Tackle question for being prepared

Alright guys. I’m beginning to get to where I think I can find crappie somewhat consistently. However, I am the most unprepared fisherman. And I do try to be prepared, it just never works out. I need some help with what jig head sizes and colors to keep. I don’t mind investing a little up front to get this situation under control. Furthermore, what I do have in the boat, I can’t find. Can you guys help please. I’m OCD about being prepared and organized to the point it’s crippling. I’ve bought so much useless junk that I have nothing I need at the time

I’d say jigs in 1/32, 1/16, and 1/8. Use the lightest weight you can to give the best presentation. Then colors I like are white, black, silver/gray, chartreuse green/yellow, blue, orange. I usually look for four categories in baits. Light, dark, bright and then natural color. So if I’m fishing a white bait and no takers I switch to a dark bait like black, then if nothing I switch to something bright, then natural. Usually you can almost always find something they are interested in by doing this. Tackle can be overwhelming and easily to get carried away buying stuff but keep it simple and stick to a handful of good baits and colors. Location, presentation and a good basic selection of baits should get it done. :twocents

Shop away - Shop away - don't need to spend a lot and almost anything will work. Good Luck!


1/16 & 1/18 is ablout all I ever use
Amazon.com

Amazon.com

Amazon.com

Something light, dark and in the middle

Amazon.com

Amazon.com : Bobby Garland Slab Slayer Black Chartreuse Silver 2" : Artificial Fishing Bait : Sports & Outdoors

BG blue ice is a great go to
bright chart baits too
bright orange baits as well
white of course
and black and chart
tubes work fine if you don't care for shad body plastics and jigheads like stated in the 1/32 , 1/16 and maybe 1/8 range
some pinch on pencil floats
and a bottle of glo white crappie nibbles .....all good to go
a few zip lock bags , one with plastics , one with floats and nibbles and one with jigheads .....
go get em ,show us them fish :highfive

Do you think micro jigs have a spot as a bait to keep on hand? The only reason I say this is, at Eufaula where I fish mostly the water gets smoking hot in the summer and sometimes I can’t buy a bite with anything I’ve tried, which isn’t much.

Dothan Alabama i just shipped something to there if it was you thank you for your order....size of jighead all depends on where you are fishin and the way you are targeting the fish i have stuff all the way down to 1/100 and up to 1/4 and i sell a ton of those and everything in between for me on my home lake i prefer 1/16 #4 in chartreuse,pink or orange.

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Originally Posted by bugman

i have stuff all the way down to 1/100 .

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What do you call those? Topwater jigs? :biggrin

Right now, the only thing I have confidence in doing is vertical jigging. I realize that’s not going to work all the time, but I’m practicing trying to sit off of a brush pile and casting to it. Bugman, it wasn’t me but I’m definitely going to give you some business. And I think I may know who it was from Dothan. I’m betting it was my uncle. He gave me some tiny jigs with #8 hooks for some little 1 inch plastics and I think he gave me all he had

Super Dave has some great advice.
Personally I fish 1/16 oz the majority of the time. If I want to go heavier, I tie two 1/16 oz jigs. As far as verticle jigging goes. I love a marabou hand tie. The feather give a great live action.

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I use everything from 1/64 to 1/8 for different things. The way I do things is when the bite gets tough, I downsize and slow down. Your uncle was spot on for what he gave you. I mostly throw UL and jigs about 1/48 with a #8 sickle which I swear by. The 1” tails work great for me and I usually cut the barb off the collar or cut the collar off completely and super glue the body on the night before so the glue has time to dry. Many more fish before it’s torn up. There are two excellent teachers. One is time on the water and I advise doing that solo so that you pay attention to what’s going on. It’s easy to miss little things that matter when you’re talking with someone. The second is patience. I catch many more fish on a slower retrieve and as long as I’ve been doing this I still have to tell myself to slow down. A roadrunner is a great lure and they advertise that you can’t fish it wrong as long as you fish it slow. There’s a lesson in that.