Ice-fishing for crappies is a unique game. Finding crappies during the spring when the water is starting to warm is relatively easy. The fish are preparing to spawn and they are looking for an easy meal, so they begin migrating toward the shallows from deeper water.

Things are a little different during the winter, however. The fish are not preparing to spawn, and the cold water has significantly reduced their metabolism from what it will be in the springtime. The crappies are typically not hanging around shallow shoreline areas, either. They can still be caught, however, and sometimes a good winter crappie bite can rival the best spring or summer action!

But where are the best places to look for winter fish on your favorite crappie water? The frozen surface of the lake hinders you from seeing the weedbeds and subsurface structure that were visible during the open-water fishing season. A thick covering of snow can also make things look a lot different and leave you wondering where to start.

Don't be discouraged, though. The same weedbeds, underwater points and dropoffs that you fished earlier in the year are still there, and you should continue to fish them. If they are hard to locate from memory or from shoreline landmarks, use your electronics to help you find the right areas. Portable sonar units are great tools for ice-fishermen looking for fish-holding structure under the ice.

When you locate an underwater weedbed or a submerged brushpile (or whatever structure you want to fish), quickly drill several holes before you actually start fishing. Start at one edge of the submerged structure and cover different depths and sections of it. The crappies might be holding just off the deep edge of the dropoff, or they may be bunched up over the middle of the weedbed. Once you have multiple holes drilled, you can move from one spot to the next until you find the active fish.

Finding the right areas to fish for winter crappies is one thing, but determining how deep to fish for them can be another. Again, this is where your electronics can make a big difference. Unlike bluegills that like to hang around the bottom, crappies like to suspend. Luckily, this makes them more visible to fishermen with sonar. If you see individual fish or groups of fish suspended off the bottom, drop a bait to them. They are likely to be crappies.

WHERE TO DRILL
Although crappies can be caught out of shallow water during the winter, they are usually more apt to be found suspended over slightly deeper water. Crappies prefer to relate to breaklines along dropoffs and the edges of weedbeds, so look for suspended fish that are hanging around these locations. They also love to suspend around submerged brushpiles and other underwater woody structure.

A good portable sonar unit comes in very handy for ice-anglers who are searching for schools of crappies. Electronics can enable you to find fish quickly and easily. Even if you don't see suspended fish right away, you can see the changes in depth and whether or not there is any weed growth, stumps or brush along the bottom.

Every lake is different, so begin your search in moderate depths. For smaller lakes or shallower bodies of water, this might be 5 to 12 feet of water. For deeper waters, start looking anywhere from 8 to 20 feet deep. When you find a distinctive dropoff or a large underwater brushpile, try fishing on the deeper side of the structure. Crappies often suspend over those areas.

Schools of papermouths also frequently hang around deep cover and patches of submerged vegetation, but you should be sure that the weeds are still green. Dead or dying weeds will not attract fish. Live green weeds provide more oxygen for the fish and they supply plenty of hiding places for small fish and other prey. Good numbers of crappies hover around these feeding zones to take full advantage of a convenient food source. If you are not sure if the weeds that you are seeing on your sonar are still alive and green, snag some with your fishing line and bring it to the surface for a closer look.