Thread: New to crappie fishing

Braden I still use minnows a lot myself and only recently started using artificial. If you have a old ice chest laying around you can just keep the minnows in it with a aerator. Then when you get ready to go fishing put them in the smaller bucket or just take the ice chest along. Don't use city or any water that has chlorine in it or it will kill the minnows. Your boat and motor is plenty big and fast enough for crappie fishing and I have one the same size myself. I would say do not get hooked on minnows as they can get expense and are hard to keep when weather gets hotter. Go to the main forum and read posts under beginners and mentoring. Ask questions and read how others catch crappie with jigs and every other way. You can learn more there reading in one afternoon than you will trying yourself in a year.

I have never fished the rez so dont know enough to tell you there, But welcome to crappie.com and if your gettin started crappie fishing get your wallet ready cuz it can get expensive. but its also a blast. As far as minnows go I did like scrat is talking about, I have a smaller cooler with a aerator ran into it and it will keep em for a week or so especially if you keep the water clean and feed em. Good luck!

Braden, I used to live in Pearl and the best advice I can give to someone just starting out is the following: Spend some time on the water just watching some of the older guys. I have been catching crappie for years before I moved to Mississippi, but I had to learn some new tricks to be successful on Ross Barnett.
I went out and had little success for a couple of trips so I made up my mind that I was going to learn what these other guys were doing. So I spent a couple of days just watching. I saw this one older fellow in a jon boat with a sculling paddle and jig pole. He was working a jig/quill deal around stick-ups and catching one after another. I just camped out closed enough to him that I could see what he did. After a few hours it clicked and I went off to find areas like he was fishing and did exactly what I saw him do. From that day I was catching good stringers and also making a pretty good list of "honey holes" for my own book. Also, not all "stick-ups" are the same. Learn how they fish and what they fish.

Finally, you don't have to spend a lot of money. I only had a flyrod and a cheap jig pole along with a couple of cane poles. I caught many many limits of crappie out of that lake. My two favorite places were up in Pelahatche bay and up the big lake near 43. I hope this help a little.

Thanks guys, great info!

scrat, I never would have thought about the chlorine, makes perfect sense

erin, this may sound like a silly question, but what do you feed them?

As far as aerators for the cooler, are ya'll talking about the bubble making kind or the ones that spray water?

tadpole- yeah, I was trying to watch some of the guys, but not be too intrusive, so I really could not see much. I even thought about bringing a small set of binos next time.

I just get some fish food like you would for a small fish tank.... Makes em fat and happy! I use the bubble makin kind!

Binoculars are a must in my boat!!!!��

You may want to consider hiring a guide to get started. It would dramatically increase your learning curve and your filling the cooler much quicker.

Braden I think I know you through a co worker, I told her to give you my phone number, call me anytime I will help you in any way I can. Also you can private message me on here if you want, you will just have to come on along with me one day, I don't know much but I do manage to keep a few in the freezer