Perhaps the best time of the year to take really slab-sized crappies, and lots of them, is in the fall.  Not all lakes will produce crappies this time of year, but throughout the Midwest, most of the best crappie lakes will be productive right now. 

 Before the how’s of catching truly big crappies are discussed, we need to realize that it takes special situations to grow plate-sized crappies.  It is critical that we release the medium-sized and larger ones.  It’s o.k. to keep a few smaller ones for the table, but it is just mandatory that we limit the number we keep. 

 Jigs will be the ticket for taking advantage of this fall feeding frenzy.  Gypsi and Fire-fly jigs in the sixteenth or eighth ounce sizes will be most effective.  When the crappies are suspended, the sixteenth ounce size will sink through them slowly, giving the fish more of a chance to respond. Tip the jig with a minnow that is two or three inches long, or a Power Wiggler.

 If the fish are right on the bottom, the eighth ounce size will get there quicker, enabling us to keep our bait in the fish-zone more of the time.

 Another favored technique is to use a jighead, again either sixteenth or eighth ounce depending on how deep and/or aggressive the fish are.  Tip the jig with a two-inch Power Grub tail and swim it through the fish.  This jig/Power Grub combo takes big crappies consistently.  Be sure to use a head of one color with a grub of another color.  Combinations of chartreuse, yellow, pink, white, or orange have been good in many waters.

 Watching your line is very important when the fish are suspended.  The take will often be quite light, with the only indication of a strike being a twitch in the line.  Many successful crappie anglers have been using four-pound test Solar XT, which is very visible to the angler, but the fish don’t seem to mind.

 In the fall, the crappies will often be in or over depths down to about forty feet.  It isn’t uncommon to find them right on the bottom in twenty five to thirty five feet of water.  Watch your sonar very closely in these depths to see if you can see the fish.  They will appear to be just bumps on the bottom much of the time.

 At other times they will suspend over the deep water.  When they do, they are easy to see on the sonar.  The sonar will reveal them to be perhaps twenty feet down in thirty five-foot depths, or maybe seventeen feet down over twenty-five feet of water.  Whatever, the depth, you want to swim your jig through the school at whatever depth they are.

 If you live near a good crappie lake, now is the time to be out there catching a few.  Practice the things we’ve just talked about and you will be successful.

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