Green 12/3

[colayn]

Went to Green yesterday expecting a really tough bite with the way the are pulling the water but was surprised.
Cast jigs about 30 FOW suspended fish 15 feet deep. Caught some good quality crappie, and several right at 9 inches.
If you kept that jig in the water, and went real slow you would get bite.
Take my son again, remember the one in introduced to minnows a couple weeks ago?
He was only able to hook 2. They kept biting the scales off the tail end of the minnow.
He was tight lining with a hook and split shot.
Minnow were to big a think, we are having trouble trapping small minnows right now.
Anybody know what else he could do to get hooked beside smaller minnow?
I don't know much about minnow fishing.

[CrappiePappy]

Colayn ... does he absolutely, positively HAVE TO use a minnow ?? If you're moving around slowly, and he's dragging a minnow around .... tell him to "try & trick them ol' Crappie", by replacing his minnow/hook with a jig. Leave the split shot on, and substitute the minnow/hook with a 1/32oz marabou jig. Something in white, pink, or chartreuse should work. If you wanted to, you could rig him with a slip float / splitshot / jig setup ... and it would give the Crappie time to hold onto the jig & him time to see the float starting to go under ... then he could set the hook. If you're fishing 15ft deep in 30fow ... you wouldn't have to worry much about this rig hanging up. (& floats are more fun to watch, than the rod tip ... LOL !! )

OR ...If you (he) still wants to use minnows .... & if the minnows available are large, and the Crappie are just mouthing the tails .... cut the minnow in half & put the tail section on a 1/32oz jighead (like it's a plastic grub) and let him drag that along. This would also be a viable alternative to the marabou jig under a float setup (as described above).

Thanks for the report !!

... luck2ya .... cp

[colayn]

CP,
those are some great suggestions. I confess once I get out there and focus on the fishing, running the boat, etc I tend to stop thinking about ways to help him out.
He really likes to cast, but is not ready to counting down every cast and the super slow, twitch retreive so it is hard for him. I try to explain it but he is going to have to "learn" some of it over time.

[CrappiePappy]

CP,
those are some great suggestions. I confess once I get out there and focus on the fishing, running the boat, etc I tend to stop thinking about ways to help him out.
He really likes to cast, but is not ready to counting down every cast and the super slow, twitch retreive so it is hard for him. I try to explain it but he is going to have to "learn" some of it over time.

I understand, fully ... but, shorten his learning curve by teaching him how to watch & feel for strikes. Once he gets the idea that a fish isn't always going to pull the pole down, everytime .... and when he learns that when he feels/sees that "tap", that he's supposed to "tap" the fish right back, right then & there, then he's going to be way ahead of the game when he finally gets around to learning all the different methods & associated rigs that go along with them. Explain to him (in a show & tell kind of way) that Crappie have a big mouth, and paper thin jaws ... so it's important to set the hook at the appropriate time, depending on what he's fishing with. Jigs are forgiving, more than minnows are, because they won't "come off" if you set the hook too soon/late. Jig fishing is a more "active" way of fishing, so you set the hook "quick & hard" ... whereas minnow fishing is more "passive", so you let the fish pull the rod or float down before you set the hook ... and you set the hook with more of a lifting action, than a jerking action.

If he likes to cast, and he can do a decent job of it .... let him cast his jig, but NOT reel it in. Let him know that, when the jig gets back to him & he hasn't felt/seen a strike ... then it's time to reel in & cast again. (his jig will have been in the strike zone "sometime" during that time, so his chances of getting hit are still good)
Don't worry about his technique (twitching or slow retrieve) for now ... just concentrate on getting him to pay attention to his line, & watch for that "one, single little jump in the line", then set the hook. Believe me, when he sets the hook that one time when there's a fish holding onto the jig ... and he sticks that fish & lands it ... he'll be as proud of you, as he will be of himself. Something inside of him will click ... and he'll be more attentive to what you show him & teach him. He'll have seen "results" from doing it the way you showed him ... and results are the best teacher !!

LOL !! I learned that way ... from years of worm fishing for Bass ... and, now, I'm already setting the hook before I'm through thinking about seeing the line jump :p

... luck2ya both .... cp

[Biggerbear]

I make a Stinger hook rig. Just tie a small hook about 3 inches back from the main hook. We use this method for Wisconsin spring walleye.
The stinger hook can be lightly hooked in the tail of the minnow.