New to crappie, intro and gear advice needed

Hello all, thank you for allowing me to be part of this wonderful community.

Ill start by introducing myself. I go by Growler, and I live in central New York. I don't fish crappie but they've intrigued me and I'd like to get into fishing them more. I spent about 10 years fishing trout and salmon species exclusively but I bought a house on Oneida Lake 5 years ago and chased walleye since. I feel I'm ok to move onto other fish now and want to begin crappie fishing. I have a pontoon boat that is set up for fishing in the back but don't have a trolling motor yet. When I troll I use drift bags to get to my desired speed of .8mph, I use Garmin echomap 73dv for electronics. I have Scotty rod holders on the boat already. I mainly troll worm harnesses or jig with buck tails, sonars, and the like.

I plan to target crappie both from shore and from the boat once it's ice out. I'm thinking a 4 pole spread off the front to push jigs. An ultra light with slip bobbers for live minnow, and ultra light for jigging.

My question is what is good beginner gear to buy? I don't have a budget in mind but would like to be under $300.00. I have plenty of jigs that I could use, as I ice fishing and have a lot of small jigs and plastics already. I'm sure I'll buy more as I go. I'm thinking high vis line into #4 fluorocarbon for terminal. I'll probably split between a jig rod from shore with another "dead sticked" with a dual minnow rig under a slip bobber. That's my initially plan after research at least.

For that budget what would you recommend for length and brand poles and reels for pushing and for shore fishing? Are my thoughts on gear appropriate for a beginning set up? What else am I missing?

Thank you you for your time, tight lines!

First of all, WELCOME aboard! You're getting involved in the best crappie fishing forum there is. I'm sure you're going benefit from all the great folks here and their extensive knowledge. I'm in MA, so we're pretty much in the same neck of the woods. Before I give you some of my thoughts on your request, I've got to ask, how do you like that 73dv sonar? My fishing partner & I are going down to Cabelas in Hartford on Wednesday to look at the Garmin lineup. Interested in the 73SV, with side imaging.

OK....now if you check some our posts in the New England Forum below, you will see that we drift as well; usually with the wind, but we also use drift socks. So your approach can/should be just fine. Here in MA, we can only use two rods per angler, so I can't help you with the spider rigging techniques used by others here. I do know that drifting open water basins can pay off big time though.

We (my partner & I) do not use live bait at all. We are mainly CPR fishermen and use mainly jigs dressed with a variety of soft plastics. You should go online and visit the Grizzly Jig Company's website. There you can peruse the site and/or order their catalog. They have the best prices around and outstanding service to boot.

Your budget is more than sufficient to get you off the ground, as you will see at Grizzly. It appears that you are looking to buy more than one rig to start with and Grizzly does have multiple rod deals. Personally, I'm partial to the B n' M lineup of rods. Length again is a personal preference thing. I favor the 9' lengths in the SHSS series. But I'm sure others will help you out here as well, with many other options and opinions.

I will say this however, if you cast, troll, jig or drift, you'll probably need a good quality spinning reel on each rod. Check out the Plfueger Presidents (I have three of the #6920 size on my rods at this time). Great quality and durability at around the $50.00 mark. Do some reading up on the various products which our members will be recommending and select what best fits your budget and preferences.

Good Luck to you and we look forward to hearing about your trips.

Thank you crestliner, for both the advice and the welcome. I will be reading the New England forum from now on. I checked the NY forum and there isn't much activity there.

I love the Garmin so far. This is my first boat and first time buying anything but I'm pleased with it so far. My family has always had boat but I've just been there for the ride along in the past and just used whatever pop had on his boat. The Garmin down vu helped me in refining a lot of structure and that was very helpful. I located a few sunken barges I didn't know about and several other key structures I plan to fish for years to come, Oneida is a huge lake so I'm still exploring and refining. The unit is super helpful in doing this. I recommend it but wish I had the side scan as well, I'm sure you'll be pleased.

I appreciate ate the advice on the website, I'll be checking there now. Thank again for the advice!

