By: Kenny Lookingbill – Date Posted: October, 2010

It’s been two years since that very cold mid-November day of autumn 2008. I recall  fishing the Du Page River in Chicago’s western suburbs. We caught some quality rock bass and smallmouth bass. As our daylight was dwindling in late afternoon, we left for a dinner break before returning again. Our day of fishing was to be concluded in quick fashion with a fast evening outing at a quarry in town before embarking on the two hour journey back to school at Illinois State University. Ultimately, this allegedly short outing turned out to be the complete opposite, and far longer than planned. What occurred during this outing exceeded expectations beyond our wildest dreams.

This forever changed my philosophy on crappie fishing.

Armed with our light action panfish rods and an assortment of jigs and small plastics, first fish was hooked. It was a twelve inch crappie. This same pattern continued for the next two hours, with each of us catching dozens of crappie ranging from 10 to 12 inches.

What makes this experience unique was that our catching took place more than an hour after the full effects of darkness had set in, during mid-November with 30 degree air temperatures. I had never seen anything like it in my life, nor ever heard of it before.

Following the quarry, we fished a nearby retention pond. While casting a 3/8 oz. Rattlin Rapala with hopes of a reaction strike from a bass, I hooked into a 15 inch crappie. It was the largest crappie of my life at that point.

At first I believed that each event of that night was a fluke, and not meant to occur. However, over the last few years, there have been many more outings like this that have taken place for me at different locations. Events like these were occurring on fall nights with air temperatures sometimes falling into nighttime lows of 20 degrees and colder.

Last summer, I eventually discovered that the night bite was not exclusive to only the fall season. I was catching giant crappies up to 16 inches on baits meant for bass. The catches of the large crappie might have been a fluke based on how they were caught. As I reflect on it now, I do not think the timing of the fish feeding window was any accident.

I have finally become a believer in a crappie nighttime feeding window where you can go out at a given time at night and catch some nice fish. Through my nighttime experiences, I have found three key elements to having success. These factors are the following: Shallow flats with structure and adjacent to drop-offs; Vibration from presentation; and lights.

Flats

These areas are utterly impossible to distinguish while it is dark at night. Locating these areas requires some daytime scouting and pre-fishing in order to determine whether or not the location of interest is any good. For instance, finding structure that may be present on the bottom that may not be seen from shore, as well as determining the presence of fish right on the drop-off because they will likely be holding there during the daytime hours. However, at night fish eventually move up on the flat, feeding on small baitfish to gorge themselves up as much as possible before the winter months move in and then they return to the depths and suspend. I have also found the presence of woody debris to also be a very positive attractor on these flats, more so than rip rap. Also vertical structure such as piers and tree stumps are great producers.
Vibration

Considering that it is dark out, vibration is a very important component in order to be successful at catching crappies at night. My trusted setup is a 1/32 oz. Blakemore Roadrunner jig with a colorado blade rigged with one of Charlie Brewer’s 1.5 inch sliders.

I have come to find that color is not a very important factor for nighttime fishing as the crappie’s reaction to the lure is more predicated on vibration from the blade and the paddle tail on the slider rather than color. A lightweight set up with low diameter braid is important for sensitivity because there will be times that there will be a really light bite. In order to detect short bites and to maximize sensitivity, I employ a light action 6ft. Abu Garcia Condolon rod with a Pflueger President 6725 reel spooled with 8lb Berkley Fireline. The braid is resistant to abrasions, much more sensitive to light pickups than monofilament line, and the low diameter greatly increases casting distance so that long casts parallel to shore can be used and the bait is in the strike zone for a greater period of time.

Lights

By far, the number one source of congregation for crappie is lights. Whether that is street lights, or lights at boat ramps, it doesn’t matter. I probably catch 75% of my night crappie in the presence of lights. My belief is that crappies are not attracted to the lights themselves, but rather to the baitfish that school up in lit up areas. The crappies will quickly follow.

The game of fishing for crappie at night is not a terribly complicated or difficult one for that matter. All it requires is perseverance and daytime planning. For instance, you are going to be cold if you are fishing during the late fall months, and layering up with clothing like you are going to be ice fishing is imperative. There will be a handful of miserable nights where you will struggle to catch fish. There will also be some windy nights in which you will come home with a wind burnt face and zero fish to speak of. However, the positive outings will far outweigh the negative ones and those successful outings will be just as consistent if not more than about any other type of fishing you will do throughout the year.

Do yourselves a favor before ice fishing season begins. Hit your local crappie waters during the waning days of open water. Despite what other people may think of your sanity and your body’s protests, just do it. Let the domination of night slabs begin!