i live in pittsburgh pa and have no boat i grew up in illinois and know crappie there and am a pretty good angler but finding and catching crappie in the mon and allagheney im stumped thanks i know there here and big ones i have caught them but i cant find them from the shore

Catching crappie without a boat can often seem to be a daunting task. Do not fret, when I started fishing for crappie we would jump in the boat and motor over to the bank on the other side of a lake. During the spawning season crappie move from the really cold deep waters to the slightly warmer spring waters and start feeding and spawning. Many people forget where crappie like to spawn and keep going for the deep waters but where crappie really like to go when the waters are warming up are some of the shallow areas with lots of cover. So what does this mean for you? Well as a general when fishing the crappie spawn I take a really cheap jig and really light line, like 3 pound test and I call it my discovery pole, and start walking along the banks of any body of water casting as far as I possibly can. Let that jig sink to about half depth before pulling it back in. While pulling that jig in pay close attention to the distance and depth because you will want to fish where you lose the jig, hence the discovery pole. The ideal target is shaded water that has lots of brush with flowing waters very close by and at a depth of 5 %u2013 10 feet. Now knowing that crappie come up out of the depths to find shelter and food in the shallow areas don%u2019t forget that crappie really do like the cold of the deep waters and will often retreat back there for shelter so look for ledges. Best tip here is to get a topographical map of the lake and fish the ledges just off the bank.