"Crestliner" gave you some real good info to start off with. If you're an avid walleye fisherman,
than you can use some of that gear as well, for trolling during warm water months. My partner
and I like to single pole fish with 9-12 ft rods on brush piles and dipping in the brush during the spawn.
We use B'n'M Sam Heaton rods in 7ft lengths for casting,and Ozark "Tony Edgar" rods for dipping using
Bass Pro Crappie Maxx bait casters filled with premium Vi-Viz line on these rods in a 6-10 lb test with a
short (15-24") fluorocarbon leader of 4-6lb test. The baitcasters seem to prevent line twist. I do agree with
"Crestliner" about using the 6920 Pflueger Presidents. They are a quality reel that will serve you well.
I use a lot of artificial baits, while my partner prefers live bait, minnows and waxies. Jig sizes we use vary
from 1/64 thru 3/16 for dipping brush, all with bigger lite wire red Matzuo sickle hooks in sizes up to 2/0
for the heavier jigs. There is more useful info that you can obtain, by using the "Advance Search" feature.
Whatever you choose to do, enjoy and have fun! Catchin' crappie is a blast and sometimes frustrating.
Enjoy and Tight Lines

Thank you Dave. I appreciate your advice.

I'm searching through a lot of info and looking forward to making my purchase soon. I just want to be sure I'm buying something that will last and I won't outgrow in a matter of a year. I'd rather spend a bit more up front than have to upgrade quickly. Honestly I try to be on the water 3-4 days a week so I look at it as an investment for years to come so if I go over my budget I'm ok with it. The wife likes to go with me so she'll be ok with it as long as I catch fish and feed her.

I have no particular strategy that I'm tied to, I figured just like any other fish I'd offer a bunch of baits and presentations similar to a spider rig until I find what they like, then I'll refine my strategy to what the fish want. When ice fishing I'm allowed 9 lines in the water at a time and I use 9 different presentations until the fish tell me what they want. Open water I'm allowed 3 lines but I like to have a back up in case of malfunctions or break offs. I figure if I can offer up both live and artificial baits I can narrow down what the fish want on a particular day. Hopefully that works, if not I am open to changing my ways.

I think the first on my list is a jigging rod. A friend of mine's family owns a farm with a large pond that connects to a nature preserve that is loaded with crappie. They need some help culling the population there so that's my first plan while I wait for ice out. Once the bays thaw I'll hit marinas and peirs on the lake, then when the water is good I'll take out the boat.

Do you use dots at all? Like ice fishing jigs? I've hear mixed reviews on their effectiveness in open water, but figured using a heavy jig on bottom with a top ice jig drop shoted and tipped with spikes or plastics may work well. Any thoughts to that? Thanks again!

Hey "Growler", sounds like your taking the right approach, but as most of the guys here will tell you, equipment is a personal
choice. When I buy, I want to make sure I can touch, feel, examine the equipment for it's benefits and it's flaws. What works
for me may not work for you and others as well. As I suggested before, use the "Advance Search" feature and you should be
able to get some local help. For the pond, you may want to try a slip bobber setup on one of your light or medium light walleye
rods, especially if you've got one that's 6'6" or 7' with a #2 or #1 light wire hook and a minnow, or a small Thill "Crappie" float
(1/16 or 1/8) and the appropriate size jig with an artificial offering. Of course, these are intended for open water.

Since I do NOT spider rig, I can't be of much help in that area, but again, using the "Advanced Search" feature should get you
quite a few responses. You might want to look up "Capps & Coleman Rigs" for that technique.

As far as "dots" are concerned, I don't know what they are or how to use them. I do use Tungsten ice jigs when the
presentation ca[[s for something small and still. And I usually go with something like a Bobby Garland "Itty-Bitty" bait.

I'm sorry I can't be of any further help, but maybe a couple of other guys who fish up their in the northeastern part of
the country, may be willing to chime in with some sage advice.

Hope you get more info than what "Crestliner" and I offered. Keep pluggin' away!
Tight Lines - Dave

Dave, thank you again for the reply. My apologies for the delay work has been cramping my fish game and free time lately...

I've been searching a lot and found a ton of info, thank you for the advise. I agree with the buying and wanting to feel a rod. I've been trying to track down somewhere that sells the shss but can't find anywhere within a couple hundred miles. Such is life though.

Dots are essentially really small ice jigs. I use what's called a stank eye, it's a very small hyper glow jig that is made local to my area. Very similar to the tungsten ones you mention but not as heavy and not round but more shaped to include protruding eyes. I'll get a pic uploaded to show what I'm talking about. Thanks again. Tight lines!

