After an hour of idling over submerged brush piles and wood, I saw what I’d been looking for.

A tree laying in 23 feet of water with branches extending well off the bottom. The screen of my Garmin Echomap chart-plotter lit up with fish I suspected to be crappies as well as smaller targets, likely gizzard shad.

Choosing a rod rigged with a 1/16-ounce jig dressed with a Bobby Garland Slab Slay R body, I made a short cast back in the direction of the sunken wood cover.

It takes a long time for a 1/16-ounce jig to reach bottom in 20-plus foot depths. There’s not much feeling. When I’d given the jig adequate time to sink down to the targeted zone, I closed the reel’s bail and began taking in line. A dull, subtle weight was evident, and I set the hook on what turned out to be a nice white crappie.

During the next half hour from the same spot, I took 19 more, up to 13½ inches, duplicating the same cast. Nearby “woody spots” produced another dozen.

Crappies are challenging fish. Most of the attention given to them is during the spring, when they are in shallow water for the spawn and post-winter feeding binges. For much of the balance of the year they tend to be roamers, making them tough to pinpoint, here today, but gone tomorrow. And when you do find them, they can be finicky biters, requiring experimentation to find the right body profile and color combination du jour.

In my experience, however, come fall they tend to school up in deeper water, often relating to submerged wood. Also, they become more consistent feeders.

As far as depth is concerned, the key zone seems to be from 15 to 30 feet in the waters of our area, ones that have good crappie populations. This includes Keystone, Crooked Creek, Arthur, Glendale, and Yellow Creek. Wood cover includes submerged tree sections that naturally found their way into the lake, as well as brush/pine trees lashed together and sunk as habitat enhancement. It also includes various forms of cribs, introduced over time via the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission’s habitat improvement efforts.

Brush cribs, which feature brush extending vertically from box-shaped cribs, seem particularly attractive to fish. Shoreline laydowns, especially ones that drop into deeper water, also hold fall crappies. Since they are easy to locate, they also get fished much more heavily.

When crappies are using deep wood, the first objective is to find them. The opening experience took place on Crooked Creek Lake a couple weeks ago, right after a major cold front passed through our area. I searched for an hour examining brush piles that commonly hold crappies, not finding one until an hour into the hunt. Modern electronics, even moderately priced units, do a great job of revealing what’s beneath the surface. There’s no sense fishing where there are no fish.

As fall progresses and crappies are drawn to deep wood, it’s common for them to zero in on a particular brush pile or crib, forsaking similar cover nearby. Also, cover can be species-specific, at least temporarily. During an outing last week on Keystone Lake, I found crappies on one cluster of cribs, and largemouth bass on another cluster a mile away.

Targeting crappies holding on deep wood can be done various ways. During last week’s trip, most of the fish were taken by holding the boat stationary, making casts just beyond the cover, and allowing the jig to pendulum through the crappies suspended in and around it. Another option is to suspend a jig (or minnow-baited hook) below a slip-bobber. Or you can hold the boat next to the cover and fish vertically, right next to it. This last option is productive when crappies are inactive and you need to put a bait right in front of them.

A couple final tips: Boat position can be critical. Trolling motors with an “anchor lock” feature like my Minn Kota Terrova excel at holding the boat rock solid. Of course, a traditional anchor works, though it’s a chore in deeper water.

Knowing the exact position of sunken wood is also important. Tossing out a marker buoy accomplishes this, though it can be a magnet for calling the attention of other anglers. If this is a concern, give the buoy a wrap of black electrical tape to make it less conspicuous.

Lastly, most days you will dramatically increase your bites by slathering some fish attractant like Smelly Jelly on the plastic body and tipping the jig with a Berkley Crappie Nibble.

Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle