Crappie are not indigenous to Ontario. They are shallow spawners so their eggs get stuck to the feathers of waterfowl and get carried north in the spring and since Merkel's Camp is within the Mississippi Flyway that's a lot of ducks dropping Crappie eggs into Wabigoon Lake and Dinorwic Lake. Even thought they are a foreign species they are not considered an invasive species because it appears that they have caused no ill-effects on natural fish populations.
Crappie populations seemed to have had a really slow start until the early 90s when their numbers just exploded. Now Wabigoon Lake and Dinorwic Lake are stuffed with them. We welcome the Crappie because it's just one more fish to help our Pike and Muskie get fat. Guests also love Crappie because they are fun to catch and taste fantastic. Every year we have more and more people specifically inquiring about our Crappie fishing.
Crappie can be caught in great numbers as well as good sizes. If you specifically target Crappie and use baits the Pike, Walleyes, Perch and bass with stay away from, you should catch 30 or 40 in a day. Because the water in the lake is so nutrient along with many structures the Crappie love such as weedy bays and patches of Wild Rice, the Crappie can reach great sizes. You should be able to catch a few well over a pound. Many of them are in the 13-inch to 17-inch range. Since you are allowed to keep 15 of them with a sport license, it's a great way to help maximize the amount of fish fillets for the big fish fry back home.
Crappies range throughout the whole Wabigoon chain of lakes. In the spring until mid July you will catch them using 1/16th to 1/8th oz. jig tipped with a small minnow or artificial bait.
Find a good bed of pencil weeds and fish the edge of them. Move your boat as slowly as possible.
When you find them, remaining in one place will give you hours of fishing fun! This is where a long Crappie rod comes in very handy. I use ACC Crappie rods as they have great feel and enough backbone to pull in a nice northern or a beautiful Walleye, that may come along. The Crappie will be in 3' or less of water.
Later in the year, the Crappie will be suspended, usually down about 12' - 18' in 20' - 35' of water.
This is where a slip bobber is worth its weight in gold. We have had guests come back from Walleye fishing, mentioning that they had a hard time catching them that day. When asked why that was, they replied that they were unable to get the bait down past the Crappie without catching one, thus being unable to reach the Walleyes!
I replied "that's a great problem to have to contend with." Not everyday is like this but that's fishing!