Recently, I had the opportunity to hop in the boat with Amos Livingston and fish alongside his brother John. Both are “Team Livingston“, touring pros on several regional and national crappie trails. The brothers are also frequent guests on my Ozarks Outdoors podcast. We hit the water one afternoon on the upper end of Stockton Lake.

The cooler weather and shorter days have the crappie on the move. The best spots are isolated stumps and brush piles adjacent to deeper water. Most of the fish we caught were in less than 10ft deep.

Once a likely spot is located, present your offerings straight down in front of the fish. Jig color depends on the clearly of the water. The more visibility, the more “natural” your offering should be. Of course, it’s always tough to beat a live minnow.

The brothers put some nice fish in the boat. I heard “that’s a tournament fish” more than once that afternoon!  With our recent dry weather, the area lakes are low and that can help concentrate fish in key spots like secondary points, channel breaks, and on brush. They’re not so much in schools as they are roaming, chasing bait fish.  If you see schools of shad in the area, the crappie are likely nearby.

As the sun began to set, we had a nice mess of fish in the boat. Some or our better fish are laid out in the above photo. The fishing will only get better as the water continues to cool. This time of the year, always check banks with the wind blowing in on them. Chances are, the whites, walleye, and even crappie will be chasing the shad pushed up shallow. Good luck and happy fishing!