Crappie Gear Advice

Hello everyone !!

I moved away from saltwater to freshwater fishing last year, and yes it is a challenge. Especially without a boat. It amazes me that with all the freshwater lakes, rivers, canals and so on, there is so little access to shoreline fishing. I wish I had not sold my boat, but offshore rides don't work well in the shallows of freshwater anyway.

The only place I have found to have good shoreline access to freshwater, is the the Rodman Dam Recreation area. Its a nice place and I have watched people pull out big cats, 10 lb. bass, 6 lb. Blue Tilapia, lots of Crappie. The issue for me is I have to drive over an hour to get there. I know there are other places in North Florida, I just have not found them yet. If you know about any good shoreline fishing for bass and or crappie, please share :)

Gear, this is a crazy topic. I have spent a lot of time researching, but everyday I learn about new gear, new ways to fish etc. It is really confusing. Before I go too far, please note that while I do occasionally toss lures, I dislike them. I prefer live and cut bait where applicable. In 55 years my lack of knowledge on how to fish with lures and their presentations has never brought in a single fish :( I know this is all on me, but I never had anyone to teach me how to fish after the age of 14, when my grandfather passed. I use(d) what I did learn from my grandfather, I targeted catfish, carp, and occasionally panfish to break the monotony.

I would like to target crappie as the spawning season I always hear so much about is here. But, what hook sizes, what kind of rigs, slip bobbers, stationary bobbers, short rods, 20' rods, 1/64 ounce jigs, and on and on. This is really daunting to an old freshwater fisherman returning to the rivers and lakes after 25 years.

GEAR:
I prefer to buy in the middle range (4200 - $300) for my reels and make sure they can be used in more than one situation. No way in the world I will ever pay $700 for a lightweight bait caster and another $500 on a high end rod that can handle ultra light gear. I understand the value of high end bait casting gear, that is if you cannot use a spinning real. Why would I buy a $1200 setup to catch panfish? No tournaments in my foreseeable future.


I prefer equipment that can be used for multiple fishing applications, but would buy Crappie specific gear. For example, I bought two Shimano spinning reels, Vanford VFC3000XGH reals and grabbed a pair of Clarus CSS66M2E's, and spooled them with 15 lb. V2 Braid last year. Now these rods/reels have 20 lb. of drag are exceptionally made to use in salt and fresh water applications and I have caught both fresh and salt water species with them. I took them down to the boat ramp and practiced catching tons of pin fish (salt). But of course I had someone stop by one day and pick at me for not using a bait caster. I have owned my fair share of conventional reals, but never a low profile bait caster. So off I went researching and finally decided on a Shimano Curado DC on a St Croix Avid-x MF 7' rod. Went big from my point of view, but seriously disappointed! To be fair I am considering buying a Lew's Team pro rod and reel to give that Bait Caster one more chance.

I have discovered that there are two things that the bait caster gives me that the spinning reel does not. Faster casting, and with the right reel, skipping. I can buy a $40 Spinning reel that can easily cast a 1/64 ou. jig or lure. But it takers a $400 plus bait caster to successfully cast that same 1/64 ou. jig? I cannot rationalize that purchase and I like being married :)

The Vanford's can be used for multiple species both fresh and salt, plus with their 6.3 ounces making them super light to use. While tailwater fishing at the Dam, I will not use the bait caster because I can not get it set right to not birds nest if I hit the wall or the gate face. I never, never, never get wind knots or bird nests with my spinning gear! (this comes from 6 months with a bait caster and 50+ years with spinning or spincasting reels, yes I had Zebco's as a kid :) )

My target at this time is Crappie. I am not against buying crappie/panfish specific gear. But what do I really need to go bank crappie fishing at the Ocklawaha river right below the Rodman Dam? I bought a crappie magnet kit so I have jigs and soft lures. I am going to get a couple dozen minnows, a dozen small shiner, and red worms later this week (Thursday). I have two poles rigged for slip floats, and not sure what I want to do with the bait caster yet, maybe put live bait on the spinners and try jigging with soft bait?

Any and all advice and recommendations are welcome. If any of you fish the area I would really love to hear from you.

