After spawning is complete, crappies begin dissipating out of shallow spawning sites toward summer options in the main lake. During this transition, the fish in natural lakes encounter developing weed beds atop the flats. Crappies commonly begin loosely gathering in the deepest weed growth bordering the first drop-off to deep water.

By mid-June, this cover is growing, although likely not yet reaching all the way to the surface. The result is clumpy weeds bordering the drop-off, with a foot or two of open water between the weed tops and the surface. Plus, there’s usually some open space between clumps of coontail or individual strands of cabbage where you can work a lure down between the greenery.

During the day, the fish are likely to be less active, hunkered down in the shade beneath the fronds and leaves. But come evening, about the time the sun sinks to the tops of nearby trees on shore, they begin poking their noses out from below the cover, rising above the weeds or slightly outside their deeper edges. Now actively feeding on fry and insects as dusk approaches, they become very catchable.

The easiest way to catch them is to cast a 1/32-ounce jig or jig & plastic tail combo above the weed tops, using light spinning tackle with 4- to 6-pound-test line. Cast out, let the jig sink a few feet to a level just above the weeds, and reel it slowly back to the boat with your rod tip held upward at about the 2 o’clock position. Moat hits occur as light thumps, sometimes bending the rod tip, and sometimes with the line simply getting heavy.

If you’re fishing well before sundown and the fish aren’t yet active, let the jig sink a bit deeper and try to work it between stalks and fronds of weeds. Crappies will move out from below the cover, out to the sides of it, to attack a jig passing nearby.

Should the fish appear to be active outside the ragged deep weed line, cast more parallel to and just outside the weeds. Let your jig sink to the level of active fish, which could run anywhere from near surface to near the bottom. Experiment with sink time until you establish a zone of activity, all the while expecting the magic depth to progressively shift shallower as daylight fades.

If the fish are active enough, you can even try casting 1 1/2-inch, minnow-shaped, neutral-buoyancy crankbaits like #04 Rapala X-Raps, alternately swimming and pausing them just above the weeds. At rest, these baits suspend just above the crappies’ noses, tantalizing them to strike.

This high-riding pattern lasts until the weeds begin rising to and poking out of the surface toward the end of June. At this point, the fishing becomes heavily oriented to the outside edge of the deep weeds, particularly where twists or turns in the weed line occur, or where thicker clumps of weeds along the outer edge draw tight clusters of crappies. But before that happens, the fish will be more loosely schooled or grouped in general areas, where developing weeds provide good combinations of cover and feeding opportunities for high-riding crappies.

For more insight and tips for fishing throughout the year, check out the articles in every issue of MidWest Outdoors, available by subscribing on our website.