It’s just about that time of year to fill the freezer with crappie.  I don’t like to keep any until after the first hard frost or the water cools to between 50-55 degrees.  IMHO it firms up the meat.  We start out now by targeting them and following them into their cold water spots as the weather cools.  Aquia Creek on the Potomac river has a large population of crappie so it’s our primary harvest spot.  We found them still pretty scattered but a couple of guys we know that were out there the same time as we were filled 2 limits.  They were fishing docks and we target mostly open water spots because it has been our experience that the bigger fish move in there to winter.  I will be off the water for a while and my fishing partner is going overseas for a while so the next trip may actually be for keepers.

Nice fish. I don’t fill a freezer, I fill my belly 

3 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Nice fish. I don’t fill a freezer, I fill my belly 

With a 25 per person limit, you better have a big belly.??

30 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

With a 25 per person limit, you better have a big belly.??

25???? that’s liberal! I couldn’t catch that many keepers with a gill net 

 

but if I had 25 keepers I’m sure we could eat them in 2-3 days, everyone loves a good fish fry 

How do you target crappie this time of year? I’m going to Virginia tomorrow and I plan to fish some ponds for bass and crappie. I’ve never really been able to figure out the whole crappie thing. 

45 minutes ago, Buzzbaiter said:

How do you target crappie this time of year? I’m going to Virginia tomorrow and I plan to fish some ponds for bass and crappie. I’ve never really been able to figure out the whole crappie thing. 

So I assume you will be shore fishing?  My normal setup is a spinning setup with light line (6lb test) on a quantum smoke 7 ft fast action rod and a 1/16 oz jig head and a 2 inch tube bait. You can add a casting float if there is room to throw it.  I like the line through floats.  Otherwise you can just cast the jig head and slow retrieve it.  Crappie normally like structure dock posts, downed trees, etc., but we catch a lot of open water fish on drops and ledges.  Good luck!