5 Top Locations for Early Fall Crappie

Early autumn is a transition time for crappie, with some fish holding in summer patterns and others behaving more like it’s fall. Top fishing locations capitalize on seasonal conditions. Five of the finest area types for early fall crappie fishing are bridges along causeways, channel edge cover and structure, inflow zones, docks, and bluff banks.

We’ll examine each type of area and why it tends to hold fish this time of year and then break down how to pick the best specific area and find fish within an area.

Bridges along causeways that span a lake’s creek and river arms hold crappie throughout the year, but these spots really stand out this time of year. Crappie tend to work their way up creek and river arms during fall. Causeway bridges provide pinch points that concentrate the fish, and an abundance of quality cover makes them likely stopping areas. Shad, which provide important forage for crappie through the fall, also tend to work their way up creek and river arms during fall.

Because bridges offer so much cover and structure, often with a broad range of bottom depths, finding the crappie around any given bridge sometimes takes searching. Often the bridge supports that are nearest the channel break are a key zone, but at times most fish will be near deeper or shallower bridge supports or against the riprap at either end. Wind direction, current and sun orientation can also play a role in positioning the fish.

One of the best things about causeway bridges is that they often provide easy access to good fishing for shoreline anglers. The riprap leading to a bridge and often beneath it at both ends and the first set of bridge supports – all key areas – are typically within easy casting range. A bit of homework, looking at a topo map and an online satellite view, can be very helpful for seeing where the channel runs and identifying other structure and cover that is within casting range.

As already noted, the crappie and their forage commonly work their way up creek arms through fall, and the channel edges serve as highways. The fish could be anywhere along a channel, so search strategies like long-line trolling or spider rigging can be effective for finding them. However, they tend to concentrate near cover and structural features, which work like highway exits.

Various cover and structure types commonly serve as concentration points. Cover includes flooded timber, stumps, brush piles and manmade fish attractors. Structural features that hold groups of fish include channel bends, creek or ditch confluences and the ends of points that extend all the way to the channel.

Best-of-both-worlds spots, which are common on reservoirs that are popular for crappie fishing or for bass fishing, are brush piles, stake beds or other fish attractors that have been strategically placed in key locations like channel bends or confluences. When fisheries agencies place “fish attractors” they intentionally place them in areas that favor high use by the fish. Unsurprisingly, anglers who add their own brush or other attractors do likewise.

Early autumn often brings more comfortable temperatures for anglers. That makes it easy to forget that lake temperatures change far more gradually than air temps. Often, even when it feels like fall outside, many crappie remain in summer mode, and areas that provide a bit of thermal refuge can be key concentration points.

The upper ends of a lake’s river arms and the backs of any creeks that have water flowing into them provide some of the most dependable temperature breaks and frequently hold crappie this time of year. Creeks and rivers get more shade through the day, and the water doesn’t stay in one place to bake. Therefore, they normally run cooler than the lakes they flow into. Depending on the creek temp and amount of water, the difference might be extremely localized, or it might spread down the creek arm.  Watch temperature gauges. A difference of only a couple of degrees can make a major difference.

Crappie don’t like a lot of current, but they’ll hold near current for thermal relief. Significant eddies far up a flowing tributary can be goldmines. Lacking noteworthy current, look for laydowns, stumps or other traditional crappie cover and for schools of small shad anywhere in the zone where the water is cooler than the bulk of that creek or river arm.

Docks provide all-day shade for crappie and minnows and cover for the fish to utilize. Many are also sweetened by brush planted beneath them or just off their edges, and some feature lights that stay on through the night and create crappie appeal around the clock.

Whatever your dock-fishing approach, an important thing to remember is that not all docks are created equal. A dock’s location within a lake and relative to a channel edge, the water depth, the size of the dock, the amount of dock-support structure, and enhancements like brush and lights all make a difference. Docks that stretch close to the channel edge in the lower ends of creek arms tend to be extra productive during early fall.

Work quickly from dock to dock initially and pay careful attention to common denominators anytime you catch a fish. Patterning is critical. Also, give extra attention to obvious “fishing docks” that have enhancements like fishing chairs, rod holders and lights aimed at the water. These docks usually have good brush around them. Of course, modern electronics with side-scanning or live sonar technology can speed up the searching and patterning process.

Patterning also applies to where fish are positioned under docks. If you find them over six feet of water in the shade and on the down current side of a couple of docks, there’s a good chance they’ll be in the same zone around other docks. Refining that part of the pattern can allow you to fish far more efficiently, which typically equates with catching more fish.

Some docks provide good foot access to quality crappie fishing spots. Many parks have fishing docks or piers that provide good opportunities, and marinas will sometimes allow fishing access for a modest fee.

Bluff banks commonly exist where a creek or river channel swings against the bank, creating easy access to deeper water for the crappie. Bluffs also offer provide shade farther out and through more of the day than flatter banks, and they commonly have tree tops at their bases or laydowns stretching down them, as tress atop the ever-eroding bluffs occasionally topple and sweeten the spot.

Bluffs seldom are completely flat and uniform. Ledges, outcrops and indentations form eddies from river current and wind current, create more complex structure, and commonly hold collections of wood cover. The combined benefit from an angling standpoint is that irregularities enhance the crappie habitat and create likely fish concentration points that allow you to find fish and to target them more efficiency.

Pay extra careful attention to the ends of a bluff. The “swing banks,” where the channel first meets the banks and then moves away from it, offer a broad range of habitat offerings in a small area and therefore tend to be concentration points for fish. These zones are easily recognizable by a noteworthy change in the shore slope and makeup.

Whatever the location type, crappie can be a bit fussy this time of year. It is not that they are not eating. Their metabolism is high, so they feed a decent amount. Forage is plentiful and readily available, though, and many waterways run extra clear from late summer through mid-autumn. The result can be finicky fish that reject normally reliable lures.

The Bobby Garland Itty Bit series provides an excellent solution when crappie get fussy. Four of Garland’s most popular and effective crappie baits, the Slab Slayer, Swim’R, Slab Hunt’R and Mayfly are available in 1.25-inch Itty Bit versions that have all the same features as the originals. Garland also makes Itty Bits Jigheads in 1/48- and 1/64-ounce sizes that are designed to match with the Itty Bit baits.

While the lures in this series have their tiny size in common, they are quite different in profile and in the way they move in the water. Collectively, they provide excellent options for a broad range of techniques and location types.

• Itty Bit Slab Slay’R
• Itty Bit Swim’R
• Itty Bit Slab Hunt’R
• Itty Bit Mayfly
• Itty Bits Jigheads