OPTIONS FOR FALL CRAPPIE – Sept/Oct 2021

IT’S EARLY FALL and another summer meltdown should be in the rearview, or real close to it. It’s a feel-good time of year that always brings a gradual chill to the water that puts the slabs in the mood to chomp.

“Slab” is a moniker that crappie anglers sometimes use when describing a big fish. The criteria for the title varies with who you talk to. Lake Fork fishing guide Gary Paris draws the line at 1 1/4 pounds.

Paris and his clients have boxed thousands of slabs over the years. Like most avid anglers, the guide agreed that man-made brush piles and bridge crossings rank among the best places to look for schools of the popular panfish from summer through fall on Fork and other East Texas hotspots.

Good electronics and mapping technologies have played huge roles in Paris’s fishing strategies over the years, but none have helped him step up his game like LiveScope has.

LiveScope is Garmin’s version of forward-facing sonar. Like Lowrance LIVETARGET and Humminbird MEGA Live imaging, the high-tech system provides real-time sonar images of structure, bait and swimming fish ahead of below or around the vessel.

Paris says LiveScope enables him to pinpoint schools of crappie at suspended depths, make precise casts to them and see how they react to his bait. More importantly, it gives him a good idea how many fish are in a school and allows him to bird dog the fish when they move.

“LiveScope hasn’t really changed the way I fish,” he said. “I still key on brush piles and bridges just like I always have, but it has made me way more effective at fishing them than I was before. I can actually follow the fish if they move left, right or under the boat,” he said. “You can’t do that with traditional down-scan or side-scan sonar.”

Paris says LiveScope comes in really handy when crappie meander away from a brush pile or set of bridge pilings. Often times this happens because the bait moves or due to fishing pressure.

“You might catch two or three fish real quick, and then they quit,” he said. “It’s easy to think that is all that was there, but a lot of times the school may just move and set up 25 yards to the left or right. I find them relating to open water pretty often. Without LiveScope, I’d never know those fish were there.”

Paris says the same game plan can be applied on Sam Rayburn, Toledo Bend, Lake o’ the Pines, Tawakoni, Cedar Creek or any other lake with an abundant crappie population.

“Learn to use it and you’ll catch more crappie wherever you fish, no doubt about it.”

Deadly as it is, not everyone has the extra money to invest in expensive forward-facing sonar gear. Not to worry though, plenty of fall crappie can be caught without it. You can score big, if you know the whereabouts of a brush pile or two, or don’t mind investing the time to build your own. Otherwise, you can find success around bridges or select boat docks, provided the water depth is sufficient.

Sam Rayburn fishing guide Bill Fondren with Tejas Guide Service knows a thing or two about brush piles.

Fondren has dozens of fish hotels built on his home lake at varied depths for different seasons. Deeper piles in 25 to 35 feet hold fish from summer through winter. According to Fondren, how and where the fish will position around the brush depends on oxygen content, sunlight and cloud cover. He almost always finds the fish suspended.

“Sometimes they’ll be on top of the brush, out to the side or right down in the middle of it,” he said.

Fondren likes to build his brush piles vertically in the water column using sweet gums and willows. He steers clear of cedar, because dense foliage is bad about snagging 2/0 shiner hooks and jigs.

Brush piles of all sizes will attract fish. Fondren is a fan of big ones. He builds the piles in the shape of a horseshoe with the 8- to 10-foot limbs spaced far enough apart that he can nose his 24-foot pontoon boat into the bend. This provides multiple customers a spot to fish.

Fondren weights his piles using cinder blocks. He connects the block to the base of the limb using stainless steel wire to prevent rust.

Any brush pile constructed using natural materials will rot or lose its appeal in time. Fondren says it is a good idea to refresh piles periodically.

“I’m a firm believer in keeping things fresh and green down there,” Fondren said.

 

 

Fishing Bridges and Docks

Fishing around brush piles is often a vertical game. However, bridges and docks are more about casting or “shooting” with small jigs or swim baits.

Paris says anglers can catch fish by soaking shiners vertically around bridge support columns.  Yet, he prefers to stay on the move and cast with small jigs when targeting the crossmembers. He always lines up parallel with the bridge and casts ahead of the boat. The key is to make a lengthy cast, then count the bait down a few seconds before beginning a slow, steady retrieve.

The depth of the crossmember can vary with location and water level. At Fork, many of the crossmembers are about 20 feet deep when the lake is at full pool, Paris said.

Dock shooting is a special tactic Texas crappie pro Wally Marshall relies on to catch crappie from spring through fall on just about any lake with boat docks, slips and piers. Cedar Creek, Palestine, Tawakoni, Fork, Conroe, Texoma, Athens, Toledo Bend are among the East Texas lakes where he’s had good success. 

Marshall says bait fish gravitate to docks to feed, seek shelter and hide from larger predators. Crappie take advantage of the shade to ambush unsuspecting forage. The fish also are attracted to the cooler water beneath the canopy, and shooting is ideal for getting at them.

Marshall says the magic is built around the presentation of the bait, usually a 1/16- or 1/32-ounce jig. This is paired with a medium/light spinning outfit and high visibility monofilament line in four- to six-pound test.

Done correctly, shooting will catapult the jig at a low angle, parallel to the water, with enough velocity that it will sail far beneath the dock or whatever you’re aiming at. Marshall claims he can shoot a 1/16-ounce Slab Daddy or Shad Pole jig about 60 feet with the right outfit.

“It enables you to put a jig into the coffin corners—the deepest, darkest places under that dock that are impossible to get to with a conventional cast,” he said. “Plus, it allows you to get a bait beneath a dock without getting so close that you might spook fish hanging closer to the outside edge.”

Marshall says anyone can learn to shoot docks effectively with practice and persistence. Beginners can learn in their yard or driveway by sitting in a lawn chair and using a sawhorse positioned 15 to 20 feet away to simulate the dock.

 He suggests practicing with 1/16-ounce lead weight instead of a jig. Practice until you can consistently shoot the weight under the sawhorse at varied distances.

Having the proper equipment helps flatten the learning curve. A sensitive rod is a key component. Marshall’s favorite is a Lew’s seven-foot, medium/light action spinning model he helped design for shooting. Fittingly, the rod is called the “Speed Shooter.” It’s made from sensitive IM8 graphite with a fast-tip action tip.

 

 

 

 

—story by MATT WILLIAMS

 

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