Cool weather means football and hunting seasons and, well, just plain old relief from the heat.
But it also means something else important to sportsmen: The fall crappie bite! Crappie start being more aggressive in chasing shad and minnows to feed up for the winter. The shad start schooling up and the crappie follow suit. When you catch one, you’ll usually catch a bunch. Whether you use jigs or shiners, now’s a good time to target crappie, white perch or sac-a-lait, whatever you want to call them.
Typically as the water cools, baitfish will migrate out of the flats and into creeks and channels. As it gets colder, they go to the deeper water. Finding the right spot on this migration path is the key to success.
And while crappie are fun to catch, there’s no doubt the best part is when you finish up a mess on the filet table and get them ready for some fish fry mix and hot peanut oil!