Thread: Scaring crappie

I find if you catch the fish off the edges and top of the school you get more bites before they shut down. Don’t just land your bait right in the middle of them all or you’ll shake them all up quickly.

If fish are coming to bait keep it out of the school and catch the looser fish first.


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Originally Posted by CrappiePappy

Two thoughts come to mind :

1) Back off of them and let them settle down for 20-30mins. while you fish somewhere else.

2) Back off and cast to them from a greater distance. (& maybe cast farther past them than you were doing)

Crappie seem to spook easiest in clear water .I see them in warm water take less to spook than in winter . I pitch to them but have seen times just getting close to a brush pile enough to send them running .

Originally Posted by Danny Lang

Ketchn what length rod do you use when you pitch to them, size line and jig weight.

Sometimes a 6 foot , 6 lb mono , 1/32
Sometimes a 7 foot , 6 lb mono 1/16
Sometimes a 7 foot 10 lb braid 1/8
Depends on several variables on the who what and where

If school fish are shallow, I can catch fish after fish. Many times a missed fish can be caught by pitching the lure to the same spot. But then again, the lake I fish has monster populations of crappie and once one is caught, 30 or more can be caught from the same school with boat anchored. With the water as high as it's been, the fish of different specis can be caught in the same areas. These are just a few of the lures that caught a bunch yesterday from the same school in 2-3':

Originally Posted by Spoonminnow

DL, what lures are you casting? type and test line? what action and length rod?


What depth range? i.e. 2-5', 12-15' ?
Pre-spawn fish?
Vegetation?
Bait fish on sonar along with predator fish?

Before I can offer advice (though rarely taken lol), I need to know the above. Granted, every water is different when it comes to when and where fish are located. The higher the provocation - tease/ fish sensitivity state, the more apt fish will strike; the less active the fish, the less likely they'll strike.

Example: The pattern in my local water is shallow (2-5')/ prespawn/ high water (heavy rainfall), wetland weed lines, emerging pads and school fish.
Find the school and fish bite one after the other. Smaller, light lures under 1/16 oz. cast long distance, or even pitched to fish that hit & missed, allow lures to stay in the strike zone longer. Many lure designs work, but soft plastics on light jigheads are hard to beat. My spinning and spincast rods are 5 1/2' - 6' and light action. 8#test braid for the best in light strike detection.

Your situation may be totally different, but pattern fishing is key in my book and the above illustrates that.

depth range is anything under 20 ft, I use braid 20lb with a mono leader with a 1/4 oz egg sinker with a 1/16 oz jig head with Bobby Garland jigs, these are post spawn crappie with a 12 ft med action rod. Sometimes roaming fish others are on structure, no vegetation, mostly muddy water with cold fronts.

Finesse presentation suggestion:
3' - 8# test braid leader (thin but strong and strike sensitive)
1/16 oz ball head jig good for deeper water, 1/24 oz for 5' or less. The weight of the plastic and jig is more than heavy enough.
no egg sinker
6' light action rod
Reel handle imparted-action along with slight twitches of the rod tip with pauses.