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Been reading a lot lately about not sitting on top of brush to catch crappie this time of year. If you have to cast to them, what is your setup? I have a 6'6" spinning rod with 6lb test. Casting a 1/16 jig. Can't really get much distance with it. I end up having to be almost on top of the brush to get the jig down without getting hung every cast. Really tough to get the hang of it. Sometimes i swear im just gonna stick to trolling!
5'6" rod, 4 lb. hi viz NANOFIL line, 1/32 oz. jig and shoot them about 50 feet. I'm a shooter, not a caster.
KHNC when you say casting a jig and getting caught up in brush you are fishing brush piles. I have been fishing brush piles since 1985. I tight line, long line and done some spider rigging. 75 % of my time is brush piles. I like and you will see a lot of videos on youtube from other fisherman they will also use a longer pole and a 10 feet pole is the most popular. Now I am talking vertical jigging. I use a 9 foot and a 11 foot. With 2d sonar you can get good and know when you are over a brush or jigging along side a brush. I use a 6 foot pole when I want to be on top of brush pile and vertical jig straight down the chimney. This method you can get down and slowly retrieve up the brush pile. This method you need feel and let the jig be your eyes. There are times you can be on top of a brush pile and fish vertical jig. I use long poles to fish on top of brush piles and short pole to fish down in the brush. You can also use a slip float in calmer days to control depth to fish on top of brush piles. General rule for me and clarity of water I like to have at least 10 feet of water between me and the fish to vertical jig above brush pile. Believe it or not when I use the get down in brush and slowly retrieve up I have had crappie hit jig 3 to 5 feet from boat. It really depends how skittish they are. I hope this helps.
Edit for clarification.
My favorite for getting down in brush are two 5' 6'' ultralights with 4 pound test. They are my fun time.
The Crappie Guru has spoken!Attachment 363879
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Yes , this is very good info. I have some shorter rods and longer as well. I did catch a a few at Murray yesterday using minnows around a couple of bridges. Used my 14’ pole to get up against the pilings. Little heavy tho. Next time I think I will try the 10’. Gcromer, I have been working on my shooting technique. Probably need to lighten up to 4lb to get some distance sounds like. Haven’t had much luck finding docks on Murray that are holding crappie right now. Maybe it’s due to low water level right now. Working on finding new brush piles each trip too.Quote:
Originally Posted by CrappieKidd
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The reason for the shorter pole when you go down in the brush I have a better feel of bumbing the branches and better sense of keeping better boat control. To get hung up less you need to keep line straight down. If your boat moves and line is not straight down chances of getting hung up increases significantly.
4 pound line for me as well and a 5-6'' rod. the 1/32 oz jig works well. I do have a rod setup with 2 pound test for when the fish seem to be line sly. Shooting a jig does give more distance than trying to throw a light weight jig if not using a float for weight.