Thread: Had some beginner’s success catching crappie.

Tried again today in a lake we all call the dead sea, it is Greenbo Lake in Kentucky. Water is ultra clear there and you can see bottom even in 15-20 feet deep areas. Today it was just a little cloudy so visibility was only about 6-7 feet before the bait faded out. Normally whenever I go there I always bass fish in this lake and never do well. It has huge bass in it but they won’t hit any baits I have. Today though, I was panfishing. Didn’t even take any of my bass gear. I actually caught fish too. Started out using the BPS Crappie Maxx Quick Tip rod. I hooked a crappie on a 1/32oz jig and 1” grub with the tail trimmed to look like a beaver tail. The hook was tipped with a tiny little Berkley Gulp Alive Minnow. I hooked into it quicky after I got there, but it came off before I landed it. I fished that area for awhile looking for more of them but had no more hits so I moved on. Then later I caught a small green sunfish on the same jig. Switched to a Strike King Bitsy Minnow crankbait on the Sam Heaton rod and caught another green sunfish, and also a fair sized bluegill. That one was big enough to eat but I tossed it back since I was almost out of time and wasn’t prepared to keep fish yet anyway.

What I learned is that I might just have a good panfishing lake right here close by. It’s just 20 minutes from my house. As many times as I went there for bass and never did any good, I go there once for panfish and in less than 2 hours I manage to catch three fish on Memorial Day weekend with people everywhere. There’s rainbow trout in that lake too, they stock them several times a year. Also learned that these two rods are incredibly sensitive. I felt the strike on that jig with slack line when the fish sucked it in. I had casted it and was letting it sink. There were still some limp line curls on the surface when one fish sucked it in and I felt that through the line and rod to my hand. I have to give some credit to the line. It is BPS Crappie Maxx 4 pound mono. I don’t know if it’s so sensitive just due to line size on light rods and what I’m doing with it, or if these rods are really just that good. They’re inexpensive rods so I’m thinking they’re not super special, but they do seem to be very good for me. Also this is just mono line. Nothing special. I’m used to 8 pound Berkley Trilene XL for bass fishing and I use that on a St. Croix Premier, and have had it on numerous other graphite rods over the years and it has never been as sensitive as what these crappie rods seem to be. I tried several baits on the Sam Heaton rod, a jig with an elbow spinner blade (basically making a beetle spin), the Bitsy Minnow crankbait, and a Crappie Magnet Fin Spin, and I can feel every vibration of the blades, everything the baits come in contact with, and the fish strikes. I kind of figured a cork handle would dampen the vibrations but it doesn’t do that at all. The Quick Tip rod is just as sensitive, it’s the one I felt the strike on that jig through slack line.

Great write-up — sounds like a solid day on the water! I’m just getting into crappie fishing too and also found Richard Gene’s stuff super helpful. Love how you adapted that grub into a beaver tail style — clever move in murky water. That Fin Spin's been a winner for me too, especially when fan casting. And yeah… nothing like picking up your line and finding a surprise crappie on the other end 😄 Tight lines, and looking forward to hearing how your next trip goes!