Hi, I’ve been crappie fishing for several years on Cedar Creek Lake in Northwest Alabama. I sink tree tops in about 15′ of water. The tops at that depth produce crappie most of the year on that lake. I have just started sinking tops on Bay Springs lake in Northeast Mississippi. Bay Springs has clear water and is a little deeper than Cedar. The max depth is about 45′ deep in the area I want to start fishing. My question is, do I need to sink the tops deeper on this lake since the water is less stained. I want to be able to fish them most of the year like I do on Cedar. I’ve thought about sinking the tops at depths ranging from about 18′-25′. Would this be a good depth to try? How deep would be the max depth I should sink tops?

Even in the summer, crappie seldom go deeper than 30 feet deep, even when suspending, so I would’nt sink them any deeper than that. Many factors determine at what depth crappie will suspend, independent of available structure. You might check the PH level at different depths. Crappie like slightly acidic water, with a PH of around 5.0 to 6.5. This is where the majority of crappie will be, most of the year. Another factor is the oxygen level. Many lakes become oxygen depeleted at deeper depths during the summer. You can check for oxygen levels at the various depths and use that as a guideline. In my opinion, one of the most important factors is water temperature. Crappie will migrate in search of water temperatures to their liking. Except for the Spawn, most of the time, crappie will be found somehwere near the thermocline. If you can determine what average depth the thermocline is at, that will give you a good guideline. And lastly, crappie migrate along lines of structure. They will move along shelves, drop-offs, channels, creekbeds, tree lines, brushpiles, old roadbeds, and anything else that provides structure. A countour map and SONAR unit can be invaluable for plotting a schools migratory routes. You can take all these factors into account, then find a place that matches all, or most of the requirements, and sink the trees at that depth, in that location. A little planning and research can go along ways in making the difference between a mediocre fishing trip, and a crappie bonanza. Happy fishing!