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I have been trying to figure this crappie thing out.
So it has been raining up here in southern Indiana, water is murkey, so I have been using a white roadrunner to fish for them, have caught a couple small ones.
One guy I work with says he uses a black minnow jig? what ever that means.
I have bought crappie jigs in a box from like bass pro, but they do catch anything or I am not fishing right.
What is the best artificial lure or jig, an how are you fishing them?
Thanks for any help.
"Black minnow jig" would likely be a jighead with a minnow shaped plastic body that is black in color.
Many people think dirty water means they need to put on a bright lure, but actually you're better off using a darker color lure. Having one that has two colors (dark/light) can also work well, as it provides a contrast ... as well as being visible in varying degrees of "dirty".
There really isn't any "best" anything, when it comes to lures. If there were, there'd only be that one lure for sale. Any lure or jig will work at specific or certain times. How you present the lure is the #1 factor, provided there are any Crappie where you're presenting that lure.
Presenting the lure means : at what depth, & at what speed (+ what action the bait has or you create). Crappie are generally looking forward & up when feeding. They're not going to chase a bait very far, or very fast ... they're more into ambushing or being sneeky/stealthy like a ninja.
Whenever you "figure this Crappie thing out" ... you let me know, asap, because I've been trying for nearly 60yrs and haven't done it yet. :yikes :Rofl
But, seriously .... casting & swimming a jig/plastic is done a little differently than casting & retrieving a Roadrunner.
I like to cast the RR and just simply reel it back in at a "moderately steady" pace with rod tip pointing down at almost a 45deg angle. The hookset is merely a sweep of the rod while I keep on reeling. The strike is usually just a sudden weight on the end of the line.
When I'm casting & swimming a jig/plastic, I reel it back with a "very slow retrieve", and my rod tip is pointing up at almost a 45deg angle. The hookset is a fast lifting up and back of the rod, then resume reeling. The strike can be a single "tic" in the line (line jumps), or the line moves off to one side or the other, or the line suddenly goes slack and you know the lure is not on the bottom.
Next time you start catching small ones (esp. this time of year), first go deeper and if that don't work, go shallower. If that don't work, go to another spot. If the fish are moving into the shallows to spawn, they're going to be of nearly the same size or year class. Usually the older/bigger fish will take over the spawning banks first, leaving the smaller/younger ones to wait their turn. And if you are catching the males shallow, and they're displaying darker than usual black markings, but not catching any of the bigger/fatter females .... then the females may be underneath or behind you. Move farther away from the bank and fish at nearly the same depth as you were catching the males, and fish around any submerged timber or over any channel dropoff that's close to the area of the bank where the males were caught. The females will be "staging" out there, and only making occasional moves into the shallow bedding areas ... depositing a portion of their eggs into any one nest, move back to the staging area & rest, then go back in and drop another portion of their eggs into another nest. They will repeat this until they have no more eggs or the conditions get messed up ... in which case they may wait & see if things improve & try again, or they may just give up trying and absorb their eggs as nourishment.
... cp :kewl
Good detailed post Pappy.
After a rain the fish act funny so wait for the water to settle and then try a black and chartreuse jig body on a 1/16 oz jig head and see how you do. Good luck!
Read this, and then read it again. This method works with any jig, not just sliders.Quote:
Originally Posted by duckmaster1
Charlie Brewer's Slider Company - ******* Weedless Crappie Slider "Why&How"
I prefer 1/32 or 1/16 oz jigs in chartreuse and white. Depth and speed is more important than color.
So far I have had most of my luck with 1/16 black/chartreuse tube jig and I am a beginner also on artificial baits. This is a go to bait color that a lot of people have posted. But they say any color and any type bait is able to catch more at anytime, it is a trial and error thing. Don't give up keep trying it will soon come together and you will load the boat.:twocents
practice.read all you can on this site.go to the gatherings.fish with someone who catches fish.listen to CP.
vet....your gonna give CP a big head lol
theysaid
I thought his hat was lookin a lil smallish......Quote:
Originally Posted by "G"
Great information from you guys. And I read the article, and you know, those little taps, I was getting them but was not sure if that was a hit or not. Now that was a huge information there. I mainly fish for everything and if I catch a crappie, then I am lucky.
But I will read the article a couple more times.
Thank you all.
How do you select jig colors?
Personally, I select them on how well the two colors contrast against each other ... and that's usually one dark color & Chartreuse. On single color jigs, I go with White, Pink, or Chartreuse as my main line of single colors. Those choices are just the culmination of decades of fishing experiences & success with them.Quote:
Originally Posted by jacob2000
... cp :kewl
Hey boss when I'm fishing stained water I will move up to a 2" bass assassin either in avocado or limetruse. I run these in doubles on a 1/16th oz jig head preferably unpaired. When your water clears roll back to a 1.5" with the same jig size. Keep plugging away at this sport I love the fact that every time I go it's a bit different. I fished for largemouth on fork for YEARS, I may have found a couple over 10lbs. I catch a 14"+ white just about every time I go, so.... The moral of the story is I catch trophies more often now then I did beating the banks for ol bucket mouth. I bass fish on my days off from the crappie to do somethin different, but I'll come back to these illusive fish every time. Best of luck and if I can help ya in any way let me know.
Confidence in a bait is everything; probably because we slow down and pay more attention to detail. 2 inch tubes with 1/8th oz jig head is a good place to start. Hang in there and good fishing to you.