I Am A Crappie Fishing Caveman

I read about all the “stuff you guys fish with”, and I am amazed. You guys have left me in the dust. I am 62, and fell in love with crappie fishing when I felt my first crappie hit a orange hair jig on a fly rod in 1973. Until the last few weeks, I had never owned a depth finder, and wouldn’t own one now, but for the fact that I bought a boat that had one on it. I have pulled some crankbaits, out of boredom I guess more than anything, because it’s the thump that keeps me coming back, the thump on my same old fly rod. I fish Sardis mostly, I live 15 minutes from Hurricane Landing, I, ease off to Grenada or Enid on occasion, fish a little off of the Tenn River, and I wonder how do I keep catching crappie while all the technology has passed me by. I’m just lucky the crappie havent gotten any smarter over the last 40 years. My wife say’s I’m cheap, I haven’t bought a minnow in 30 years. She is after me to buy a Garmin with the live scope, so I carried her fishing Saturday, her and my old fly rod, I caught 21, I asked her why did I need a fish finder, I guess she is still thinking about it, over her crappie dinner. Good fishing guy’s, I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do.

amen. I, too, accidentally stumbled onto crappie fishing using an eleven foot fly rod and a bucktail streamer fly. Somehow I switched to bucktail jigs and never looked back. I even made my own jigs and shared them with friends and family. Catching a crappie by holding the pole in my hand is sheer delight. Ranks up there with making love to a beautiful woman. We are a dying breed, Rebel. Younger folks ask me about spider rigging, long lining, and crank bait trolling,, but I just tell them I can't help them . Very seldom do I get questions about single poling. I am 78 years young and probably haveless to fish with than anyone on the water, and still have a freezer loaded with crappie fillets, and each one of them has a tale to go with it.

I was a die hard single pole guy till about 9 yrs. ago I attended a crappie .com spring camp and won 8 Ozark trolling poles . I have met lots of new friends and now enjoy all types of crappie fishing techniques . My set up allows me to pull cranks , spider rig , single pole . I also catfish as well as chase red ear . I catch my share of blue gill on a 4 wt. fly rod on the state lakes . If they ever legalize dynamite , I will probably throw the first stick . "Tonto " of the lone ranger said many like solid color pony, many like spotted horse . It's all good . Both beat walking . :biggrin

I appreciate the history you two provided. I cut my teeth on Lake Okeechobee with a single flyrod converted to jig pole at the ripe old age of 13. My stepfather and I would load a cooler slap full in just a short morning stretch. I am 46 years old and those memories seemed like just yesterday. I too haven't got the crankbaiting, long-lining figured out but certainly coachable. But like ya'll there's just nothing like the THUMP.

Some of my earliest memories were trolling for crappie with my grandfather at The cutoff and Dacus when I was a very young boy (I’m 52 now) so it’s hardly a new way to fish. While pulling crankbaits is relatively new, when we started doing it in the mid-90’s it was using gas motor at idle speed and no electronics, just using the contour of the bank and what we already knew about the lake. That said, no way I’m giving up my remote control MK or my Garmin. No livescope yet but I’ll have one, one day.

Crappierebel, I guess I'm a cave man myself. I have fought caving in to the trolling/long lining. Been jigging for over 40 years. I started with the a 10' fiberglass stillfish pole with the reel on the end and the line running through the pole. Had a pole, paddle an a life jacket. Sculled for miles and didn't own a trolling motor for the first few years crappie fishing. I would rather catch 10 crappie jigging than 40 trolling. Hard to explain the joy of something so simple. For those cut from the same cloth you understand. FYI, I do some spider rigging with crazy highwater years like this one but been catching limits jigging since August. Thanks for the post!

Nothing better than that THUMP!!

I do it all, but single poling for the thump, is my go to set up. I am 72 and started using jigs only 50years ago. P.S- I started with a fly rod myself.

What ever floats your boat.

I tend to like to fill the thump myself. But for sure trolling is for filling the limit more often than not! Me give me a beetle spin and let me feel the thump of whatever will hit it!!

I need every advantage I can get and sometimes they still give me the skunk. :crazy:

I can’t eat what I catch now. I give my folks and neighbors all they want. I use to catch 50, sometimes before work, I would dress them after work. I finally asked myself what was I going to do with all those fish, then they went to 30, thats still too many for me, now it’s 15, I usually wont keep over 7 or 8. I have been teaching my granddaughter about catch and release. But that’s just my thing, I think everybody should do whatever they want to do.(unless they are an outlaw)

I'm 64, started with fly rod. Switched over to B&M Cadillac poles about 20 years ago. 12' pole with 16' of line. Have a freezer full of crappie and only keep 7 to 12 most trips. Haven't bought a minnow in 15 years.

Just enjoy trying to keep up with the crappie movements and what they are doing as the seasons go by. I make bamboo tops and put them out every few years. Some in places I've caught a lot of crappie in the past, some new places each time.

Bass fisherman find them and spend a little time there. Crappie fisherman always hang with protected pockets and mostly too shallow water to hold good crappie except during the Spawn.