Baitcasting Jigs and other lightweight lures ?

this may be a completely stupid question.

...but i was trying today to cast a small crankbait, a strikeking of some sort. a "bitsy minnow" i think...which is a crankbait designed for crappie and other panfish.

i could never cast it with any of my bait casting setups. i had to switch over to my spinning combo.

is there a trick to doing this? i tried setting the spool dial back to 0 and still could not cast it very far. and backlash several times.

i know i could put some weight in front of the lure but i figured that would cause the thing not to "swim" correctly.

even still i caught a nice 2 lb bass right at the creek edge.

are there certain reels or maybe a longer rod designed to cast these cool little baits? a longer rod would be hard to use where i fish. so many trees and stuff.

again sorry for the newbie question but i am fairly new to much of this stuff.

Baitcasting reels are for heavy baits. Watch the bass pros. They throw all their big crankbaits, spinnerbaits, Carolina rigs, etc. with a baitcaster. You'll struggle with it for lighter crappie baits. Stick to spinning or spin casting for the light stuff.

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Originally Posted by deathb4disco

Baitcasting reels are for heavy baits. Watch the bass pros. They throw all their big crankbaits, spinnerbaits, Carolina rigs, etc. with a baitcaster. You'll struggle with it for lighter crappie baits. Stick to spinning or spin casting for the light stuff.

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+1

Welcome to the site from Ne. Brad. Don't get caught up in the macho part that comes with Bass Fishing. Which is the bigger the better. You don't need the baitcasters to cast the small jigs and lures that go with Crappie fishing. Baitcasters are more suited to the big crank baits that need a lot of power to work them and keep you from being fatigued at the end of the day. When it come to Crappie, smaller is better most of the time. In some instances baitcasters with counter are used to set the depth of some for trolling or longlining. EB

The FIRST Thing for you Brad to remember is there are no Stupid Questions about fishing. You got a question ask away, there are many folks here from all angles of life & fishing experience, but they are all the same when it comes to fishing ,they love it and they are willing to help you(and the next 10 guys standing behind you) catch more fish. Heck we all started somewhere............Thumbs Up

I cast the Strike King Bitsy Pond Minnows with a 5 and a half ft. ultra light spinning rod with a light spinning reel and four pound line. Those lures are just too light to cast with a baitcasting reel.

With the right conditions and the right, easy freespooling reel, you can get an 1/8oz bait to behave. Lighter than that and you just can't get it done. 6 1/2' and 7' lite action rods and either tiny braid with a fluorocarbon leader or 4lb mono and a good reel and they get to be real fun. I've caught Largemouth on a 5 1/2' 6lb outfit up to 6lbs. A good drag is important in a rig like this, and a bigger spool diameter gives a better drag and helps keep the line memory to a manageable level. Tiny reels have a tight loop to the line memory and wont cast a featherweight plug as well.

Your stupid question made me learn something new. Got me a little more confidence with my light spinning rod for crappie fishing.

thanks to all.

i did not like the UL spinning combo at first. i still can't cast with it as accurate as i can a baitcaster with a texas rig.

however - over the past week i have learned to like it much more, especially after catching 30 crappie yesterday.

that bitsy minnow seems to be a killer. i never heard of crappie fishing with a crank bait until i started visiting this forum. this site is not good for the pocket book. especially with me leaving several jigs and crankbaits in the trees around the creek.

Can't be new man, if you caught 30 crappie with bitsy minnow. I only caught one bass with my first try with spinner bait. Can you tell me the brand and size of that bait? Also, what did you do different? I would like to know so I can have better luck too. By the way, were you on land or boat?

i caught the 30 crappie with a road runner jig. you can see it in the picture.

i started casting the bitsy minnow to see if they would bite a crankbait. i caught a few bass right at the creek edge with the bitsy. i had seen this bait advertised in one of the panfish magazines so i bought a few to try. below is a link to the exact bait.

Strike King Bitsy Pond Minnow

i was fishing from the bank of a small creek.

bradAttachment 58951

Road runner jig? How did you use that and where did you get it?

Brad .... cast sidearm, or use the dock shooter's method, and you'll keep your baits out of the overhanging tree limbs !! Accuracy, with a spinning outfit, comes with practice & use ... you'll get there, just keep at it.

Unless my old eyes are deceiving me .... that's a Blacknose (under the Roadrunner & facing the camera) you have on your stringer.

Nice catch !! Congrats !!

... cp

you can pretty much buy those jigs at any store that carries fishing tackle. i got mine at the local wal-mart. they are called "crappie thunder" jigs.

i was just casting the jig with a ultra light spinning combo into some stumps/sunken trees.

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Originally Posted by taisfus

Road runner jig? How did you use that and where did you get it?

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yeah, i reckon that means that they are the male ?

is there a methodoly to keeping the males or females? i mean if you catch males and females is best to release one or the other? or just keep em' all for fryin'?

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Originally Posted by Brad in MS

yeah, i reckon that means that they are the male ?

is there a methodoly to keeping the males or females? i mean if you catch males and females is best to release one or the other? or just keep em' all for fryin'?

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Not necessarily .... both male & female Blacknose will have a stripe. They're just a Black Crappie with a marker gene that causes the stripe. Pretty hard to tell a male & female Black Crappie apart, except when the female is obviously full of eggs. Considering that the male is the nest maker & egg/fry guardian .... and the female is the egg bearer, & deposits a portion of her eggs in several different nests ... IMHO it's pretty hard to make a determination over which one is best released. It may not make any difference, anyway. And I sure don't know how one would go about just catching one or the other .... so I just keep what I need, up to what's legal for that particular body of water.

... cp

How did you reel them in? Slowly reel them in or just Jig it a few times and let them drop slowly repeatedly?

With a bait casing reel, it's tough to throw anything under 1/8 oz. I throw Strike King 1/8 oz bitzy minnows sometimes with a baitcaster. No tension, feather with the thumb only, and cast with a twisted wrist where the spool runs vertical instead of hortizontal. Good luck.

I bought a Chartreuse/Black Bitsy Minnow yesterday. I took it to work today and weighed it. It says on the package 1/8oz which is .125oz. On the 2 digital scales I got reading of .0835oz that is like 1/12oz. Ill check it on my BC(dont think it will work too well) but I got it for my UL/St croix, President reel.

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Originally Posted by taisfus

How did you reel them in? Slowly reel them in or just Jig it a few times and let them drop slowly repeatedly?

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was casting about 15 ft from the bank into some downed trees and a few stumps.

i would start reeling as soon as the bait hit the water because i was getting hung on debris if i let it get too deep. then a slow retrieve after that.

To baitcast for Crappie ,you need a very light baitcasting reel..try a Crappie Max Light Baitcast reel.You can purchase one at Bass Pro.com,and you can purchase a 6' foot baitcasting rod on Amazon for around $30.00 dollars.To use small jigs 1/32 ounce jigs just put a small split shot weight about a foot and a half up and use a slip bobber,it will allow you to cast a super small jig,just like a bass jig.To use a small lure for Crappie it's the same way,just make sure that the weight you use is far away from the lure so it retains action.Remember just because you use a Bait caster doesn't mean it's any different then a spin caster in the sense of throwing a super light lure.Hope this helps.