 Crappie Fishing
We offer small pond and watershed lake crappie fishing that has an abundance of crappie habitat that larger bodies of water cannot match. Our waters have more structure for the crappie to suspend themselves rather than just from along the shore. This combined with the generally shallower overall average depth of farm ponds and watershed lakes makes for more crappie habitat per acre than larger, deep water lakes.  In general terms crappie inhabit a water strata from 1 to 10 feet with 4 to 8 feet the most densely packed suspension area. This will change with the clarity of the water and the intensity of sunlight. Both of these factors make fishing better on overcast, windy days in the morning or afternoon.
This is the value of small water body crappie fishing -- that is, more shallow water bottom, water more likely not to be clear due to wind on the shallow water and the Association's habitat development. All this combined makes more likely a stringer of slab crappie from a short morning or afternoon. The most common crappie fishing method is by moving a boat over a shallow water structure and jigging. This is most effective in clouded or muddied water when the crappie are less likely to be spooked by the boat overhead and all the noise that accompanies the boat and its occupants. The only caution is that floating objects on many of our waters will be completely foreign to the fish in that pond or lake as they are typically not used.  Shore and wader fishermen will find it easy to access many of the farm ponds to include the structures out towards the middle of the water. Watershed lake fishermen will want more than waders to access all the possible fishing sites within the lake.
In all cases boat access to our waters is primitive and the hand portable boats the most commonly used. Electric trolling and small gas powered motors are permissible. Middle May traditionally marks the beginning of the best crappie fishing. However, during the warmer springs April first is the time to start. The problem with this time of year is competition for  time between crappie fishing and spring turkey hunting. Each hunter/fisherman can only do one at at a time with many turkey hunting the mornings and fishing the afternoons. Mid-America Hunting Association offers the crappie fisherman the opportunity for solitude on private farm ponds and watershed lakes for non-competitive fishing.
Read a Kansas City Star newspaper article about our Crappie fishing. | 
