Fishing Crappies at night using light for attraction

I used to do this often on a deep clear lake that lacked alot of structure or cover. We used to set up off any number of points on the lake. We would drop in the light and wait. Most times we would be on fish within and hour or two. Waiting for the baitfish to move in was the worst part. Alot of time sitting there watching the graph and being bored. But once the fish came in you couldnt keep even 2 rods in the water. You would literally get bit every time you dropped in. We always fished vertically on the edges of the light. I found through experimentation that on that particular lake mid to late fall worked the best for using a light. Crazy fun when you get the bite going!

When I lived in Georgia I fished at night with lights for crappie. Some of the best places to set up are areas with some structure. I have found under bridges to be about the best, although it does work in open water at times where you have transition areas.The idea behind the lights is to attract the baitfish, which in turn attracts the predator fish, i.e. crappie. If you know of an area where the crappie are during the day you should be able to find them close to the same area at night. When I say close to the same area what I mean is that they will probably move into shallower water at night, hence my previous statement of setting up in transition areas. If you set up and don't attract any baitfish after a reasonable period of time it may require you to move to a different spot, but figuring that out can be tricky. I have sat in a spot for a couple hours and have nothing around, then suddenly the baitfish move in and the crappie close behind. That is when the fun starts. Hope this is of some help to you.

If there are any fish cribs, sunken brush or other submerged structure the crappies will suspend over that most of the time. If any steep shorline droppoffs with trees tipped over into water, also good. They also sell fake weeds you can drop in deep water now as a temporary attraction. It doesn't take long for the fish to find em if in the depth they are hanging out.

i would think you'd want to be near a weed edge somewhere close to deep water. my buddy has been shooting carp at night out by me and has been seeing decent crappie in this exact scenario. i also understand you should cast near the edge of the light as the crappie will be in the dark and dart out in to the light to grab food.

I have fished crappies at night with lights in the winter time on ice in my fishing shack but never on open water,I found the bite to be alot slower but then again the bite is always slower in the winter time for me.