Bigger jigs

Crappie not as picky on colors and such , more about presentation .Here Crappie will eat about any jig in most sizes up to 1/4 oz ,so I seldom use less than 1/8. Primary feed here is Gizzard Shad on my home lake . But I look for baits well made and use livescope to hold it on their nose . Some days it seems like you must hold it on the Crappie's nose a long time before they bite . I use big tubes or handties from Takeum on here . I like the bigger hooks in big baits as we swing fish with no net . What is your bait weight preference and why ?

Attachment 434980

Mostly 1/16oz for single jig presentations ... but mostly use double jig rigs for Livescope presentations (2x1/16oz). And I use 1.5" to 3" plastics on those jigs. Most all of them have a #2 Aberdeen hook.
Around here, on the lakes I fish, I'm rarely fishing deeper than 20ft ... so I use the lighter jig head for a slower fall. I use the double jig setup for greater visibility with the Livescope + the slower rate of fall.

Last month I started drifting 1/8 oz VMC swimbait jig heads with 4" Keitech Easy Shiner swimbaits with pretty good success. I was surprised how readily crappie would take a bait that big. I'm more accustomed to fishing with a 1/16 oz or 1/32 oz jig heads. Haven't had the chance to hit my favorite lake to try again in a few weeks, but I plan to go this coming weekend if the weather cooperates.

Jim

I like to start with a bigger jig, around 1/4oz and a 1/0 or 2/0 hook if I can simply because I like to boat flip fish or even netting fish, I lose a lot less fish if I can get the big jig hook in them. If I could get away with it I would never use anything else. But here on the two lakes I fish, especially in summer time, they just won’t bite a big enough bait to use the bigger jighead most days.

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Originally Posted by pab1981

I like to start with a bigger jig, around 1/4oz and a 1/0 or 2/0 hook if I can simply because I like to boat flip fish or even netting fish, I lose a lot less fish if I can get the big jig hook in them. If I could get away with it I would never use anything else. But here on the two lakes I fish, especially in summer time, they just won’t bite a big enough bait to use the bigger jighead most days.

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WOW , they love big baits here cause primary feed is Gizzard Shad. Our dominate Crappie species are Whites .

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Originally Posted by Yak Fish

Last month I started drifting 1/8 oz VMC swimbait jig heads with 4" Keitech Easy Shiner swimbaits with pretty good success. I was surprised how readily crappie would take a bait that big. I'm more accustomed to fishing with a 1/16 oz or 1/32 oz jig heads. Haven't had the chance to hit my favorite lake to try again in a few weeks, but I plan to go this coming weekend if the weather cooperates.

Jim

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How many times you see a Crappie with a big Shad swallowed with the tail sticking out ?

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Originally Posted by NIMROD

WOW , they love big baits here cause primary feed is Gizzard Shad. Our dominate Crappie species are Whites .

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They prefer threadfin here and the threadfin spawn all summer into fall. They gorge all summer on the fry here. My best bait this summer has been a very small profile 1.75” bait on #4 hook. Hate fishing it but it is what it is. In late winter/early spring when all the baitfish are bigger the big baits are pretty effective. We also had some years where threadfin and gizzard shad were almost nonexistent, crappie really suffered and got skinny but they were a lot more aggressive on big jigs in that time frame.Here is a picture from winter when they are feeding on bigger shad and bigger baits work better.Attachment 435045

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Originally Posted by pab1981

They prefer threadfin here and the threadfin spawn all summer into fall. They gorge all summer on the fry here. My best bait this summer has been a very small profile 1.75” bait on #4 hook. Hate fishing it but it is what it is. In late winter/early spring when all the baitfish are bigger the big baits are pretty effective. We also had some years where threadfin and gizzard shad were almost nonexistent, crappie really suffered and got skinny but they were a lot more aggressive on big jigs in that time frame.Here is a picture from winter when they are feeding on bigger shad and bigger baits work better.Attachment 435045

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Yes one lake I fish has Threadfins but other ones are flood control and not real deep , never had Threadfins .

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Originally Posted by NIMROD

Yes one lake I fish has Threadfins but other ones are flood control and not real deep , never had Threadfins .

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I fish Kentucky and Barkley, they are flood control lakes on the Tennessee and Cumberland river chains. Gizzard shad are present in both lakes but don’t remember ever having a crappie spit up a full grown gizzard shad or found any cleaning fish. Threadfin, baby drum, and log perch, even small bluegill are much more common food sources here. Crappie will definitely eat big baits, but not all of them all the time. We used to catch a bunch of crappie on small lakes around where I grew up on 1/2oz rattle traps and big plastic worms while bass fishing.

I try to use the lightest jig possible so I typically fish 1/32-1/16 jigs. When fishing deep or using livescope I will use a 1/8-3/16 jig. Crappie will hit larger baits sometimes they want something tiny. You just have to keep switching it up until you find what they want.