Well, it’s the first of May and it actually feels like it! We’ve had rather inconsistent weather up until this point and it really hasn’t warmed up for any length of time. That has made crappie fishing the past month much more difficult than it should be. If it was nice and warm for a day or two the crappie would move into the shallows and bite quite well. Then, the next day it would cool down and the fish would move right back out to deeper water. At least now the 10 day forecast appears to be nothing but sun so that should make for perfect crappie catching conditions.
If you’re headed out for crappie, look for shallow areas that have a black bottom to them. These areas warm up the fastest and will draw in the bait these fish are after. I prefer to use a small blade/jig combo as shown in the picture below. This helps me cover water quickly and locate active panfish. This lure is normally not the best at catching numbers of fish but once I locate them I switch over to a more subtle presentation like a small jig and a crappie minnow under a float.
With excellent weather being forecasted and the large number of panfish we currently have in the area I predict the fishing will be excellent over the next month! It’s going to be a great time to get the family out on the water to catch some fish. Keep in mind if you don’t have a boat it’s not a problem this time of year. Crappie will be very accessible in many areas right from shore and once walleye fishing opens there is ample opportunity to catch them from shore as well.
In my opinion, walleye opener is going to be one of the best ones we’ve seen for a while. In the past couple years the water has been extremely cold, so fishing was very sporadic and downright slow for most anglers. This year the water is warming up nicely which will make the walleye much more aggressive. I was able to head an hour west of Alexandria this past week to fish for walleye with a good friend on our state’s boarder water. The walleye over there are already biting quite well, so that means the walleye in the Alexandria area should be ready and willing to bite come opener. I will post again shortly after opener to let you know if my predictions were right and what type of areas and techniques produced the most walleye for me. Good luck, and as always if you have any questions feel free to shoot me an email, text or call.
