Shell Crackers on Diascund?

When is the best time to hit the mother load of them?

When do they spawn? or move really shallow?

What do I look for to find them?

What is best way to catch them?

Thanks,

Dayton

ranger690, one of my favorite fish for sure. trust me when I say you have to be pretty lucky to be out there at the right time and place to find them spawning, and stumble across that spot because there can be 150 citation shellcrackers in a place the size of your bathroom. a little to the left or right and you get nothing. anyway red wigglers or euro redworms are great bait, crawlers work but not as good. most the time it is best to fish right on the bottom. If I find them 12 feet deep which is common I use a size 4 or 2 crappie minnow hook thin wire with 2 or 3 splitshot up the line about 3 feet, put a decent gob of redworms on the hook, I have put 3 on there if they are skinny and small, 2 is a good average for decent size redworms. If they are shallow use a foam cigar floatwith the hollow tube, and then the split shots and hook like I said, no bobber stop, so the bait goes to the bottom no matter the depth and you just watch the float laying there on it's side, you will see movement of the float when there is a bite. of course you can use a regular bobber rig if have a spot where you know how deep it is, just set the depth where you are within a foot of the bottom, that works too, if you find a spot where you are catching 12oz. fish, start fishing out from there where it drops off deeper there could be a pod of heavier fish there, and this is commomly the case. remember you don't have to find them spawning to fill the cooler, you just need to find where they are feeding.they can be scattered along a shoreline one here and one there, or they may be feeding in 13 fow around some stumps or debris, one thing that I have noticed, when you find them deeper like that there is usually debris and wood down there and they will wrap you up a lot.

ok, since you don't know if you'll find them shallow or deeper I'd carry a slip bobber rod with no bobber stop, and a couple rods fixed for strictly bottom fishing in deeper water say 12 feet, this type fishing requires anchoring the boat front and back and taking 2 or so rods and throwing them out there and then lay the rods down and watch the rod tips, take 4 cups of redworms or so and keep them in a playmate cooler with ice in the bottom, and when you rebait, put them back in there, as the heat or hot sun will kill them. the trick is to start finding yousome spots where you know they have been caught before, and then just go from one spot the the other till hopefully one of them is holding fish. pm me for any questions I haven't hit on.

forgot to elaborate on the spltshot weights, I like to use the ones with the removable ears so I can take one off if the wind dies down, and I use larger ones about the size of a 00 or 000 buckshot. I also use 10 foot crappie spinning rods a lot when fishing the bottom out in the open and maybe an 8 foot crappie rod for the slip float rig. they will also hit a black slider paddle tail with the glow white tail on a chart. yellow head. along the bottom and if that head has a belly spinner blade all the better, good search bait. a roadrunner head would work but I used to use a northland spinner jighead with belly spinner hanging on a silicone thing, and they discontinued that head, thenewer head doesn.t work for me so try a roadrunner head.

another thing ranger690, talk to the bass fishermen, they don't mind telling you where people catch crackers if they know. a cracker fisherman ain't gonna tell ya tho, lol

I know I'm rambling but this stuff is important, many times a good shellcracker spot will have visible old tiny clam shells laying on the bank or exposed on the bank they eat these freshwater clams as well as snails, and they will regurgitate the fragments of these shells in your cooler. and don't let one poop on ya while taking the hook out, you'll never get the smell off. take lots of hooks too, as they swallow the hooks and ya gotta retie bout every time. whatever ya do don't stick your finger down his throat, he'll crush it.

I think Toano has some nice shell crackers

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Originally Posted by diecutter

I think Toano has some nice shell crackers

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Citation records agree. Total life-of-lake sunfish citations are: DR = 36, LCR = 253. Bluegills and 'crackers are included in these totals, but the percentage of bluegills should be small.

If big crackers are what you're looking for LCR is my suggestion to you. Multiple rods (8-10) fished on bottom with red wigglers in 10 to 12 fow. A full moon timing helps a little too. If youre going to fish shallow there, find them, back off and cast to them as the water is so clear and they spook pretty easy. Best of luck