Fall multispecies hot-spots: Rock bars and cribs for walleye and crappie
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As water temperatures cool in fall, walleye and crappie roll out of their late-summer doldrums and strap on the feedbag in advance of the ice-locked months of winter. Rather than scattered over large feeding flats or roaming open water, I often find my favorite target species to be closely associated with two primary types of structure: rock bars and artificial fish cribs. In this article, I'll demonstrate how Humminbird's Side Imaging technology can be used to identify these structures and to find the fish that are using them. Once we discuss location, I'll touch on a couple of very productive methods for putting fall walleye and crappie in the boat.
Dr. Jason Halfen
Professional Walleye Angler
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First, let's take a look at some productive rock bars. In my experience, the most productive rock bars are connected to shore, are relatively shallow on top (under 6-8 feet of water), and are surrounded by deeper water, 15-20 deep. The deep water serves as a resting place for inactive fish, while the shallow rock bar itself is a primary focus for feeding activity. The rock bar needs to be shallow enough for the relatively weak mid-day fall sun to penetrate all the way to the rocks; I believe that the sunlight fuels the food web that is established on these bars, making them more productive than deeper rock or gravel flats. Below is a screen capture from my Humminbird 1197 that shows of a shoreline-connected shallow rock bar.
I've annotated the screen capture to point out a couple of significant features. First, the shoreline is to the right, noted with red dots. The base of the shallow rock bar (about 6 feet deep at its highest point) is noted in green dots. The water surrounding this bar is 14-18 feet deep. The bar itself has an abrupt drop off at its far end, as indicated by the sonar shadow present to the right of the bar's tip. By inspection of the colors on the Side Image, we can determine that the bar is composed of hard sand and gravel (brighter white in color), but surrounded by areas of softer bottom (darker shades of blue).
Fall walleye love snap-jigged Trigger X minnows!
Careful examination of this screen capture allows us to see that there are some larger rocks out towards the tip, and that a school of crappies is associated with the middle of the bar (noted with a red arrow). Having identified this structure, I can use my Humminbird 1197 to drop waypoints on the most relevant portions of the bar, including its tip as well as the school of crappies associated with the bar. The ability of Humminbird Side Imaging fishing systems to mark waypoints without having to drive the boat directly over them gives me a powerful advantage when structure fishing in this way.
Fish cribs are another key location for me in the fall. Quite easy to identify with Humminbird Side Imaging, our local cribs are typically built from half-logs and are approximately 6 ft square. Here's a 3-way splot screen capture from my Humminbird 1197, showing a crib (in Down Imaging and traditional, dual-beam sonar) that I have driven directly over, as well as a second crib to the left of the boat, clearly seen as a bright square in Side Imaging. Without Side Imaging, the location of that second crib is a mystery, unless the boater drives direclty over the top of it as well. These cribs are at the base of a sand bar (indicated by the brighter bottom in Down Imaging and Side Imaging.
Now, here's my secret: finding cribs isn't the most powerful thing you can do when your boat is equipped with Humminbird Side Imaging. My home lake has literally hundreds of cribs in it. The key is to be able to pick the right cribs to fish, as only a fraction of the total number of cribs will actually be holding catchable fish at any one time. Side Imaging allows me to not only find the cribs, but also to identify the schools of crappie and walleye that are associated with them. At left is a great example of a Side Image of a crib that is actually holding fish....certainly worthy of a waypoint and some focused effort at catching them. Far from shooting casts into the dark, Humminbird's Side Imaging technology allows me to pinpoint productive structure AND the fish that are using it.
Ok....we've found some structure and found some fish. How do I target these fall walleye and crappie? One way is the traditional jig/minnow combo, which accounts for many fish every fall. However, two new baits that I've added to my arsenal this fall, Trigger X 3" and 4" minnows, have proven to be so productive that I am now comfortable leaving the minnows back at the shop! Trigger X minnows are infused with fish attracting- and triggering pheromones, and are very effective when fished using a snap-jigging technique. Rig them on 1/8 oz (3" minnows) or 1/4 oz (4" minnows) jigs, and snap them aggressively through areas that are known to be holding fish. I snap my baits by flicking my wrist from 10 o-clock to 12 o-clock, and allowing the bait to fall back to the bottom on a tight line. Hang on, because bites from these fall fish are quite aggressive, and you'll really enjoy the "thunk" of a free-falling Trigger X bait being interrupted by a dandy fall walleye or slab crappie, like the ones below. Find key locations and active fish using Humminbird's Side Imaging technology, and then give Trigger X baits a try this fall....you'll see why I am willing to leave the minnows on shore!
