Natural Lakes

Plankton is light-sensitive. In summer during daylight hours, herds of zooplankton (and the veils of phytoplankton they feed upon) hang deeper, suspended in the water column. At night, they rise toward the surface. In winter, however—especially when the lake is covered with a layer of ice 2 to 4 feet thick—light penetration is greatly reduced during the day. Zooplankton can be fooled into thinking it’s nighttime all day long, so the herds rise and suspend high during the day. Baitfish respond accordingly and crappies may rise with them, holding higher as winter wears on. Ice and snow are light-limiting factors, and during the harshest winters you’re likely to find crappies suspending higher in the water column in classic Figure C lakes—higher, even, than you might be able to visualize with sonar.

What You See Is What You Get—Ironically, all of the above is pretty much the reason crappie hunting makes anglers scratch their heads in winter. If they go to a Figure C lake, finding suspended crappies on the screen all day, then visit a lake more representative of Figure A or B a few days later, they might fail to find any crappies at all if they continue to hunt for suspended fish, without simply prospecting across the most likely areas. Failure to consider basin type, light penetration, and plankton movement can lead to one of the oldest fallacies in fishing: “If you can’t see them, don’t waste time fishing there.” And that, inevitably, leads to a second fallacy: “Few or no crappies exist here.”

While it may not look like it, the crappies in each of the three lake types mentioned here generally exhibit very similar behavior during winter. But it’s in Lake C that crappies are most visible to us most of the time. On the other hand, adventuresome crappie anglers who understand these lakes may discover relatively untapped crappie-fishing opportunities in lakes like A or B. These lakes tend to have fewer access points, few if any boat ramps, and can often be found surrounded only by forests or open prairie. And, on these lakes, what you see isn’t necessarily what you’re going to catch.

It’s not uncommon for crappies to move shallow during winter in natural lakes, especially during late winter. Those same reedbeds, weedy flats, canals, sloughs, and dark-bottomed bays that attract crappies in early spring can attract them for weeks prior to ice-out. In fact, shallow (3 to 7 feet deep), late-winter patterns comprise one of the most overlooked programs going for big winter crappies in every type of lake they inhabit.