Hey "Growler" , if your definition of "shss" is the Sam Heaton Super Sensitive, then Grizzly Jig is who you want to call.
If you decide to call them, ask for Louie or Wade Mansfield and they will be able to help. Grizzly Jig in Caruthersville, MO
is probably the largest retailer of crappie gear in the midwest. You may be interested in some of the videos you can find
on YouTube regarding B'n'M poles and crappie fishing. You can download Grizzly Jigs catalog online and peruse about
185 pages of crappie tackle. As far as the "dots" are concerned, try Custom Jigs & Spins, Northland Tackle or just try
googling, "ice jigs". If the "shss" is the Sam Heaton rod, I personally own the 7ft rod and really enjoy the feel and touch
of this rod, paired with the Pflugerville President reel Model 6920 and 6lb Fireside Crystal and a 3ft Fluorocarbon Leader,
for drop shotting. For me this works really well, what with my old hands and poor feeling in my fingers. Best of luck in your
search. Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions that you think I may have an answer for.

DaveB, thank you for the insight I searched through Grizzly's website and will be looking at ordering very shortly. Things got a little whacky with work and I had to go out of town for a while so I'm just now playing catch up. The boat is finally on the lake and ready to go, not just getting gear together for the weekend. I have some ultra lights I'm using for now but want to get a few more poles and the Sam Heaton seams like a good fit to me thanks again. Tight lines.

I started out with a 9 ft jig rod and a 6 foot spinning setup. This will allow you a lot of jigging and casting presentations. I have since moved to a 12' jigging rod, but I know up north, you all have a lot clearer water than down here in MS. A lot of guys use a trolling technique called STROLLING, one rod in each hand and work ledges or weedlines. It helps you to detect a light bite and less missed fish. 1/4 oz weight above a 1/8 or 1/16 jig. Also a good spinning setup for slip bobber fishing and also shooting docks. With a 3 rod setup you can eliminate the need for tons of rods and trolling racks. also leaves more money for tackle! Crappie have been caught for years with cane poles without fancy reels, but I will tell you, good gear makes days on the water much more enjoyable. As stated before, the Pflueger is a quality, affordable rig. I have also had some nice diawas i found for a deal at midway usa. Shimano makes a good rig, but a little more spendy, as well as the gloomis rods. Its an addiction, and carry 25 rods with me every trip, but again, fish can be caught with much much less. If you have any questions, feel free to ask away or shoot messages to folks. Most on here are very willing to share and help. Also as stated before, the search function is your friend! Ive been here years and still learn things weekly, Welcome aboard

Thank you Mo, some very good information in your post. I live on Oneida lake, which is not extremely clear due to its shallow bottom and massive size so its a little closer to some of the southern waters I've been on IMO. I'm ordering a few SHSS in 9' and also a couple cheaper zebco crappie fighter in 12'. I'm going to go to my local shops and see what reels I like. My walleye setups I use Shimano Stradics with custom rods that I had made by a local guy who uses G Loomis Blanks, but I don't want to spend that much just yet for crappie fishing because the wife may just leave me if I do...

I like this technique you mentioned, Strolling, it seems like it would fit in well with the setup of the lake I live on. I am also reading all I can on here and have several ideas on presentations and techniques to try out. Right now the water is ~57-59 so I'm thinking I have a little time before the spawn and also the post spawn bite.

One thing I've reading is that the males should be moving in to nest now, with the females sitting in deeper water at the nearest drop off with structure until the water warms further. What is the validity of this?

My thought is that I can use setups similar to spider rigging to drift the basins for both crappie and perch as well. From what I've been reading this type of setup can allow me to work weed edges and basins alike and I can get 6 poles out with 2 people in the boat. Using the caps and coleman type rigs Dave mentioned above seems like I can work several depths with up to 12 presentations. I slip bobber fish for perch year round here, even on the ice, and do well in depths up to 30' but I typically only run 1-2 rigs at a time from a stationary position. I'm thinking with the egg sinker and using my rod holders I have for trolling I can cover a ton of ground. So essentially I'm thinking of combining the caps and coleman rigs and "stump bumping" in order to offer a ton of variety but also using slip bobbers as a strike indicator. After saying all this I do have a question. Is there a chart, similar to a trolling depth chart, on what size sinker to use at different speeds to keep line vertical while trolling? If not I can always experiment but figured if I don't have to reinvent the wheel I won't.


