Crappie fishing in Renfrew county

[Wolfy]

Hey all,

With Soft water fishing right around the corner, im looking to start my spring hunt off bagging some crappies. Never really fished for these species, so any info with regards to tackle presentation, baits, depths, water temps, etc. would be an awesome help. The main question though is what are some good lakes to catch crappies in the renfrew county area? Preferably in the Arnprior-Pembroke areas.

thx in advance,

Wolfy

[Jul0682]

I'm with yah on that one bud.. want to get into the crappie as well but ore in the Ottawa region but always looking for so tips and tricks..

Cheers

[Out4trout]

Shallow (2-6') mud flats - creeks and inflows, lined with cattails, think warmest water. 45-50F water, and above.

They will sometimes travel quite a way up a creek to get to the warm water. Absolutely can shore fish them. One of the places I fish is a clear and open creek channel, lined both sides with cattails, with bedrock jutting from the cattails providing footing. This same creek channel is totally lilypad choked by late June. From the boat, I fish the wider part, flat bottom bay leading into the same inflows.

Coming soon, this time of year they are hungry, and predictable, the only time of the year that they are this easy to catch. Prefer cooler water than bass, so out of season catches are not as common as one might think. The occasional bass does sneak in, especially as the water gets above 55F, but once the bass inhabit the shallows the crappie bite is ending. If a pike cruises in, the crappie bite ends real fast.

The crappie are rather skittish in the shallow water, so a quiet approach is good. Thill pencil floats make less of a splash than globes. Float usually goes sideways not down. Business end is usually a micro jig with either a panfish plastic or tiny minnow. I generally only use Artificials, and the more it looks like a larva than a fish, the better. Crappie eat mostly invertebrates.

Hope this helps!!

[kliven]

Not entirely sure about fishing in Renfrew county, but I had fairly good fishing last year on the Rideau river, around the Kemptville area. As Out4trout mentioned, a pencil/slip bobber with a jig on the end seemed to do the trick.

As for bait, I used Berkley Power Nymphs, and they were quite effective! The crappie really weren't too picky regarding the colour or presentation though - I'm sure you'll even be able to catch them on small cranks or jerkbaits!

Another thing to look out for is shallow water cover such as stumps and logs. I found a whole school of crappie relating to sunken log last year!

[smitty55]

Checking out Fish ON-Line shows Colby lake, Golden Lake, Lemke, and some others including Calabogie, but I'd be hesitant to believe everything on that site. I would think that the Ottawa would be a sure bet, as would a lake like Colby that has a creek running all the way to Pembroke.

Cheers

[Jul0682]

Those are awesome pointers for sure, will look into this and hopefully be able to catch some this year. .

Cheers