Downsizing for Winter: Open for Debate

Where has the idea or thought that it is necessary to downsize for winter fishing come from ? This is just an observation, but aren't the forage baitfish actually "larger" in the winter than in the spring and summer months ? There's essentially no fry present, only very mature options. With the crappie gorging themselves on these larger shad, why then do most anglers downsize their bait offerings this time of year ? Most of the crappie I have caught in the last week have had these 3"+ long shad chalked full in their bellies, yet still feeding...

I can tell you the reason I have always downsized..... Because that's what I was "taught" to do, and since I have caught fish this way, I've never questioned the logic, just did it because "Hey, it's working"...

Here's the topic open to debate and discussion: Winter time Crappie: Downsize ? Don't Downsize ? Upsize ? Super Size ?

I've heard Huckabee say Upsize. Others say downsize. What say you CDC ?

Great Thread- I do not change weight or size for cold weather. I just fish much slower.

With the colder water the matabalism slows down and the fish eat less and less frequent. A fish that is full will reject a large offering but may try a small snack.
Just my theory.

Personally I'd change color or presentation before size.
The only exception I'll say is some times a trout magnet will produce when nothing else will and its usually in the dead of winter. Years back a buddy introduced them to me and suddenly my winter fishing got better. So there's most certainly merit in the downsize theory,at least in the semi clear waters I fish.

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Originally Posted by Minners N Jigs

Where has the idea or thought that it is necessary to downsize for winter fishing come from ? This is just an observation, but aren't the forage baitfish actually "larger" in the winter than in the spring and summer months ? There's essentially no fry present, only very mature options. With the crappie gorging themselves on these larger shad, why then do most anglers downsize their bait offerings this time of year ? Most of the crappie I have caught in the last week have had these 3"+ long shad chalked full in their bellies, yet still feeding...

I can tell you the reason I have always downsized..... Because that's what I was "taught" to do, and since I have caught fish this way, I've never questioned the logic, just did it because "Hey, it's working"...

Here's the topic open to debate and discussion: Winter time Crappie: Downsize ? Don't Downsize ? Upsize ? Super Size ?

I've heard Huckabee say Upsize. Others say downsize. What say you CDC ?

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You do have some smaller sized natural minnows in all lakes!
In our lake we still have 3 inch shad swimming around from the different spawns they have!

So NO, I do not downsize until the water is lower than 40 degrees.
At water temps of 39 degrees, Crappie start to have issues swimming....so they slow their metabolism, suspend, and just eat enough to survive...then you have to really slow down and just basically ice fish!

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Originally Posted by INTIMIDATOR

You do have some smaller sized natural minnows in all lakes!
In our lake we still have 3 inch shad swimming around from the different spawns they have!

So NO, I do not downsize until the water is lower than 40 degrees.
At water temps of 39 degrees, Crappie start to have issues swimming....so they slow their metabolism, suspend, and just eat enough to survive...then you have to really slow down and just basically ice fish!

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Correctamundo !! And I've even seen Shad less than 2" long in Oct/Nov ... in a lake in East Tenn.

There may also be a factor in the fact that Crappie can see clearer/better/farther in cold water, so they may be able to discern the "fakeness" of larger baits more easily than smaller ones. :dono

... cp :kewl

I'm just betting,( guessing ) that the colder the water,the smaller bait crappie or for that matter other fish take.The more southern waters may never get to the point of slowing fish metabolism compared to northern waters.All the years of ice fishing will teach you that downsizing baits during hard water produces more fish,more often.

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Originally Posted by CrappiePappy

Correctamundo !! And I've even seen Shad less than 2" long in Oct/Nov ... in a lake in East Tenn.

There may also be a factor in the fact that Crappie can see clearer/better/farther in cold water, so they may be able to discern the "fakeness" of larger baits more easily than smaller ones. :dono

... cp :kewl

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The 2" inch shad you're referring to, would those be fully mature ? Or late fall spawn fry ?

Even at 2" that's often times a "larger than recommended" size offering IF you listen to a lot of anglers advice on winter time (Dec-Feb) crappie fishing. It seems many recommend baits under 2" for winter fishing, which is what prompted the starting of this thread. While I have zero experience with it, I often see ice baits around the 1" size.

