Go Deep for Crappie Now
John E. Phillips 12.04.14
One of the things I enjoy the most about spring is Friday night fish fries with friends and family. But hey, we don’t have to wait until spring. Plenty of good crappie are available to be caught right now and throughout the winter months.
“I primarily fish Lake Kincaid in southern Illinois just west of Carbondale,” Kyle Schoenherr of Oakdale, Illinois, explains. “This lake has a lot of deep ledges, it’s very clear, and it has numbers of rock bluffs. During the winter months, I’ve caught crappie as deep as 58 feet in this lake.
“To catch these crappie, I use a bottom bumping rig. I tie a 1/4- or a 1/2-ounce bank sinker to the end of monofilament line. Then, I’ll move up the line about 10 inches and tie a loop in the main line to make the loop stand out about three or four inches from the main line. I use a single No. 2 Tru-Turn hook and attach a two- to three-inch live minnow to the hook. Once the sinker hits the bottom, I’ll tighten up the line. Generally a crappie already will be on the hook.
“When the sinker hits the bottom, the minnow usually will flutter, attracting crappie and causing them to attack the minnow. But if I don’t have a fish on when I tighten up the line, I’ll jerk the sinker out of the bottom’s mud. Often then, the crappie will attack. Even during the colder months, the crappie are fairly aggressive.”
As the water temperature becomes colder, the crappie in these deep, clear lakes usually will move down to the 40- or 50-foot-deep water or even hold so tight to the bottom that their stomachs will be lying on the mud. Schoenherr spots the individual crappie on the bottom with his Lowrance HDS-10 depth finder on the console of his boat or his HDS-12 Touch on the back of his boat. When he’s looking for crappie, he sets his side-imaging depth finder on down imaging to get a better and a clearer picture of the individual crappie holding on the bottom.
“If I’m looking for structure in the lake—like logs, stumps, stake beds or brush—I’ll run my depth finder in the side-imaging mode,” Schoenherr says.
In the spring, crappie fishermen usually look for vertical structure coming up off the bottom to locate crappie. But during the colder months, Schoenherr pinpoints more crappie holding on low structure along the bottom or on the edges of drop-offs.
“I use 12- to 14-pound test monofilament line from the sinker to about a foot to 18 inches above the hook,” Schoenherr reports. “I tie the monofilament line to 15-pound test braided line that has the diameter of four-pound test line and prefer a 12-foot B’n’M graphite rod. The size and numbers of the crappie we catch in the winter surprise many people. Our crappie at this time of the year will weigh from 3/4 of a pound up to about three pounds.”
Lake Kincaid not only has white crappie and black crappie, it also homes a hybrid cross between the two that may weigh from three to four pounds, since they grow really big. The hybrids are shaped like white crappie and have their vertical barring but sport seven dorsal spines and a speckled pattern like black crappie.
On an average day of wintertime crappie fishing, Schoenherr generally will keep 20 to 30 crappie, and often he and his customers will catch and release at least that many more. The average fish will weigh about 1-1/4-pounds in November and December. The biggest crappie he’s boated in 2014 from LakeKincaid weighed 3.02 pounds. When the surface temperature of the water is in the low 40 degrees, Schoenherr says that’s when the crappie fishing gets good.
For more information on fishing deep water in cold weather for crappie, contact Kyle Schoenherr at 618-314-2967 or go to www.allseasonscrappiefishing.com.
For more tips and information on catching crappie, check out John E. Phillips’ Kindle and print books.
John, the 2008 Crossbow Communicator of the year and the 2007 Legendary Communicator chosen for induction into the National Fresh Water Hall of Fame, is a freelance writer (over 6,000 magazine articles for about 100 magazines and several thousand newspaper columns published), magazine editor, photographer for print media as well as industry catalogues (over 25,000 photos published), lecturer, outdoor consultant, marketing consultant, book author and daily internet content provider with an overview of the outdoors.
Phillips has been a contributor to many national magazines, has been affiliated with 27 radio stations across Alabama serving as their outdoor editor and wrote for a weekly syndicated column, "Alabama Outdoors," for 38-Alabama newspapers for more than 13 years. Phillips was Outdoor Editor for the "Birmingham Post-Herald" for 24 years. Phillips was also the executive editor for "Great Days Outdoors" magazine for 3 years.
The author of almost 30 books on the outdoors, Phillips is a founding member of the Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA) and an active member of the Southeastern Outdoors Press Association (SEOPA). Phillips also is the owner of Night Hawk Publications, a marketing and publishing firm, and president of Creative Concepts, an outdoor consulting group.
Phillips conducts seminars across the nation at colleges in freelance writing, photography and outdoor education besides teaching courses in how to sell what you write to writers' groups. Phillips received his photography training as a still-lab photo specialist for six years in the Air Force. He was the chief photographer for Mannequins, Inc., a Birmingham modeling agency, for 11 years.
While serving as 2nd Vice President of the Alabama Wildlife Federation, Phillips was in charge of all press releases for the organization as well as serving as Chairman of Alabama's Big Buck Contest, which he founded more than 30 years ago. He also was president of the Alabama Sportsman's Association for three years.
Phillips is the recipient of a Certificate of Merit from the Governor of Alabama and the Department of Conservation for his work in the outdoor field. Phillips is vitally interested in the outdoors and travels the nation collecting personalities, stories and how-to information for his articles and features.
EDUCATION: B.S. degree from the University of West Alabama with a physical education major and a history minor.
EXPERIENCE: 10 years parttime and fulltime physical director for YMCAs and 34 years as a freelance writer, photographer, editor, book author, lecturer and daily-content provider for websites. Currently, Phillips is a field editor for Game and Fish Publications; serves on the editorial board of Grandview Media; is a regular contributor to 12 internet magazines and a daily content provider for 8 websites.
WRITING AWARDS: Runnerup - Best Outdoor Magazine Feature - 1981 - SEOPA; Certificate of Merit - Awarded by Alabama's Governor for writings on conservation; Most Outstanding Sports Writer in Southeast - 1983 & 1984; Best Outdoor Feature in Alabama, 1987 - Alabama Sportswriters' Association 3rd Place; Best Book of the Year - 1989 - SEOPA; 2007 - inducted into the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame as a Legendary Communicator; 2008 - received award naming him 2008 Crossbow Communicator of the Year from the Crossbow Manufacturers' Association; 2009 - GAMMA Honorable Mention for Consumer/Paid Best Essay for July/August 2008 in "Southern Sporting Journal."
