Opinions on set up please

[floaterguy]

Good morning everyone. I'm asking this out of desperation and I hope I don't sound like a babbling idiot but I could use some serious help. I mainly fly fish in the fall for Steelhead and ice fish when I can. I live in Erie PA and go to Presque Isle Bay (right off Lake Erie) quite often but kind of lost when it comes to regular fishing. My set up is a Creek Company float tube, a 5ft ultra light Ugly Stik, a 7ft med/heavy Ugly Stik and just bought a BnM Bucks 8ft jigging rod. I bought the Bucks just for jigging for Crappie off the docks once the boats are gone for the fall. I use the 7ft Ugly Stik for Bass and the little 5ft ultra light for bobber fishing for pan fish. The two places I mainly go are not very deep and very weedy, the main bay off the lake is fairly flat and weedy, I kicked out yesterday about 60-80 yards off the shore and was only in about 6-8ft of water. There are two smaller bays off this bay and one is way too weedy for a float tube and the other is a marina that is very busy with boat traffic so I'm stuck to spending time in the shallower ends (5-10ft). I guess one question is are the Crappies in this type of water or not. By the way the bay temp. is averaging high 70's-low 80's.
Here's what I'm using for jigs, white, black w/chartreuse tail, natural brown and tan, green and white and even a blue with yellow tail all 2" curly tail grubbs and even a Bento minnow, all of these are retrieved very slow or the small jerk and retrieve method and have had very minimal results. Am I just in bad spots? I am trying a new lake this weekend, this lake is smaller and deeper than the places I go to, hopefully I have better results in deeper water with less surface weeds. Any input is appreciated.

[hugastump]

take the 5' setup and change it to a slip bobber set up then get some 1/16 an 1/32 jig heads , can be just lead, no paint needed . Then a jar of Gulp 1" emerald shiner minnows or live minnows . the slip bobber will let you fish deeper yet still cast from the tube easier. the Gulp jars are fairly easy to fit on a large vest pocket.

[deathb4disco]

Good morning everyone. I'm asking this out of desperation and I hope I don't sound like a babbling idiot but I could use some serious help. I mainly fly fish in the fall for Steelhead and ice fish when I can. I live in Erie PA and go to Presque Isle Bay (right off Lake Erie) quite often but kind of lost when it comes to regular fishing. My set up is a Creek Company float tube, a 5ft ultra light Ugly Stik, a 7ft med/heavy Ugly Stik and just bought a BnM Bucks 8ft jigging rod. I bought the Bucks just for jigging for Crappie off the docks once the boats are gone for the fall. I use the 7ft Ugly Stik for Bass and the little 5ft ultra light for bobber fishing for pan fish. The two places I mainly go are not very deep and very weedy, the main bay off the lake is fairly flat and weedy, I kicked out yesterday about 60-80 yards off the shore and was only in about 6-8ft of water. There are two smaller bays off this bay and one is way too weedy for a float tube and the other is a marina that is very busy with boat traffic so I'm stuck to spending time in the shallower ends (5-10ft). I guess one question is are the Crappies in this type of water or not. By the way the bay temp. is averaging high 70's-low 80's.
Here's what I'm using for jigs, white, black w/chartreuse tail, natural brown and tan, green and white and even a blue with yellow tail all 2" curly tail grubbs and even a Bento minnow, all of these are retrieved very slow or the small jerk and retrieve method and have had very minimal results. Am I just in bad spots? I am trying a new lake this weekend, this lake is smaller and deeper than the places I go to, hopefully I have better results in deeper water with less surface weeds. Any input is appreciated.

I also fish quite a bit out of a tube. First, I would say that August is not "prime time" for crappie. You're gonna have to work a little harder at this time of year.

Second, in the places I fish, I've noticed summer fish will be well off shore, suspended over deep water. So, I would grab a topo map and find some deeper areas you can reach in your tube.

As for your baits/methods, I would keep the slow retrieve and abandon the "jerk" retrieve. I would use more chartreuse jigs. 90% of the time, I use solid white or solid chartreuse. White is for clearer water. Chartreuse is for everything else.

[floaterguy]

Thanks for the input guys. As far as finding deeper water...I don't have a problem (physically) kicking out further but with all the jet skis and boats I don't feel comfortable. I think I might seriously try this other lake called Lake Pleasant, it's supposed to be 40'ish feet deep and no motorized engines allowed. It's a regularly stocked lake with Trout, Walleye, Bass and Crappie fish. My next to do is trying to put my Marcum Showdown fish finder on my tube. I will try more chartreuse colors and see if that helps. Thank you very much!!!!!

[floaterguy]

Yes thats how I use it, with a slip bobber. I might be regretting buying this other 8ft pole and reel but they were on sale so I guess I'm not out that much. The rod was 39.99 and the Mitchelle 308 reel was 39.95 on sale. Would this 8ft be good for jigging in the deeper lake?