Teaching Your Wife to Crappie Fish - Brad Wiegmann

You’re wife doesn’t fish. It’s not that she doesn’t like going fishing. She is more than willing to head out to the lake with you and get in the boat; however, she just doesn’t fish. She may read a book or sun tan, but getting her to fish just isn’t going to happen.


If there was a survey about why wives don’t fish with their husbands it would have multiple reasons why. Having the patience to teach would probably be the number one reason. Nevertheless, I have come across several husband wife tournament crappie angling teams where the wife participates in the tournament or even fishes.


What’s the secret to teaching your wife to crappie fish? “Um, I think a,” said Jason Clements started his sentence. “I think a lot of patience,” said Jason’s wife Renee, “plus communication.” “A lot of patience and communication,” Jason followed up, “We have our own thing to do before each tournament. Sometimes, we might get aggravated with each other, but never really get to where it affects our fishing or outside fishing.”


One thing he does is fish for crappie the way Renee likes to fish for them. “She likes fishing for the crappie on the bottom,” Jason continued, “So; I will target fish on the bottom with the Garmin Livescope and let her present her lure down to the fish while pointing the Livescope towards that crappie. She gets first shot at the crappie on her side.”


Jason noted it was important for the spouse to have success while out on the water fishing. Livescope is perfect he pointed out because they can see the crappie and how it’s reacting to a lure. Just knowing where and the attitude of a crappie would increase the number of bites and fish noted Jason.





Every day the couple noted they would be in a competition on which one would catch the biggest fish. Interesting the couple weren’t really into just how many they were catching. “For sure the biggest fish of the day,” said Renee. “Yeah, for sure the personal best is what each one wants to catch for bragging rights,” said Jason.


One thing you notice when in the boat while they are just fishing and not in a tournament to couple are always joking around. It’s mostly Jason teasing Renee, but she isn’t afraid to give it back. That’s probably the one thing that makes them so successful is just truly having fun with each other while on the water.


“I think the secret to teaching your wife to crappie fish is go when the fish are biting,” Brad Wiegmann went on, “You don’t want them to go home or all day without catching a crappie. The best part is on our lake there is a lot of crappie that can be caught easily.”


Wiegmann noted having the right gear is also important. “Giving your wife the hand-me-down fishing equipment that’s not in good shape makes it harder for them to cast, reel and set the hook,” Wiegmann went on, “For example, I had her fishing with her right hand on the spinning rod and reeling with the left which for the left-handed spouse was awkward making her switch hands on every cast. After telling her for years to stop casting and switching hand she tried a left handed spinning rod that you reel with your right hand it turned out makes all the difference in the world for her casting ability.”


Another option is to go out with a crappie fishing guide and have them teach your wife to do whatever technique is being used to catch crappie. “It seems like it’s easier for someone besides the husband to instruct the spouse on fishing,” Wiegmann continued, “For some reason just learning how to do it with a guide allows them to learn without being judged.”




Lastly and maybe the most important thing is patience. “It takes a lot of patience to teach anyone to crappie fish and maybe more if it’s your wife,” Judy Wiegmann continued, “I like when he shows me how to catch the fish and doesn’t cast over me to catch the fish I’m trying to cast. If it’s a catchable crappie let me get a cast in on it first if you are teaching me a new technique or area.”