If you ever doubted the popularity of crappie fishing these days, you should have been on the shores of Richland Chambers Lake at Northshores Marina on Richland Chambers Lake this past Saturday for the weigh in for the state championship for Crappie Anglers of Texas (CATS).  Almost 100 devout crappie anglers, both pros and novices, fished the two day tourney and thanks to the passage of an early fall cold front Friday morning, the sometimes finicky crappie decided to challenge the field of papermouth aficionados. For most anglers, their favored species simply snubbed their noses at a wide variety of baits including downsized jigs in a variety of designs and colors, soft plastic minnow imitations and even the their favorite food: live minnows. Some anglers fished shallow cover, others fished deep but the only real pattern proved to be no pattern, at least no pattern that provided steady action.

When this many good anglers converge to fish a heralded crappie lake such as Richland Chambers, regardless the weather, some anglers will find themselves dunking baits into waters holding active fish, other anglers, just as skilled and qualified, simply did not locate the fish. Saturday’s competition was greeted by more stable weather and, more actively feeding fish.

CATS was formed four years ago with the intent of providing crappie anglers from across the state with a wholesome venue in which they can best enjoy catching their favored species. “Our intent from the beginning was to host meetings, seminars, fish frys; generally provide a fun environment for our members. Today, our membership has grown to close to 300 members”, says Jay Don Reeve, Treasurer of the club.

Andy Rodrigues is a very active member of the club and served as club photographer on the recent tournament. “We hoped for 45 members in our first year but were pleasantly surprised when 184 men and women joined.” Says Rodrigues. “We’re not all about tournament fishing. CATS hosts monthly meetings/seminars with some of the best crappie anglers in the country. The emphasis is on sharing information on topics as basic as knot tying or as complex as learning to properly interrupt sonar are covered. We’re open to everyone and you don’t have to own a boat to join.”

CRAPPIE CATCHING TIPS FROM THE PROS- Regardless the waters where you target crappie, early fall can be a challenging time to locate concentrations of fish. Expect crappie to be in transitions this time of year, some will still be locked down on deeper structures such as timber, submerged creek ledges and humps with brush piles or some type minnow/crappie attracting structure.  Some crappie will be holding tight to brush and timber at mid-range depths (10-20 feet).  One of the more productive patterns that contestants in the recent tournament  reported is fishing the submerged creek ledges with standing timber. When “prospecting” for crappie this time of year, it’s important to stay on the move and fish a variety of depths and types of cover until you locate actively feeding fish. Carry a good assortment of jigs and live minnows. Sometime crappie prefer very small minnows and other times, usually when the fish are on a more  active bite, they will readily take bigger baits. When crappie are especially tough to catch, many crappie pros employ a technique known as ‘Spider rigging’ where several baits are droped down at varied depths and the trolling motor is used to slowly push the boat over bits of likely crappie attracting structure. When crappie are not actively chasing bait, there’s something about the sight of a live minnow drifting away from their strike zone that triggers instant and aggressive bites.

In a few weeks, with the onset of colder weather, crappie will begin to concentrate in big schools around heavy cover in brush 20-30 feet deep and there they will remain until the onset of warming weather next spring. Until then, take a tip from the pros at CATS and stay on the move and try a variety of baits and depths until you locate actively feeding fish.

To learn more about CATS, check out the website at www.crappieclub.org.

Article by Luke Clayton
Listen to Outdoors with Luke Clayton Radio at www.catfishradio.com. Contact Luke with fishing and hunting news at lukeclayton@prodigy.net