Minnows or jigs

What do you prefer and how and why do you use them?
For us we strictly fish Minnows via slip bobber technique at our local lake around stick ups and brush piles. We just don't seem to get the bites with jigs that we do with live bait. This doesn't stop me from buying new jigs that catch my eye whatsoever, but our bites typically come on a live minnow.
We have a spider rigging setup too, which has proven over and over to not work as well as a single pole with a slip cork and minnow in our neck of the woods. We see guys drift by us pushing jigs or Minnows and don't see them landing the fish that we are.
We have tried pendulum techniques with jigs as well as just vertical dipping. But 99% of the time the bite is light and they want live bait that sits there for a period of time. And even then you have to really let them pull the cork under or let it pop up for some time before you set the hook or you miss them,
Maybe our fish are getting wise to fishing technique? I don't know,,,? But for us the slip cork with a minnow is most effective from spring to fall!

I love the challenge on fooling the fish with something that I created so it is soft plastic minnow shaped lures or hand tied Marabou and flashabou jigs for me. I try and have Chartreuse somewhere in everything that I create because I have a ton of confidence in that color. In each case I will tip with a Crappie nibble for an added attractant.

I fish with minnows during pre spawn and summer.
the rest or season is jigs for me

No Live Bait at all....just jigheads and Plastic Swimbaits!

Same here. No live bait for crappies but will use waxworms sometimes for gills.

I prefer jigs tipped with minnows....lol

I usually catch probably close to 5:1 if I have a minnow verse no minnows. If I do fish no live bait it's almost always a crappie magnet with a crappie nibble between the split tails to open em up. But you just can't beat the action of a minnow kicking around


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Nothing but jig and soft plastic for the past 20 years for me. I love the versatility of artificial baits. Plus, I don't have to worry about keeping bait live and fresh. To me it's a major money saver and, from my personal experience, I catch far more fish on jigs than on live bait.These are a couple combinations that have produced a lot of fish for me this season, on quite a few variations of lake conditions.
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if you dont fine tune your presentations with jigs you will never ketch more than live bait ....and many a live bait angler ketch the fire out of them for sure .
of course i dont use minnows, they are way to much hassle for me . we even have new laws here in Texas governing the sale ,transport and use of them as well to make it more of a hassle .
i will say this though ....if it works for ya maybe stick with it ....getting REALLY good with a jig is not all that easy and there is an art to it that is impossible to totally teach a person .....alot of it is trial and error and your personal preference on how you want to fish them ......
i go out with a alot of REAL good crappie anglers and in many cases a tiny slight variation in tech. size and color and or presentation can make a BIG difference with jigs

I prefer jigs tipped with minnows....lol

I usually catch probably close to 5:1 if I have a minnow verse no minnows. If I do fish no live bait it's almost always a crappie magnet with a crappie nibble between the split tails to open em up. But you just can't beat the action of a minnow kicking around


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I use jigs most of the time but I keep a throw net in the boat to catch shad when I run upon a shallow school of them. Works for me.