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My wife and I went for a few hours yesterday. Tried single poling for a bit, then a nice gentleman gave us a cooler full of minnows and we landed 8 nice eaters over 10”, spider rigging. Nice last fishing day of the year!Attachment 391376Attachment 391377
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have had that happen where your doing your jigging thingy but not happening and then some nice person gives you their minnows and it's on. Shows why if you have to drive a long way why not have them along just in case?
Nice haul. :santa
Christmas Dinner!
Nice looking mess of fish.
I wish I had some minnows near me. Closest place is 35 minutes each way in the other directionQuote:
Originally Posted by hdhntr
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That's why I am thinking about getting a small stock tank in the back yard. Quick renewable bait source? Buy some minnows for starters and return any left over to the tank.
I miss seeing these crappie pics. Just makes a man feel warm even if it is 25º.
Good deal, congrats!
Nice catch
They sure look good.
LittleJohn
Looks like a nice trip!
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Crappie Dayz, Just my opinion only based on several years of crappie fishing. When the water gets cold, minnows are the ONLY way to go. I LOVE to jig fish and have for years, but hard to get a consistent pattern when the water temp drops below 45-50 degrees. But, a good tuffy minnow seems to always work during the colder temps. Lots of people use jigs, but tip the jig with a minnow. My thoughts is they are REALLY minnow fishing, but feel good they are also using a jig. When the water warms up, I fish jigs.
Nice mix of black and whites.
I catch about as many crappie on jigs as I do on minnows even in the wintertime. (Although I usually have a bucket of minnows in my boat!) The key for me when the water is cold is to try and hold that jig as still as possible. Wintertime crappie are sluggish in their movement and want their prey to be as well. I'm always amazed at people who continually want to shake their jig up and down as if they have to entice the crappie to bite. Best thing in cold water is to hold it still. Most people do not realize how even the slightest movement of the boat or wave action can move a jig. If you don't believe me, find some clear water (even a large bucket or swimming pool will work) and try to hold a jig as still as you can. You'll be surprised how much it moves. Of course, my preferred method of wintertime fishing is slow trolling (spider-rigging) with a jig tipped with a minnow.
Congrats on a nice trip.
Agree 100%. When fishing structure, any time of year - I always use jigs and feel they out fish minnows most of the time. Where I fish, 2 weeks back water temps were in the very low 40s. The crappie were biting on a slow retrieve. Now that temps are in the high 30s, they won't do that. I reel a little, then wait - sometimes up to 30 seconds. Losing focus will cause you to miss the bite. Even when the jig is still, the blood flow in our arm is enough to give it some movement. I've been very successful in the winter with jigs once I learned that I had to stop reeling and let it sit.Quote:
Originally Posted by kyfishman