Learn how a veteran crappie guide locates crappie throughout autumn by tracking the fish’s seasonal migration in creek arms of reservoirs.
Whether he’s fishing his home lake or unfamiliar waters, Terry Blankenship finds a creek to track the fall crappie transition.
On his home waters of Lake of the Ozarks, Blankenship favors fishing the Grand Glaize Creek arm, which he notes features a lot of springs that keep the creek cooler and constantly flowing. When picking creeks to find crappie throughout the fall migration, Blankenship prefers feeder creeks with constant water flow rather than creek coves that have dry beds and a lack of current during the summer.
The Missouri guide has found that the shallower water in the backs of feeder creeks cools down quicker than the main lake, which triggers the fall crappie transition. The cooler nights of early autumn also help cool down the shallows and draw both baitfish and crappie to the backs of the feeder creeks. “The baitfish such as shad and minnows are like all the gamefish, so they want to go to the most comfortable water and come to the cooler water of the creeks as well,” Blankenship said. “Typically, the bigger crappie know where the smorgasbords are at and that is kind of the key is the fact that this creek’s water cools the quickest and the crappie start migrating to it.”
The Bobby Garland Crappie Baits pro staffer starts fishing the backs of the feeder creeks in early autumn. As the season progresses and the water continues to cool, Blankenship will move to the middle section of the creek by mid-autumn, and then by late fall concentrates on the lower part of the creek near the main lake.
Fishing Up the Creek
Although he can catch crappie 25 to 30 feet deep on the main lake in early fall, Blankenship prefers fishing the backs of feeder creeks because he can catch quality crappie in the shallows. Even though the water temperature in the backs of the creeks is in the high 80s, the springs and current make the upper creek a few degrees cooler than the main lake and lower ends of the creeks.
Crappie also have plenty of cover to set up ambush points in the backs of the feeder creeks. “In the upper end of the creeks there are quite a few logs and brush and stuff that get washed into the creek,” Blankenship said.
When Blankenship enters the back of a feeder creek, he usually starts fishing at depths of 12 to 15 feet and keeps moving shallower until he starts catching crappie. As the creek narrows, Blankenship will move as shallow as his Nitro bass boat allows. “I have actually had to drag the bottom with my boat a little bit to get into some holes,” he said. “Sometimes I can get into some of these creek arms and find I might have to go through some shallower water to get to a deeper pocket.”
During early fall, Blankenship keys on any cover sitting close to the creek channel where current keeps the water cooler. As the shallows continue to cool through early fall, Blankenship will start targeting the cover along the upper creek’s vast flats.
Even though he is fishing a lot of visible cover, Blankenship still relies on his Humminbird MEGA Live 2 forward facing sonar to look for crappie in the cover. “I won’t stop (at a piece of cover) unless I see fish,” he said. “You can find a lot of brush and a lot of logs in a creek area that aren’t productive, so you just have to find the ones that are productive.”
Move to the Middle
When the water temperature drops into the 70s, Blankenship follows the crappie bite down to the wider and deeper mid-section of the feeder creek.
Sunken manmade brush piles become Blankenship’s key targets in this section of the creek by the middle of autumn. He starts fishing at a depth of 10 feet and then either moves shallower or deeper until he catches some crappie.
The mid-section of the creek features a main channel and some coves, so Blankenship must rely on his electronics more to find crappie in the brush or roaming in open water chasing shad schools. “My main thing with electronics is I won’t fish a spot unless I see the crappie,” he said. “Unless I just know there is stuff in front of me already, I will just go ahead and scan the spot. The Humminbird’s side scan and down scan are so good a lot of times if I spot something from a distance I will go back and down scan and try to determine what it is and the depth of it and that will give me a starting point to look for fish.”
Once he finds crappie in the brush or in open water, Blankenship relies on his MEGA Live FFS to keep track of his lures descending to the fish. He notes keeping his lure above the crappie is the key to triggering bites.
Blankenship sometimes finds crappie feeding on shad in the shallows of the coves in mid-autumn. He catches these fish either in open water or around shallow docks.
Late Fall on the Lower End
The best crappie action moves to the lower end of the creek and into the main lake once the water temperature drops into the 60s. “Once the temperatures get down into the 60s is a prime temperature range for crappie,” Blankenship said. “They get a lot more active and we start searching for those crappie in the open water then.”
The Missouri angler targets crappie on the lower end of the creek about the same ways as he fishes the mid-section. If the dam in running water and creating current, Blankenship keys on the main channel of the creek. If there is no current, Blankenship follows the baitfish into the coves and pockets to find late fall crappie.
Although he finds some crappie 2 to 3 feet deep in the coves during this time, most of the fish in the coves will be suspended over depths 10 to 20 feet. The main channel crappie he finds usually are suspended 10 to 20 feet deep over water as deep as 80 feet.
Once again, electronics play a key role in helping Blankenship stay close to suspended crappie chasing shad in the open water of the coves and main channel.
Blankenship notices he can track both white and black crappie via the creek route throughout the fall, although black crappie will suspend in schools more in open water by mid to late fall.
Creek Techniques for Fall Crappie
Terry Blankenship changes lures and presentations for different phases of the crappie bite in the creeks during the fall.
*In the upper end of the creek, Blankenship makes short pitches to visible cover to keep his lures close to the wood.
*If the crappie are holding tight to the shallow wood, he presents his jigs vertically to the inactive fish.
*The upper end of a feeder creek usually contains newly hatched shad, so Blankenship tries to match the hatch by tying on Bobby Garland Crappie Baits Itty Bits and Slab Stalk’Rs with either a 1/16- or 1/24-ounce jighead.
*When he fishes the middle section of a feeder creek, Blankenship either casts to open water crappie with a Baby Shad or Baby Shad Swim’R on a 1/16-ounce jighead or sets the same lures under a bobber. If he finds docks to shoot, Blankenship favors shooting a 3-inch Slab Slay’R or 2.25-inch Minnow Mind’R.
*Blankenship frequently uses a Baby Shad set below a bobber for fishing suspended crappie on the lower end of the creek. If he encounters heavy fishing pressure in the area, he will downsize to Itty Bits.
