When the weather turns hot in middle Georgia, few anglers target crappie except at night. Truth is, you can catch good numbers of crappie during the hot daylight hours on both Lake Sinclair and Lake Oconee. All you need is a good sunscreen, plenty of cold water and a little knowledge about where the crappie will hang out during the summer months.

Summer crappie angling at Lake Oconee is rated much better than on Lake Sinclair due to its large abundance of submerged timber and brush piles. Unfortunately, Lake Sinclair’s bottom was pretty much cleaned when the lake was constructed. Lake Sinclair has very little natural standing timber (I do know where a few natural trees are located) but it does have many natural stumps and man made trees and brush piles that will hold good concentrations of fish.

Summertime crappie in Lake Sinclair relate more to the lake bottom around ledges, points, creek/river channels and stumps in deeper water. But they will relate to brush piles and trees that have been added by anglers and those structures that have been added by the Georgia Wildlife Resource Division. Bottom dwelling crappie in Lake Sinclair will be found in 12-25 foot of water but around man made brush piles and trees they can be found in 8-16 foot of water.

Summertime crappie in Lake Oconee relate best to the standing timber and are almost always 10-16 feet deep regardless of how deep the water and how tall the tree. I fish standing timber in water that varies from 20-65 feet deep, but in all cases the crappie will usually be suspended in the trees at 10-16 feet deep.

Anglers at Lake Oconee can catch crappie on the ledges, deep points and creek/river ledges in deeper water at Lake Oconee but standing timber and brush piles offer better fishing. The Georgia Wildlife Resources Division has also added additional habitat structures in Lake Oconee.

Whether you are fishing for summertime crappie in Lake Sinclair or Lake Oconee, two things are always required. First, anglers must have a good depth finder and second you need a good dose of patience. Patience is required more on Lake Sinclair than on Lake Oconee. The crappie seem to move around more on Lake Sinclair than on Lake Oconee due to the small amount of trees and brush piles.

Anglers on Lake Sinclair will have to move from place to place on an almost daily basis during the summer months to find the fish. This requires spending time looking at the screen of your depth finder and a little patience as you may have to move to several locations before finding fish.

Successful crappie anglers on Lake Oconee must spend some time locating good standing timber in the middle of acres of trees. Once a good tree is found, anglers can return time after time to that same tree and catch crappie. My friend and angler Larry King explained to me several years ago that the secret to a good tree lies in finding the single biggest tree with the most limbs in an underwater plot of trees.

In a three acre plot of trees, there may only be one or two trees that will consistently hold fish. Anglers must spend time with their depth finder searching these tree plots for the best trees. Once a good tree is found you can mark it with your GPS and return time after time and catch crappie. During summer, anglers on Lake Oconee might have to visit several of those spots or trees to catch their limit, but the action is almost guaranteed.

Whether fishing for summer crappie on Lake Sinclair or Lake Oconee, the angling technique on both lakes is about the same. In both cases we are talking about sitting directly over the crappie and fishing straight down. Both artificial jigs and live minnows will catch the summertime crappie.

Rigging varies from angler to angler, but as a rule of thumb anglers will use 4-6 pound test line and will position a split-shot or small weight on the line about a foot above either the jig or the live minnow. The weight will get the lure or minnow into the strike zone faster and give you a better sense of feel for the light crappie bites.

Don’t let anyone fool you into thinking that crappie will not bite during the hot summer. Certainly, it is more comfortable fishing at night but daytime anglers will catch their share of crappie. If the July/August heat is too much for you to handle, just remember the crappie will stay in the deep-water areas until the first cold snap of fall.

It takes some work and patience to locate and mark the best summertime crappie locations, but your efforts will be rewarded with some excellent fishing. Good fishing and see you next week.

Bobby Peoples can be reached at brpeoples@windstream.net.