Small shad are from Late Fall spawns.
These are 2 inchers from Nov. 2014 and late Oct 2015.
This is why are Crappie are growing so well in the North....with regular and late shad spawns, due to our messed up weather, the Crappie benefit from perfect sized "sushi" thoughout the year!

I fish smaller year round...a 1/64 ounce Trout Magnet. I catch plenty of fish.....crappie......white bass....Smallies.....Gills......spotted bass......trout....but rarely large mouth with it.....but then again I don't target large mouth....but for whatever the reason they don't care for the small bait. Crappie however, love it. My presentation is always extremely slow. I was never taught to do this it is just the way I have been fishing for the past 8 years or so...it has served me well. It is my experience that in winter fish love the smaller presentation. I don't have any empirical evidence of this...just my observation. Before going to strictly UL fishing and micro jigs I would catch crappie with larger baits...but less of them than I do since going with micro jigs.


Regards

I never use anything smaller than tube bait 2'' on a 1/8 oz head. In winter to early summer I even use 2 1/2 '' tubes on 1/4 oz heads . I like the bigger ones when fishing deep or when Crappie are feeding on bigger Shad in winter . Works great around the spawn when big slabs are most aggressive . If you will look to see stomach contents you will understand and bigger baits allows you to use bigger hooks too .

If you fish predominantly one lake in one geographic zone then you probably have it about figured out if you been doing very long.

But if you fish around some on streams and rivers and oxbows,and swamps,and 10 or 15 different lakes....well then ...start with something and if that don't work try the other.

It also matters on how radical the changes in climate are because fish can get funky when things change rapidly. If its real cold but stays that way for a long time then even that gets predictable and you figure something out.Or if its warm most of the time and cold fronts are short and warm weather is usually right behind is another.

The more you experience changing conditions and changing bodies of water....the more it pays to be prepared to adapt and keep an open mind.

I like it when a long consistent weather pattern settles in and water levels and clarity are constant for a while.The fish get comfortable and are much more predictable ,and I can find a pattern and just fish it with nearly the same results everytime.

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Originally Posted by Minners N Jigs

The 2" inch shad you're referring to, would those be fully mature ? Or late fall spawn fry ?

Even at 2" that's often times a "larger than recommended" size offering IF you listen to a lot of anglers advice on winter time (Dec-Feb) crappie fishing. It seems many recommend baits under 2" for winter fishing, which is what prompted the starting of this thread. While I have zero experience with it, I often see ice baits around the 1" size.

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No, they would have likely been Gizzard Shad or Threadfin Shad ... so they would have been a Fall spawn product.

I have zero experience fishing through the ice, myself ... but, have caught Crappie on 1.5" tubes on 1/16oz jigheads in water under 40deg. That would make the "bait" pretty near 2" in length. Oddly enough, I caught them in less than 4' of water and right against the bank ... bank fishing a central KY lake, right next to a downed tree, on a "warm" Dec. day (>32deg air temps).

... cp :kewl

Use 1/32nd oz here in Iowa in the winter, same as in the summer.

Excellent discussion! I always approach any fishing situation by letting the fish tell me what they want. Sometimes I downsize in the summer months and sometimes I up size in the winter months. You try something and if it's not working, you try something else. This approach has worked well for me for many years.

the only thing i know is that i was taught by some folks to go big in the winter
and then i was taught by other folks to go small in the winter
and i have seen days when a bait so small it was almost invisible to the naked eye was slamming whale crappie in the dead of winter
and i have seen other days and on other lakes when 4 inches was the size they wanted ......
i hit the water with the never say never attitude and bring several bait selections with me
these here crappie fish tend to be rather unpredictable at times :banghead

If you have grass shrimp in the system it could pay to downsize at any point in time during the year. Depending on what your fishing on.

You really can't go wrong in the cooler months....Crappie are just a fabulous Predator that have "Evolved to Adapt"!
They can feed and flourish on large Prey if it is available, or find small prey to survive on.
With their keen eyesight they can see micro-organisms, larva, etc., and feed on them...this is especially important when the Temps really drop in certain places and they are unable to chase down regular prey. This is one of the things that allow Crappie to proper in their habitat.