Thanx

P.S. Did I mention that I have never landed a Crappie

I am not picking on Bait Casters above. I learned to fish without them for 50 years and there is not much I cannot do with a spinning reel and the right rod.

As far as rod/reels go, look at BnM products. Yep, I'm not a fan of bait cast reels, or super expensive gear. I just don't want to feel bad if I break something, which I know happens. This is supposed to be fun, not expensive. Read the forum, there are many different ways to fish for crappie. Figure out which meets your needs. I longline down here in Florida, and pretty much everywhere I go. Most down here Spider Rig. There is a ton of good information here. This article may be a good start for you: crappie-fishing-tips-and-techniques

Very interesting read. I'm sort of in the same boat no puns intended. I've been fishing saltwater for a long time most of it around the Saint Augustine area in shore just seems to be a zoo and there are just too many people fishing the intercoastal. 20 years ago I could come back with cooler full of trout and some red fish and maybe flounder. Today I'm lucky if I pick it up 2 or 3 skinny trout that release. I've just about given up on this and quit fishing. I have recently rediscovered my freshwater roots. I grew up bass and bream fishing.... but for some reason I am pulled in the direction of crappie. I'm just starting to dig in and research Rodman Dam , St Johns River and other places. I'm also looking for a new boat. I have a 12ft Jon Boat and we'll keep that but we'll probably do something on the 16 to 17 foot range . Tomorrow I'm going to Avid Angler to see if I can pick up some information and continue my research

I used to drive 1 hour 45 minutes to get to St Augustine to surf fish. Did that for about 20 years or so. There are all sorts of access to the beaches. I made a cart to carry cooler,, rods, spikes, gear, chair and umbrella. Caught pompano, whiting, sheepshead, bluefish, redfish, flounder, sharks of all sorts and a 100 pound tarpon. I was completely satisfied until one day I had loaded the truck and got to thinking…… thinking about that drive and I quit.

Long drives to get to the fish mean long hard drives back home. Many times I had driven to the beach only to discover it unfishable.

My advice is look on line for lakes. Look at the FWC site for public access lakes. Look for boat ramps and bridges. There are going to be a lot of places near you that will fit the bill. Consider surf fishing as you are in a great location. If I lived there I would have never bought a boat and would still be tromping up and down the sands.

Now days fishing is much more enjoyable because I can access the lakes nearby within 20 minutes or so. Which means I am home in twenty minutes. Good luck sorting through gear selection. I almost never make recommendations for rods and reels because there is no way to know how you fish. Catfishing from that dam sounds like fun.

Hi Vagente!

Avid Angler? I do a lot of shopping there, in fact that is where I bought my Vanfords las year. Good bunch of people there, but do not take any locals advice on where to fish! It is a running joke, every time a local gave me advice of where to salt water fish was a complete bust. I always say, go the opposite of what the locals say. When I say local, I mean the local salt water guys, they share nothing because the ocean is too small to share.

There is a ton of videos and information online about the Rodman Dam and the Rodman Reservoir, and the Ocklawaha river. Although I have not yet caught any, I have watched a few anglers at the dam tail water side bring in 10+ plus bass (several a day), large stripers, and lots of 5 to 6.5 lb. blue tilapia. It is a popular place for crappie too, I have seen a lot of those pulled in. I ha e spent the few times I have gone up there on the dam wall trying to lure fish largemouth bass with no luck. Tomorrow and or this weekend I plan to try my luck crappie and crappie only fishing. My luck has to turn here sooner or later.

I do not know the rules for giving out personal info, but I am open to meeting up with people at the Rodman Dam for a few reasons. First, it is a great place, peaceful, public and just a nice place to fish. Second, because there is a huge effort to destroy this dam and I would like to see more support from boatless anglers to save it. Lastly, it would be nice to meet other local anglers :)

Hi Micanopy !

I live in a St Augustine address, but am about 35 to 40 min from the beach. My wife and I used to fish the shore, the Vilano pier, and the Vilano boat ramp area. Our favorite place to saltwater fish, before we got the boat, was the Fort Clinch Pier. It is gone now due to hurricanes, but my wife and I drove about 90 min to get there stopping for bait along the way. Fort Clinch was the last step before the boat because the bridges piers and other places were becoming overwhelmed with the anglers that showed up with 30 poles, kept every fish they caught and had one evening a group of people showed up with stolen construction generators and lighting making the Talbot island bridge more of a disco that a fishing pier. So we moved to a boat fishing in the intercoastal and offshore. To be honest with $300 gas bills for a day trip it was not hard to sell the boat to get a new camper.

