Keith Lusher 11.15.24
As the cold air pours south, the river temps are dipping. For Matt Schwierjohn of Raceland, LA, the temperature dip is forcing him to divide his time between his two loves – duck hunting and crappie fishing.
Lately, Schwierjohn has been fishing the Tickfaw River in Southeast LA. The river is known for its healthy population of crappie. And while Schwierjon fishes for crappie year-round, November is one of his favorite months to fish the river because the fish are starting to gather in tighter groups. “I find the sac-a-lait school up better and are easier to find in deeper sections of the rivers,” he said. In addition to the crappie grouping up tighter, Schwierjohn said he finds that they are less hesitant to bite.“They seem to feed better when the water temperatures go down,” he said.
Schwierjohn utilizes Garmin ECHOMAP 93SV for GPS, side scan and down scan. On the bow of his boat, he operates a Garmin GPSMAP 1022. “This setup has become invaluable when targeting sac-a-lait in deeper water,” said the 29-year old.
On his latest fishing trip, Schwierjohn was on the Tickfaw River. He was on the main channel using his side-scan in 20 feet of water when he saw a bunch of marks on his screen.
“It was a brush-pile with what appeared to be a large group of fish suspended over it,” he said. “Every time I find sac-a-lait suspended over structure, it gets me worked up because I know those fish will probably be feeding pretty heavy.”
The anxious angler lowered his Bobby Garland jig down and stopped when it was about five feet above the school. All at once, four sac-a-lait swam up and tried to swallow the jig.
“Then I knew it was on,” he said.
Schwierjohn pulled nine crappie out of the school with all of them being over 10 inches.
November Setup
This month, Schwierjohn stays in the main rivers and targets tree tops and brush piles that are in 15-25 feet of water.
His rod of choice is an 8-foot ACC Crappie Stix rod. For a reel, he uses Lew’s American Hero and spools it with Seaguar Fluorocarbon. His favorite lure is a Bobby Garland Baby Shad in “Bone White” color. Since he is fishing in deeper water he uses a heavier jig than normal. “I like to use a 1/16-ounce jig head but I also add more weight with a 1/8-ounce spilt-shot on the line about one foot and a half above the jig.
The weight serves as a marker when dropping his line down into a school of crappie.
“It’s much easier to find my jig on the screen when I use the split-shot because it’s easier to spot two falling dots on the screen rather than just the one,” he said.
As the weather gets colder, Schwierjohn said anglers have the chance to fill the box with fish without covering too much water.
The colder water temperatures will group baitfish tighter which also helps in keeping the crappie segregated to isolated areas in the rivers.
Schwierjohn recommends targeting the deeper rivers like the East Pearl, Tchefuncte, and Tickfaw Rivers in Southeast, LA.
