Summertime Crappie

One of many crappie caught last summer

Crappie are among the most popular fish pursued in the U.S. and are fairly easy to catch in the spring when spawning is under way.  Let the weather heat up however, and you're looking at a whole new scenario.  As the water temperature heats up crappie can become more difficult to locate preferring deeper waters that offer plenty of cover areas in which they can hide.

In the summer fish for crappie ten to fifteen feet deep near submerged trees and other debris that offers protection.  A great method for catching crappie during the hot summer months is to fish a live minnow below a slip bobber which will allow you to get your bait down to where the fish are active.  Adjust your depth until you find the fish.  Be sure you are not fishing below the crappie as they will swim up a ways to eat but they will have a difficult time locating the bait if it is lower than they are.  The more active the crappie are, the farther they are willing to swim for their food.  However, when they  are less active you will need to land your bait closer to them to convince them to eat.

Fishing lures provide an effective, sometimes challenging alternative method for taking crappie.  Make sure you have an ample supply of multiple colors and styles to choose from.  This will allow you to present many different color combinations to the fish and give you a better chance of finding the ones they are biting on at any given time.  Match the lure color you use to the water.   I tend to fish with darker lures in murky waters and lighter colors in clearer water.  Try bumping your lures off of the cover structure to entice the crappie to bite.  Start by choosing the first color you want to try.  Cast your line and retrieve it multiple times so that you have covered the whole area you are fishing.  If you don't have any luck with the first color, move on to the next and repeat this process until you find the color that catches their attention and causes the fish to strike.

Try fishing around storms.  Sometimes the best fishing you can imagine will take place while a rain shower is passing through.  Don't worry.... it is well worth getting wet in exchange for taking home a stringer full of crappie.



- Any day in the outdoors is a good day

Simple Homemade Catfish Bait Recipe

When you think of dough baits for catfish you probably think about the ones that are readily available  on the big box store shelves.  By making your own you can save a lot of money and still catch your share of fish.

This recipe is about as simple as it gets.

Put one cup of water and vanilla extract (you can use pretty much any amount of vanilla....The more you use the stronger the scent will be. Using too much vanilla extract may require you to add in more of the dry mixture) into a pot on the stove and bring to a boil.  While waiting for your water and scent mixture to boil, thoroughly mix one cup of flour and one cup of corn meal together in a bowl.  Once the water begins to boil, add the mixture of flour and cornmeal to the water.  Allow the dry mix to absorb all of the water and remove it from the heat source.  Once the mixture cools enough that you can handle it without being burned knead it until the dough is thick enough to remain on your hook.  When the mixture cools completely place it in a ziplock bag or an old cool whip container.

If desired you can use Anise in place of the vanilla extract (or just make a batch of both).

That is all there is to it.  Now it's time to hit your favorite catfishing hole and start catching some fish!

Next time your wife says you don't need any more fishing tackle you can tell her you saved money by making your own catfish bait so you can afford to get that new lure.  However, you must do it at your own risk as I will claim no responsibility for this :-)

-Any day in the outdoors is a good day