Where are the crappie and walleye.

A member sent me a PM yesterday. He asked where to find crappie. So here are some pictures of where you will find crappie and walleye when you are fishing the Kawartha lakes. These are screen shots sorry about the quality. The best place to find crappie anytime after spring, is around some sort of structure. Fallen trees along the shoreline, and areas where rivers dump into lakes where debris has settled. There is some but we don't have a whole lot of that text book structure in general on Sturgeon and Balsam and also Cameron. Here is a picture of a perfect crappie hideout. A fallen tree in eight feet of water.

If you can't find areas like this, then under the water you can find structure. Think of a weed line as a wall under the water. The crappie and walleye during the day will hang out around the bottom of this wall. Swimming in and out of the weeds waiting for, and searching for bait fish. Follow the edge of the weed line as it twists and turns its way around the lake. Think of it as a trail and use the whole trail, following it from the shallows to where it may drop off to deeper water.

A wall does not have to be weeds or a fallen tree. A rocky drop off is a great place to find fish.

Thank you sir - always learning from you.

Another great structure is a rocky weedy trench with water current flowing through it. These areas will have many fish in them.

During the day the crappie and walleye will be spread out more in these weedy areas. It's more of an individual effort for these two species when the sun is out.

At night when the light switch goes off it looks more like this. The crappie cruise the shallows looking for their next victims. Swarming around docks etc. During the day it would be a slower retrieve trying to pull, tempt, lure a fish out of the weeds to hit your bait. At night the fish rise with the darkness and the table is turned. Suspended fish more often than not, on their own adventure hunting for the bait fish. Crappie and walleye both out at night looking for the same three inch minnows that swim 18 to 24 inches under the surface.

One more picture. It's not just the weed line that points the way to where the fish are. Follow the wind line on a breezy day. I always guarantee fish by targeting the areas where the water goes from flat to ripples to waves. Put your boat on that wind line and follow it fishing the moving water.

Just came back from fishing. Got skunked. Just a bunch of rock bass last night like this one. Beautiful night but a bit windy from the north to north east. Didn't see one mosquito. Didn't see any walleye or crappie either. LOL. Good luck to anyone going out today.

CM sorry to hear you did not catch any walleye or crappie, however i am glad you were able to get out fishing. Thanks for the tips everyone appreciates your help on this forum.It has been a struggle this year for sure. Something is not the same as last year and i am not sure what. Weed growth was late, some growth is not even up to where it was last year. The water temp is on par with most years, last year was even warmer. I have fished all of my regular spots and non have produced like last year and some nothing at all. I have tried several methods which worked last year and i thought i was getting them dialled in, but this year some things haven’t produced at all and the fish are hit and miss. One here and there but nothing consistent. Also i have only caught 3 small pike and haven’t seen any while fishing, usually i catch several throughout the season. I hope the fall is a different picture. I have a just over a week of holidays booked for later in September so i hope things improve.

Thank you flexkk . It has been a weird fishing season so far. I think this is the tenth time up to the family house this year. I have been very lucky and caught lots of fish so far so the skunk was inevitable. The next few weeks are going to be normal weather for this time of year in general. Hoping for a normal and consistent Sept. Oct. Nov. Fall fishing will be here soon. Good luck on your holiday fishing. It's ironic and hilarious that my post was about how to find fish. That skunk has a weird sense of humour. Edit.....I just heard it is going to be hot now on the long weekend. You never know about the weather forecast. LOL.

Sorry did not see your post squeezed in there.
I am sure all this information has been shared before. But thank you.