Chenille bodies

[waxnslabs]

Anyone have an opinion as to whether chenille bodies get more strikes as oppose to just an all hair jig?

[redear]

both work well, and it pays to have both. but to me, tipping with a minnow for crappie is the other half of the equation. there are not many times that I don't use a minnow or worm on a jig. that being said, I do know a guy that caught three crappie over two pounds one afternoon, with the chenille and marabou jig, not tipped, under a bobber. I'm still shaking my head over that one. lol

[waxnslabs]

It's prob just something to experiment with on a spider rig and see which pole gets the most action.

[skiptomylu]

Almost all my crappie in the spring when I fish most are caught on feather jigs and Roadrunners with chenille. I didn't get to fish much this year at all and is the first year I didn't have at least one 17" or larger. Wife got a 19" a few years back and I have had several over 18". Most were caught on 1/32oz jigs and Roadrunners. I can't even count the crappie that were 15"-17" caught on jigs and Roadrunners with no minnow at all. The only time I ever use a minnow is if I fish in the summer and then I have a larger jig tied on below the minnow and yes the jig usually catches the bigger fish.

Check out the pictures on my web site.

Skip

[Yodibuzz]

with out a doubt i catch more on plain kip,marabou or bucktail than i do on chenille
bodies. looks and swims more like a minner! i still like to tie some up to play with but if i really need fish to fry it's always a plain single color marabou that gets to call.

[redear]

skip, learn me some more on this no minnow thing. are you trolling most of the time? and do you have the same luck with a bare jig under a bobber, throwing to stickups etc. I really struggle with my crappie fishing.

[Redman]

Redear I think that you are getting in to a south vs north lake type here. I don't live that far from skip and I don't use that many minnows but just plan old jigs most of the time. You don't have the cypress trees and treefalls that the southerns have. In the fall I like to fish the brush piles with a jig right in the edges. As it get winter here I start to troll roadrunners. Post spawn I hit the cypress trees with black jigs in the mid summer its night fishing and dockshooting. When it is fall and the shad start to move its back to the brush piles and it starts all over.

[JUNGLEJIMJIGS]

I love bodies on my jigs.I'd carry some of each and let the fish decide what they like the best..

[skiptomylu]

skip, learn me some more on this no minnow thing. are you trolling most of the time? and do you have the same luck with a bare jig under a bobber, throwing to stickups etc. I really struggle with my crappie fishing.

OK, in the spring I really want to find Hydrilla, but if none is in your lake then some other tell. I try to hold on a 6' deep contour most of the time until they start to move out a little deeper in late April or May. Most of the time I long line troll a 1/32 Roadrunner or a regular jig. I do use more marabou in the spring than in the summer.

I set my troll motor on 3 (that is a variable speed TM) to start and adjust for depth and wind as well as the fish. I try to lay out a path where I am getting hits (and catching fish) and that path can be fairly short say 50 yards long or longer to maybe 100 or more yards long. If I have to make turns to keep in that depth that is working (start at 6' and adjust as need be) and at each turn I throw out a buoy to mark the turn. Then all I have to do is go from buoy to buoy and go back and forth until I have enough. You will find that they keep hitting at the same spots each pass.

I do at times fish a jig under a cork in the spring and do well at that too, but in my lake the Hydrilla is very important and it all died off about 4-5 years ago and this next spring will be the first with lots of Hydrilla around the old spots. We had some back last year and that helped. You can do all these same things with a lake that has no Hydrilla, but you need to find what they are using for cover and staging so you can fish that.

I troll for them all the way to June just moving out with them and I can still use a 1/32 oz. jig even if they are in 15' of water, but I do use some 1/16 then too. If really kind of windy I will use a heavier jig (1/8) and just troll it next to the boat, but still doing the same things as before. I guess this method is what I do 95% of the time in the spring.

The speed is important and the depth of water. You should be seeing lots of fish on your sonar as you troll along and I know when I am seeing lots of schooled fish most of the time in spring it is crappie here.

I know there are several post that I talked about long line trolling on this board and some have tried it from just what I posted and come back and said that it worked well for them too.

One last thing is I think the same catch would happen if I didn't use chenille and just tied marabou on a Roadrunner or jig. Color is very important and I can't stress that enough. I do change if the water is stained or clear and even if the sun is out or if cloudy. I can get away with about 4-6 colors in the spring and change for the water and sky. Seems each year though I add a new one that is working very well and better than some of my ones from last year or before.

Hope that helps,

Skip

[redear]

skip, thanks a bunch!