It’s a rite of spring: Pre-spawn crappies moving shallow to shoreline cover where they are easy to locate and catch. Ahh…life is good once the shallow bite is on.

But what if the fish haven’t moved shallow yet? Most anglers just bide their time, waiting for the fish to make their move. Smart anglers, however, start their fishing earlier, fishing just outside of where they anticipate crappies to begin entering the shallows.

In natural lakes, it’s usually at submerged weeds at or near the mouth of a spawning bay. If the weather is unstable, crappies often linger in deep, scattered weed growth, lying low in mornings, then rising higher and becoming more active amongst the weed tops as the sun warms the water.

So, if you don’t see crappies in shallow reeds, brush shoreline cover—yet—simply proceed to the outer edge of the shallows and begin casting, using swimming retrieves with small jigs, miniature jig spinners, micro crankbaits or some other small offering. Hold your rod tip high and slowly swim them back to the boat, deep enough to occasionally touch a weed top, to locate pods of active fish. Once located, either continue with this program, or switch to more stationary tactics like a slip bobber and a small jig or live bait to tempt less-active fish into biting. The trick is finding them first.

In reservoirs, crappies are likely to move toward, but not fully into, the backs of bays and suspend, waiting until the time is right to finally move shallow to shoreline cover. In darker waters, it may be 8 feet or less deep. In clearer waters, it could be 8 to 15 feet deep, where you can first spot the fish on your electronics before fishing for them.

Use one of two tactics to catch them:

1) Drift across broad areas—preferably where you’ve already spotted fish—dangling either small jigs or split-shot and hook combos baited with live minnows, at or just above the fish’s level. Place multiple rods in rod holders and set them to drift baits either at or just above the fish’s level. If you don’t know how deep they are, stagger different lines at different depths until you begin catching fish. Then adjsut all of your lines to work that depth level.

2) Longline trolling a mix of small, diving crankbaits at different depths until you begin catching fish, then switch all your baits to work the productive level once determined. It really helps to spread your lines with on-line planer boards to cover broader trolling paths and reach out to crappies spooked aside by the boat’s passage. The good news is, you can probably use an electric motor, rather than an outboard, for a stealthier trolling approach.

3) Continue using these tactics until they suddenly stop producing. When this happens, move up shallow and use polarized sunglasses to peer into shoreline or shallow cover on calm, sunny days. Chances are that you’ll see fish up shallow, either feeding, or preparing to spawn. At that point, switch to shallow tactics, like a small balsa float suspending a 1/32-ounce jig, to continue catching fish that “are in.”

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