Thanks again to everyone who has offered help, this is a great community and very welcoming.

Hey "Growler" glad to see your getting out and experimenting. I do believe that is what
fishing is all about. As far as the CC rigs are concerned, check out Pg 17 of the Grizzly Jig
catalog and you'll see that the weights are associated with depth, more than speed. Use
your knowledge from walleye fishing, especially river fishing, and taht will give you an idea
of where to start. My buddy and I fish the Illinois and Kankakee rivers for walleye and we
use the two rod setup, that is, one rod in each hand while attempting to "slip" the river.
The weight we use is dependent on the current. Keith Kavajecz was more than willing to share
that technique with me several years ago and it took some time to get used to, but once you
get it down you can pretty well adapt it to other species on other bodies of water. Boat control
is the biggest factor, IMHO, that keeps your line vertical. If you are very good at that, you'll
have no problem in dropping an 1/8th oz jig in most conditions and keeping it vertical. Look
up a post by "shipahoy41" entitled "Knots and Rigs for beginners" as an alternative to CC rigs.
Keep up the good work!! Tight Lines - Dave

DaveB40 has really hit on something here. "Slipping" a river can be extremely effective for all species of fish. What this boils down to is using your main engine with boat's bow pointed upstream. You raise the engine rpm just fast enough to "slip" downstream/backwards in the current while maintaining boat position with the bow pointed upstream. Minor steering adjustments allow for precise boat position in and around river structures with a minimum of effort.

What this does in effect is allow your presentation to get close to the bottom and in the face of the fish. They expect their food to arrive this way and slipping facilitates them getting the "right" meal (your jig!). You can also google Dan Gapen, who is the river fishing "guru". He has published many books on both bass, pike and crappie in rivers. I'd highly recommend his book entitled, "Big River Fishing", in which he goes into great detail on this and other techniques, which will put the odds in your favor.

Thank you so much Dave and Crestliner.

Dave, I'm going to download the catalog and check out their products. Just adapting what you showed me with the stuff I had laying around seems to be the ticket, I really appreciate the help. As for slipping I'll give that a try, I'm sure it'll be a learning experience trying that in a pontoon boat without a trolling motor but I think I can handle it. As for river fishing I don't get much of a chance to do that, the lake I live on has a lock system to the rivers as part of the old erie canal and to my knowledge there's only one stretch of river I can access until the lock open up again. I unfortunately didn't buy the trailer when I bought my boat because the marina is down the road and they store the boat for me. However, I think I could use this technique in the bays I fish in. I'll definitely check out that thread. Thank you again.

Crestliner, thank you for the detailed explanation, this really helps me understand how to achieve the control I will need. I can see this being useful in so many situations even outside of rivers. I feel like this would work really well fishing shoals on windy days as well and will help increase my catch rate overall. In the short time I've been on this forum I feel I've learned a ton, and while I have a lot more to go I feel I'm on the right path. Thank you.

I got out today for a while I was supposed to go into work but I'm technically on vacation so I figured fishing would be a better idea. I was using 1 walleye pole and a couple of ultra lights I had sitting around for my nieces and nephew when they come over. I ended up catching 12 crappie in about 2 1/2 hrs, only problem was they were all short. Here in NY we have a 9" minimum, of the 12 I'd say probably 7 were between 8-8 1/2. The rain came in and the fish shut right off, probably more to do with the drop in temp then the rain though. I tried a couple techniques, using jigs on the bottom using a loop knot with a drop shotted minnow on top seemed to work the best though, even had a couple doubles. When exploring I found an area that I thought would be packed with crappie but all I found was bass I'm wondering if bass move in do the crappie typically stay away, still it was a fun fight on an ultra light. Thank you everyone for welcoming me and giving such great advice, Im a member of other fishing forums and none of them are even close to the community this one is.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Growler

Im a member of other fishing forums and none of them are even close to the community this one is.

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I've heard this very same thing many times. I believe it's because we have mostly good-natured members that like to help others. Plus, we don't put up with a lot of hooey or misbehaving from members, regardless of how long they've been a member. You become a problem or your conduct isn't in keeping with site rules ... you are subject to being booted out of the membership, never to be allowed to return.

Site rules are posted on the Main Message Forum, in case you want to read them for your own protection.

Thank you for the sage advice CrappiePappy. I appreciate the work you mods do here, it shows that you and the other mods do your job well.