These are midge flies that come out of our lakes in swarms like the Mayflies....you do not have to match size when they are hatching/molting, but you better have something close to the same colors....same with the Mayfly hatch, Shad hatch, etc.,....color match is always better than size at our lake....until it's time to ice fish.
Then you better have a larva sized bait!

Here our fish feed primarily of Shad and other fish. We have huge hatches of knats and such each summer . I don't want the dinks but target the bigger fish looking for a meal .:twocents

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Originally Posted by NIMROD

Here our fish feed primarily of Shad and other fish. We have huge hatches of knats and such each summer . I don't want the dinks but target the bigger fish looking for a meal .:twocents

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Agreed...like I said, even during the hatches or shad season, as long as you have a color that matches what they are keying in on, size doesn't really matter....I choose to use a larger lure to weed out some of the smaller fish....But when Crappie are really feeding heavy in early summer, heck I pull out the 4.8 and 5.8 inch swimbaits, and I still catch a few dinks with a "Napoleon complex"!

At our lake, size really only matters during hard water periods! :)

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Originally Posted by Alphahawk

I fish smaller year round...a 1/64 ounce Trout Magnet. I catch plenty of fish.....crappie......white bass....Smallies.....Gills......spotted bass......trout....but rarely large mouth with it.....but then again I don't target large mouth....but for whatever the reason they don't care for the small bait. Crappie however, love it. My presentation is always extremely slow. I was never taught to do this it is just the way I have been fishing for the past 8 years or so...it has served me well. It is my experience that in winter fish love the smaller presentation. I don't have any empirical evidence of this...just my observation. Before going to strictly UL fishing and micro jigs I would catch crappie with larger baits...but less of them than I do since going with micro jigs.


Regards

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Maybe you just aren't fishing around the largemouths much? I always get a decent amount of largemouths when fishing 1-2" panfish baits. Always fun when fishing 2lb line!

I just try to have small and large baits at all times. Sometimes they just want something small. I don't try to over think it.

I downsize in jig weight but not necessarily in size because the colder the water temp the slower the retrieve needs to be in my opinion. I can retrieve a 1/16 oz jig slower than a 1/8 oz jig and still keep it in the depth that I want fish it in. I feel that slower retrieve means more strikes in colder water. My two cents worth.

I've always heard the shad are large in the winter like you, however I was catfishing last week and caught a bunch of 2-2.5" gizzard and threadfin shad in my castnet. I think a very slow bait is more important in the winter than a tiny bait.

After November, I rarely fish any baits over 1/32 oz. seems like up in my area we catch more and bigger fish this way. I still keep a pole rigged with a bigger jig but they just don't produce like the smaller baits do.

This has been a good thread to read. Much like any of the questions many have asked in the past, it seems the answer is still the same.

Q. <Insert basically any question here>
A. Find fish. Try this, try that. What worked yesterday may or may not work today. What's "generally the rule, today requires the exception.

Understand thats at a not a slap at anyone who answered. It seems that's the reality and the reflection of the often times fickle temperament of crappie !

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Originally Posted by Elrik

Maybe you just aren't fishing around the largemouths much? I always get a decent amount of largemouths when fishing 1-2" panfish baits. Always fun when fishing 2lb line!

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Fish in plenty of waters with a ton of large mouth. Trout Magnet is great lure, but in my fishing......5-6 days a week.....unless weather is unbearable...it just won't produce many large mouth. If I want to catch them then can switch to a Slab Magnet....but if any other fish is biting I prefer not to target large mouth. For me 2# test and UL fishing is the only way to go. I fished 21 years in Persian Gulf and Red Sea........throwing lures to fish that had never seen lures. We called it catching instead of fishing.....tons of fish from 20-70 pounds...and sometimes bigger. It was a very enjoyable 21 years. But all I ever thought about was getting back home to retire one day and fish for Gills and crappie. Now I am living the dream. Life is good!

Regards