the JungleSubmerged vegetation fuels bluegill and crappie patterns like an elixir, even during seemingly sterile winters. Although plant biomass decreases significantly as ice builds,...View article
Fishing guide and radio-show host Bobby Holmes has been guiding for crappies and bluegills since 1983 in West Tennessee on shallow waters like Kentucky Lake and Reelfoot, and in deeper hill-land reservoirs...View article
Ned Kehde, longtime In-Fisherman contributor and former archivist for the University of Kansas, loves to fish for crappies in his home state. Kehde, a flatland-reservoir crappie expert, has long depended...View article
Each form of cover demands modifications in lure and bait presentation; sometimes rod and reel combinations must be switched, too. As crappie anglers become more versatile, they need more than one “crappie...View article
The crappie is a swimming contradiction, a common household fish enshrouded by myths. Many of the generalities about crappies don’t hold true much of the time. A small panfish?...View article
In perfectly calm weather, the areas that warm fastest in spring are shallow, south-facing enclosures or protected bays with dark bottoms. These areas are solar collectors, and the water that has...View article
It’s possible to predict within a few degrees what temperature the water will be. Water temperature is influenced by surrounding air temperatures. Take a reading of the water late in the day (usually...View article
Standing a few feet over the head of your targeted species, drilling holes in ice with 4 feet of water underneath seems ridiculous. Everybody knows that the warmest water in a frozen lake is down near...View article
Springtime slabs milling all over the place. Right here. Yesterday afternoon. But not any more. Happens to anybody who fishes crappies long enough, but where did they go? The answer is on the screen...View article
Air temperature can be a guide to human behavior. As temperatures fall in autumn and early winter, outdoor activity slows dramatically. If outdoor activity ceased altogether, one might say air temperature...View article