I do remember driving to get to my destination only to find a handful of people with more rods in the water than I could count and no room for me and my wife. Real bummer when that happens, not to mention a day ruiner!

We had a dam (locks they were called) where I grew up, and the catfishing was phenomenal!! Haven't tried for the cats there yet, but have seen a few 20"+ pulled out of the dams tailwaters.

Thanks, and good luck!

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Originally Posted by N1X

I do not know the rules for giving out personal info, but I am open to meeting up with people at the Rodman Dam for a few reasons. First, it is a great place, peaceful, public and just a nice place to fish. Second, because there is a huge effort to destroy this dam and I would like to see more support from boatless anglers to save it. Lastly, it would be nice to meet other local anglers :)

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For privacy reasons I would not post a phone number or address publicly, but a get together sounds great. Maybe make a separate post about the idea, title it Rodman Slabfest, and see what the interest would be. We do hold slabfests, which is nothing more than a fishing and eating event. We've held them on Monroe, Griffin, Harney... Includes sometimes a raffle, or some giveaways, and usually a big fish prize. They are grassroots organized. Food is pot luck style. Sometimes fish fry, sometimes simply DIY sub sandwiches. All depends on who organizes it, and who all participates.

Oh, forgot to mention, we do have PMs (Private Messages). You can always send someone a private message about anything you don't want to post publicly. Just an FYI

X2 on the BnM product, they are top notch ma have good customer service. Their prices won’t break the bank and like you I cannot pull the trigger on a $ 500 rod and reel combo. Mr. Crappie has some qualit rods and reels as well. I have four of the light Mr Crappie combos that are mad by Lews. I don’t go brand specific on fishing rods and reels. It’s what I can afford or am willing to pay more than anything. I enjoyed your write up, it was a good read. Good luck in your adventures this spring and beyond!

I am definitely going to try out a BnM rod. Looks like high quality with good pricing, lots of great reviews.

First, welcome to both of you from Debary. I don’t stand up very long at a stretch so I seldom bank fish. A 1648 Jon boat can be set up basic and vastly expand your fishing Zone without breaking the bank. Doesn’t have to be a big motor, or even gas powered to do the job. The 1648 is a very stable platform and can be had with little to no interior making storage simple.
For rods and reels, it depends and your targets. Buying a crappie specific setup can also be done rather inexpensive. I use ultralight and 2 lb test but that isn’t for everyone. Bitters bait and tackle sells a Diawa combo for about $30 each or two for $50 if I remember right. Setting up with light line makes them more castable and cuts the frustration factor down. Don’t know what size the Vanfords are but maybe an extra spool with lighter line would also do. We also use a lot of hi vis line because this sometimes becomes a finesse thing and hits are seen as well as felt, as in line moving sideways or twitching as the fish swims towards you. I’m not much on bait and use almost 100% jigs and such, some of which I tie. Slip float or float and jig are often used with good success. Learning their seasonal habits will help you to know where they are when you go. Doesn’t make sense to fish the shallows when they’re scattered in deep water post spawn and so on. Cane Pole posted a concise summary of this a few years back that should be found with some research. Good luck to you and Vagante both, look forward to meeting you one day at a Slabfest.

Howdy Skeetbum,

I do have a 12' john boat, an OLD Sears Gamefisher I bought just over a year ago. Did I mention leaky? My wife and I bought it days before a camping/fishing adventure at Lockloosa Lake in Sept 2020. Here is why it was such an adventure; The young man I bought it from had performed some temporary leak patching. The fist time I put it in the water after dragging it for 90 minutes it began noticeably leaking. So I went to the local Wal-Marts and bought a little bilge bump and it worked like a charm. Next, the motor would not start for me after watching it run just a couple days earlier. Gave up and decided to use the trolling motor to get to the other side of the lake, bad idea. No second battery, paddled about 3/4's across the lake before being embarrassingly pulled back to shore. Getting towed back in for making a bad call isn't that bad a thing. But, when everyone knows you owned an offshore ride for 10 years, spent 8 years in the Coast Guard, it's a three bag day (3 bags over your head).

