Dark water flowages and reservoirs often have excellent crappie populations and more consistent action than natural lakes. One of the key areas in a flowage is flooded or drowned timber. Wood laden spots are crappie magnets, attracting aggressive crappies all year.

In some flowages, especially where time has depleted the timber, anglers have sunk old Christmas trees or brush piles to create or rejuvenate crappie-holding structure.

Crappie holding flowages are not created equal, however. Smaller flowages have fewer fish and can be easily "fished down" ( a fancy term for pulling a pile of fish, and eventually disseminating the school)  by persistent anglers.

Huge flowages of 5,000 acres or better are more difficult for crappie anglers to crack and can be affected adversely by water draw down periods, turbidity and shaky ice thickness.

The in-between flowages of 1,000 or 2,000 acres are perfect for crappie fishing and generally hold excellent numbers of fish with the chance at the occasional slab.

Small bodies of water like ponds, sloughs, river backwaters and small lakes are especially good crappie fishing spots at first ice. These small waters can get safe ice as early as the middle of November, providing the keen angler good action when the larger lakes are still fluid.

Most ponds are rich with food and weed, and this provides the possibility of big fish in a small area. Look for the deepest water in a small lake or pond and then work from there. Small waters tend to become more difficult to fish as the winter wears on due to oxygen depletion. 

Ice Fishing Crappies-Crappie Tackle