“You have to have several warm days in a row to trigger them,” Woody says. “Another method for locating them is to work along reed lines and dap with 20-foot poles and 6-pound line, because sometimes they move right into areas 1 foot deep that you can’t cast to. I prefer to use 2- to 4-pound line out on the rockpiles. Makes it sporty. You don’t need a slipbobber. They’re not that sensitive. When they’re ready, they start eating, and they’ll pull a beach ball under. A tail-hooked minnow on a light jig is the standby, but a tube or puddle jumper works really well, too. Sometimes isolated reedbeds, out in the middle of nowhere, produce the hottest bites. Where reeds are sparse, a Beetle Spin or Mepps spinner works really well, too.

“Crappies run a pound to 11⁄2 pounds, and it’s common to catch a few 2-pounders. Occasionally we catch one over 17 inches. They start to spawn in water temperatures in the low 60°F range, here. The water doesn’t even reach 70°F until July most years. In the river sloughs and backwaters leading into Rainy, the timing is the same. Be here early May to early June, find a beaverhouse in black, marshy water, and fish the groove that beavers create in the bottom leading into the house. The water is cloudy and crappies feel rather safe. Occasionally you can really pound them in there. On Rainy Lake, you have to find the right bay. You’ll know when you find it,” he says, “because crappies literally take over the shallows once the weather stabilizes.”

Somewhere north of Rainy, the natural range of the crappie comes to an end. Dotted throughout this near-wilderness are little lakes and rivers that represent the final frontier. Long lifespans allow crappies to grow huge up there, many living out their lives without ever seeing a hook. Most of the locals could care less about crappies up there, what with giant walleyes, pike, muskies, and smallmouths surrounding them in every direction. Pinpointing the time when crappie fishing first heats up early in the far North requires a little more research before you go.