Thread: Crappie Gear Advice

Hello everyone !!

I moved away from saltwater to freshwater fishing last year, and yes it is a challenge. Especially without a boat. It amazes me that with all the freshwater lakes, rivers, canals and so on, there is so little access to shoreline fishing. I wish I had not sold my boat, but offshore rides don't work well in the shallows of freshwater anyway.

The only place I have found to have good shoreline access to freshwater, is the the Rodman Dam Recreation area. Its a nice place and I have watched people pull out big cats, 10 lb. bass, 6 lb. Blue Tilapia, lots of Crappie. The issue for me is I have to drive over an hour to get there. I know there are other places in North Florida, I just have not found them yet. If you know about any good shoreline fishing for bass and or crappie, please share

Gear, this is a crazy topic. I have spent a lot of time researching, but everyday I learn about new gear, new ways to fish etc. It is really confusing. Before I go too far, please note that while I do occasionally toss lures, I dislike them. I prefer live and cut bait where applicable. In 55 years my lack of knowledge on how to fish with lures and their presentations has never brought in a single fish I know this is all on me, but I never had anyone to teach me how to fish after the age of 14, when my grandfather passed. I use(d) what I did learn from my grandfather, I targeted catfish, carp, and occasionally panfish to break the monotony.

I would like to target crappie as the spawning season I always hear so much about is here. But, what hook sizes, what kind of rigs, slip bobbers, stationary bobbers, short rods, 20' rods, 1/64 ounce jigs, and on and on. This is really daunting to an old freshwater fisherman returning to the rivers and lakes after 25 years.

GEAR:
I prefer to buy in the middle range (4200 - $300) for my reels and make sure they can be used in more than one situation. No way in the world I will ever pay $700 for a lightweight bait caster and another $500 on a high end rod that can handle ultra light gear. I understand the value of high end bait casting gear, that is if you cannot use a spinning real. Why would I buy a $1200 setup to catch panfish? No tournaments in my foreseeable future.


I prefer equipment that can be used for multiple fishing applications, but would buy Crappie specific gear. For example, I bought two Shimano spinning reels, Vanford VFC3000XGH reals and grabbed a pair of Clarus CSS66M2E's, and spooled them with 15 lb. V2 Braid last year. Now these rods/reels have 20 lb. of drag are exceptionally made to use in salt and fresh water applications and I have caught both fresh and salt water species with them. I took them down to the boat ramp and practiced catching tons of pin fish (salt). But of course I had someone stop by one day and pick at me for not using a bait caster. I have owned my fair share of conventional reals, but never a low profile bait caster. So off I went researching and finally decided on a Shimano Curado DC on a St Croix Avid-x MF 7' rod. Went big from my point of view, but seriously disappointed! To be fair I am considering buying a Lew's Team pro rod and reel to give that Bait Caster one more chance.

I have discovered that there are two things that the bait caster gives me that the spinning reel does not. Faster casting, and with the right reel, skipping. I can buy a $40 Spinning reel that can easily cast a 1/64 ou. jig or lure. But it takers a $400 plus bait caster to successfully cast that same 1/64 ou. jig? I cannot rationalize that purchase and I like being married

The Vanford's can be used for multiple species both fresh and salt, plus with their 6.3 ounces making them super light to use. While tailwater fishing at the Dam, I will not use the bait caster because I can not get it set right to not birds nest if I hit the wall or the gate face. I never, never, never get wind knots or bird nests with my spinning gear! (this comes from 6 months with a bait caster and 50+ years with spinning or spincasting reels, yes I had Zebco's as a kid )

My target at this time is Crappie. I am not against buying crappie/panfish specific gear. But what do I really need to go bank crappie fishing at the Ocklawaha river right below the Rodman Dam? I bought a crappie magnet kit so I have jigs and soft lures. I am going to get a couple dozen minnows, a dozen small shiner, and red worms later this week (Thursday). I have two poles rigged for slip floats, and not sure what I want to do with the bait caster yet, maybe put live bait on the spinners and try jigging with soft bait?

Any and all advice and recommendations are welcome. If any of you fish the area I would really love to hear from you.

Thanx

P.S. Did I mention that I have never landed a Crappie