Question: Stokes, how will you catch crappie when the weather’s so hot that you can fry eggs on the sidewalk?

McClellan: I’ll find most of my crappie in the mouths of feeder creeks close to the river channel. I also will locate crappie on underwater river ledges and underwater bends of the old river channel. In my area, we fish in water depths of 18 to 25 feet during the summer.

Question: Why will the crappie be holding in the mouths of feeder creeks?

McClellan: The bait’s moving out of the creeks, and the shallow water in the creeks is starting to warm-up. So, the crappie move out toward the main part of the lake to hold on their summer pattern in deep water. Crappie also search for current or flow, which usually carries more-cool and more-oxygenated water than the main part of the river.

Question: Why will you be fishing the mouths of creeks in July and August?

McClellan: Most anglers miss good crappie fishing by not checking the mouths of creeks. The water’s generally deeper where the creek runs into the river channel, and if that creek is either spring-fed or running over rocks before it comes into the lake, it may be cooler or more oxygenated. Dissolved oxygen stays in cool water better than it does in hot water, and often the water temperature in the creek will be 2- to 4-degrees cooler than the temperature in the main river channel. You’ll find crappie concentrating at the mouths of these creeks where the cool water meets the warm water. If you can locate a spring-fed creek coming into the river, you’ll find crappie holding there. Besides attracting crappie, the right water temperature and dissolved oxygen also draw baitfish for the crappie to eat. Crappie will hold in the mouths of cool-water creeks all summer.

Question: How big of a temperature change do you want to see from the water in the river?

McClellan: If you can find as little as 2-degrees-cooler water in the creek than the temperature of the water at the same depth in the main river, the crappie will be holding in the creek mouths. Oftentimes we’ll see as much as a 4-degree temperature change in these cool-water creeks.

Question: Why will the crappie be holding on main-river ledges?

McClellan: The ledges provide a place where crappie can move up and down in the water column without having to travel any distance. In the morning, when the water temperature’s cool, the crappie can move-up and suspend in more-shallow water. The crappie usually will feed on tops of the ledges where the bait’s easier to catch. Then as the sun rises, and the weather gets hotter, the crappie can sink down and hold above, beside or below the ledge. Crappie prefer to move vertically as the temperature changes, rather than horizontally.

Question: Will the crappie be suspended over the main-river channel?

McClellan: Most of the crappie are suspended, but they’ll be suspended close to some type of bottom-contour change. They like either a bend in the river or a 20-foot ledge that drops off into the main-river channel. Too, I’ve noticed that if I can find the crappie holding close to the ledge, they’re much easier to catch than if they’re suspended above, below or off to the right or the left of the ledge.

Question: How will you catch these crappie?

McClellan: I’ll fast-troll for the crappie using a heavier jig than I do in the spring. I’ll use a 1/8-ounce jighead during the summer months as opposed to a 1/16- and a 1/32-ounce jig that I fish throughout most of the rest of the year. Not only do we use heavier jigheads, we also fish with bigger grubs like 3-inch ones during July and August. The shad are larger at this time of year, and the crappie are more aggressive. The crappie key-in on larger baits.

Question: What jigs do you use, and what color skirt seems to be the best?

McClellan: I prefer the Charlie Brewer Crappie Slider motor oil-colored jigs. The Culprit Tassel Tail Worms also are productive because they give a slightly-bigger image than the curly-tail worms. I also like Bass Pro Shops’ Triple Ripple baits and the 9-foot B‘n’M Sam Heaton Super-Sensitive rod. I also will use the 12-, the 14- and the 16-foot B‘n’M trolling rods.

Question: Do you use a lead on the line to get those jigs down to that deeper water?

McClellan: No, I only use the weight of the jig. I make a long cast – about 80- to 90-feet away from the boat – and run my trolling motor or my big motor at 0.7 or 0.8 miles per hour. That gets my jig down to about 20 feet on 4-pound-test line. If I increase my speed to 1-mile per hour, my jigs will be running at 16- to 18-feet deep.

Question: During July and August, how many and what size crappie will you catch?

McClellan: In a day of fishing, I’ll catch about 75 crappie and a number of these crappie will be in the 1-1/2-pound class. We also catch plenty of small crappie, even on large baits.

Question: Why are most people not fishing deep water in the hot summer?

McClellan: Fishing this way may be a little-more difficult for people because you have to really pay attention to your electronics to keep your boat right on the breakline. Using a GPS in conjunction with your depth finder can make a difference. When I see crappie on my depth finder, I’ll mark those crappie as a waypoint on my GPS. Then I’ll turn around and troll over them again. I’ve found that crappie don’t tend to move as much in the hot-summer weather as they do at various times of the year. Therefore, if you find an area where you see a lot of crappie holding, you can fish that section all day. Too, I prefer to fish at this time of year because there’s not nearly as much boat traffic, especially in the middle of the day, as there is in the spring and the fall. I’ve found that from daylight to about 10:30 am is when I catch the most crappie using this technique.

Question: What lakes do you fish at this time of year?

McClellan: I fish High Rock Lake and Lake Wylie in North Carolina.

Question: So, you believe there’s still plenty of good crappie to be caught, even during the hottest part of the year, if anglers will fish deeper, use heavier jigs and pay attention to their depth finders?