1st Time Spider Rigging Advice

[mdperson]

I just got all my stuff in this week and was going to try it this weekend. Does anyone have any advice on what would be a good starting lake to try this out on. I'm in the central AR area. Thanks before hand anything would help.

[MEATGETTER]

welcome from cleveland county,ar home of meatgetter jigs i live in so.ea. ar i fish mainly in south ar. and ms. i would not be much help up there in cen. ar . but you should be able to spidderrig any lake you normally fish i would think ,i do???

[mb4850]

Meatgetter I live in NWArkansas and all our lakes are at flood stage. What would you do right now on a lake like Beaver that is so high?

[Troy J]

I think a good place to start would be with the local fishing reports, especially if you can find any that have reports given by some of the respected guides in the area. I live on the west side and I have not fished central AR, but some research (homework) on several areas of the Internet or visits to local bait shops is a great plan.

I've been guiding for over 30 years. 15 of that being full time. Mostly for bass, but I did my share of crappie trips. (Although I liked keeping those to myself...) I talked spider rigging with two guides last week. Barry Morrow (Lake Eufaula Ok where I fish a lot now), and Keith Dodd, Lake Wheeler AL, one of the lakes I spend many days guiding on. These guys are spider rig experts. Some of the key points from them -

1. Cover water, but don't just be random. Set out with a plan that you develop from fishing reports, local info and especially a good lake chart. Really focus on the type of structure and cover that you believe will hold catchable fish. Fishing professionally the lake chart is a critical tool to use before every trip. It just helps you visualize your plan and I think it's easier to stay focused after studying the chart. Do that then apply that in conjunction with your GPS and sonar.

2. Run rigs at different depths until you notice a true depth pattern. Then focus on that setting. One thing I always notice guiding (even for crappie) is that little fish don't necessarily establish a pattern, you will catch more of them randomly. But bigger fish almost always establish a pattern, when you catch a bigger fish, he is there for a reason and you can often use even one big fish to begin putting together a pattern.

3. Keep moving along the travel routes, breaklines or banks. Never take your eyes off of the sonar, when you see something that looks good (cover or bait or schools of fish), stop. But don't stop for long if you don't get bit. Keith Dodd says 5 minutes with no bites, even if it looks good is almost too long. Todd Huckabee, (whom I have also had the pleasure to fish with) believes in moving a lot as well. Some people will catch 3-4 fish and park there all day. That's fine if they keep biting, but often you'll catch 3 or 4 active fish on a spot and the rest won't bite.

4. Diversify your bait, use some smaller minnows and some larger when you can, orr even different types of minnows if you can. I always do well on shad that I catch in a throw net, but there are times store-bought minnows outshine all else. And, as you may know big crappie love little bream when you can find them. (And if legal in your state).

Of course the best part is eating them. I made some blackend crappie last night. It isn't Julia Childs :rolleyes: but "How to Cook Quick Blackend Crappie" - YouTube - ‫

Lindy has a major clearance sale on the spider rigs, .59 cents each so that's a hard to beat price. Spider Rig

I hope some of the info helps. I hope to get to some central Arkansas lakes soon.

[slabsntaters]

Put more line on your reels.

[mdperson]

Thanks Troy, I just ordered 50 of the lindy rigs. I spent 3 days and alot more money than that tying up my first batch. My wife wants to try lake Conway this weekend so I'm going to do some studying and head that away.

[Troy J]

Hey Md. Best of luck! It's great that your wife likes to go with. I hope those rigs work well. I'm anxious to get over that way one of these days.