I was too excited to go fresh water fishing for the first time in many years that I guess my common sense wasn't turned on for that day.

The boat has sat in the garage, except for hand moving it to the driveway at times, since the day I pulled it back from the lake about 16 months ago.

You sound knowledgeable about these types of boats, so I am going to ask a few maintenance questions hoping you do not mind.

The first thing I am have to figure out is how to lift it of the trailer so I can sand it down, some weird tan colored stuff all over and is flaking. Then I need to clean, so figuring mineral spirits. Then I need to pick a good silicon sealant, paint, or Both. I was thinking that I could find some boot toping like we used on the hull of the ships in the CG? Inside, one of the ribs has a crack and need to figure out how to repair. The boat can be used without repairing, as long as no one steps in that area when it is out of the water. The 6hp motor needs a tuneup, I think I can handle that for about $120 tune up kit.

Back to fishing gear, I don't want to go too low in price/quality. When my wife and I first started saltwater fishing a long time ago, I went online and bought 6 rod/reels, $50 - $75 a setup and that's cheap for slat water. I threw out those rod and reels just a few months ago. They how not been used in years as the guides broke, some seized up from corrosion, broken handles, broken bales. I ended up buying the Shimano Baitrunners I wanted in the first place. Those Baitrunners, all four of them, after 15 years, are right next to me ready to go fishing anytime I need them. I am a bit loyal to Shimano after years of having outstanding reels from them. But, I am always open to trying new gear. I have been looking at Lew's, St Croix, KastKing, Mr Crappie products, many others, and now BnM. Most people ask me right about now, where is Daiwa. I have had some bad experiences with less expensive Daiwa's like their Bri Baitrunners that just, lets just say failed in a short time of about 2 years.

I am not hard on my gear, I clean, grease and have them serviced when I feel there is need beyond my ability. My of my 4000 series baitrunners, the auto disengage for the freespool is not working. This goes to the shop as there are too many tiny pieces for my old eyes to deal with :) If I fish salt water I always fresh water rinse as soon as I have the chance. Salt will destroy anything. Just to put that out there that I am not one of those guys that abuses his/her gear.

My Vanford's are the VFC3000XGF's, awesome reels. So light and smooth, and 20 lbs drag. I paired them on Clarus 6'6" MF rods. Less expensive rods, but very light, and coming from saltwater gear the combo is so light and sensitive to me I feel like I have kids toys in my hands (in a good way).

High vis line, this topic confuses me. One angler swears by 2 lb fluorocarbon because the fish can see anything larger, and then there is the hi vis line that others swear by? Are you attaching a clear leader on 2 lb test main line?

Slip Floats, have a bunch I am testing out, was supposed to be today, but will be getting them wet tomorrow. Some Thill, THKFISH, MrCrappies, some tall and some short :angel:. Found rubber stops that work on braid and mono, going to try it both ways. (yes I am one of those braid guys, another whole story there I will share one day)

Slabfest, I am hoping to make one of those. May need to have the oat working first as I do not want to be that guy sitting on the dock feeding the fish :fish

Thanks for the info, look forward to any tips on the boat. Hope I didn't bore ya too much :)

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I used to have a little 6 hp motor just like that one and I woulda swore it woulda took me from Ga to California if the creek ran that far. Ha! I was young and ran a few jon boats that leaked some. I had a little tig welding done on them and the small holes I used JB Weld. My boats would still leak a little but nothing enough to get your feet wet over. Back in them days I did alot of overnight trips chasing catfish using jugs and I usually fished every Friday night...rain or not. I sorta liked those rainy nights. I knew there wouldnt be anybody else on the lake fishing my jugs.:)

I'd say try pulling that deck out and empty out everything you can to get to the metal, tie the back of the boat to a tree and slide that trailer right out from under 'er. Best bet would be to do this in the grass. You dont want any more holes.;) See what you are working with and go from there. Good luck with your project boat!:)