Heat of the Summer Shallow Fishing For Crappie and Blue Gill

[slip.sinker]

Heat of the Summer Shallow Fishing For Crappie and Blue Gill
I grew up reading all the fishing literature I could get my hands on… when summer time water temps get to the peak. I was schooled hit the deep edge breaks and drop-offs… hit the deepwater flats… fish find relief and comfort in those deep water zones.

I was taught and still read literature today.. You want crappie?... you have to go deep for them during the summer periods.

Buck Perry Taught the angler, fish move up to the shallow breaks from their deepwater sanctuaries to feed and then move back… following structure along the way.

I used to believe… struggled to get those consistent catches in the deepwater sanctuaries.

The past 10 years or so I’ve done a nearly complete 180° degrees in my fishing knowledge and methods.

I fish the 6-9’ flats over 90% of the time… that is where most of the food is generated in a BOW… the food chain is the hottest in productivity. Sure there are insects on the bottom in the depths to support fish populations… airborne insects deposit eggs indiscriminately. Schools are supported and basically, stay put but I feel they are less populated than the schools that inhabit the shallow flats.

Hence I elect to fish the shallows where the water is dirtier and the fish are more abundant and larger in size. Is it easier to fish the shallows?... of course it is!

I love tagging the lunkers in the shallows between the docks during the summer boating and swimming traffic. (#betweenthedocks) Micro Jigging with 1/64 oz jigs long-casted on tweaked rods, reels and lines are the favorite methods followed by slip floating the waxie.

Follow my son and I while we tagged many Lepomis and crappie in water as shallow as 1-0’ in this video.

I feel anyone could learn something from another angler no matter at what level.

Enjoy everyone
https://youtu.be/v-PT4lXfrZs
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[SenkoSam]

I was schooled hit the deep edge breaks and drop-offs… hit the deepwater flats… fish find relief and comfort in those deep water zones.

So much of what was passed along as fishing wisdom was untested speculation at best. Even Homer Circle had his moments of illogical logic based not in fact but fantasy for the masses to buy whatever he was selling.

Fish are cold blooded - PERIOD! Comfort is not a quest for fish - finding and staying near food fish is. That could be in as little as a few feet as in the video or in 6-9'. We caught crappie today in 6' with water temp 83. In the last few weeks the water has been over 82 degrees and we've managed over 50-60 fish in 5 hours between the two of us which included 11" crappie, 8" sunfish, today a 1 3/4 lb catfish, yellow perch and a few bass. All were caught on small jigs (1/24 oz - 1/16 oz) and different color and shaped soft plastics. Braid and an ultralight rod were key in strike detection and hook sets. I'm not sure what you were using.

The hits were HARD! when fish were found and in the two lakes we fished none were shallower than 6'.
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