What techniques should I use for Crappies is the water on the lake is crystal clear?

If you come across an opportunity to fish crystal clear waters, you’ll have to seek the depths of the lake to find your target.  Crappie are not fans of clear water and brilliant light.  While they need some light penetration for visibility for foraging, they like it minimized whenever possible.  Therefore, they’ll move into deeper waters where the light doesn’t come on so strong.

Also, you won’t want to use that bright green or fluorescent orange lure you brought along, either.  In clear waters, it is important that your lures LOOK natural to the crappie, since they will have greater visibility.  You’ll want to use lures in the shapes of minnows, in colors like silver and gray or even smoke.  Black may work but would be a last choice.  If you are swimming along the bottom, use a shade of green or brown.  In these deeper waters, look for underwater structure where crappie will loiter about.  Sonar and depth finders can be quite helpful in these instances in finding schools of fish or large structure in the depths.

Try trolling – in clear waters, stirring up any debris, silt, or other murk in the water can actually be a good thing, since crappie prefer a darker water environment.  They may actually come a little closer to the surface.  If you can find a more shallow area with a good deal of cover – weeds, moss, or other vegetation – you may be able to find crappie here as well, but not in the large quantities you would expect in the shallows of more stained water.

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