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I have this thing about having a new state, oh hell, lets go all the way, a new world record slab on, and its on a very small jig. Normally I don't go smaller than 1/16 oz but I think I'm missing out on something. Yes I keep a net nearby, but still, "that very small hook"? Am I being over whatever and start using them more? I've made up my mind to try them, but still hesitant. Opinions? I'm going to post this over at crappie killer too. I need more convincing.
i'VE CAUGHT OVER 2 LB. CRAPPIE ON 1/32 OZ. JIGHEADS. i TRY NOT TO USE ANYTHING LARGER THAN 1/32. mOSTLY DEPENDS ON THE DEPTH YOU HAVE TO FISH. pRESENTATION SEEMS TO IMPROVE WITH LIGHTER HEADS i'VE LANDED 5LB. BASS ON 1/64 OZ JIG HEADS AND 4LB. TEST LINE HOOKED IS HOOKED. THIN LIPPED CRAPPIE CAN ESCAPE WITH ANY SIZE HOOK FOR ME SMALLER IS BETTER.
Like Shores I seldom use anything over 1/32 oz, and have landed bass over 4 lbs and stripers up to 7 lbs on mini jigs. My buddy landed two bass on back to back casts over 5 lbs last spring on 1/64th oz jigs with 4lb line. I think the thing is quality of the tackle including hook, line, rod and reel, just look at the size of trout and salmon caught on tiny flies by flyfisherman.
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Originally Posted by IBNFSHN
Bill H........I try to give the fish what they want...if they won't hit my preferred 1/16 oz., no matter what color, I downsize to the 1/32 and try different colors again. If they still won't take it, I repeat the same w/ a 1/64. As you know, sometimes they can be extremely "fussy" about our offerings, if the 1/64 oz. won't work, it's time for either minnows or dynamite,(lol) and the latter can get us in big trouble! I have landed two in Arkansas that weighed over 3 lbs; the first, 3 lbs, 1 oz, on a 1/32 oz., and the second, 3lbs., 3 oz. on a 1/64 oz., and this one was caught in heavy brush. Both jigs had the small gold hooks that you can pull off of a hang up. Your choice of crappie sticks makes a big difference, too....my choice is a 9' #8 composite fly rod for tiny jigs, it has enough "give" to absorb the shock of a large fish without bending the hook. Both fish took the jigs eagerly, and both were hooked in the top of their mouths, which helped to get both to the net. The way I see it, if they won't hit the larger jigs, I have nothing to lose. I would rather take a chance on the smaller ones than leave empty handed. Nothing about fishing is 100%, and downsizing is no exception. At times, nothing will work, and I had one of those days yesterday, (and the trip before that) and they ignored ALL jigs, even tipped with a minnow. Try them, Bill, and good luck!
Scott just reminded me that the world record caught at Buggs Island by Bill Schmellman (sp?) was caught on a 1/64oz pinkie jig tipped with a minnow, he use to work at Bob's Gun and Tackle in Norfolk, he also had a line class world record for catching a 10 lb bass on 2 lb test line. He fished almost exclusively with 1/64th or smaller jigs for crappies and was the one that got us started on using them back in the 70's. He called it the Hershey kiss theory "If your really hungry you eat a bunch and even if your full you can't pass up eating at least one". When Bob's quit selling tackle is when we started making our own jigs, which is an addiction even worst that catching crappies.
Wow! I'm convinced!
If you take a look at the numbers and average size of Crappie that are brought to the weigh-in's of our Fall Brawl & Spring Fling tournaments ... then look at the size/weight of the jigs that were used to catch these fish ... then consider that most of them were caught from "under" or "in and around" docks, pine trees, brush piles, and other forms of "hang-up city" type structures -- you'd be surprised. Jigs in size/weight of 1/64 - 1/24 - 1/32 - 1/16oz ......... on lines as small as 4lb test, have been responsible for bringing in limits of 1lb - 1.5lb average Crappie, & some 2lb and larger Crappie.
I've caught several 4lb Smallmouth and one 6lb Largemouth ... all on the 1/16oz Oldham's Weedless Crappie Jighead. I've caught Hybrid Stripers, Channel Catfish, and other species on this same jighead. My late fishing partner once caught a 25lb Drum on one of these jigs. Neither myself, nor any of my fishing partners, have had a fish straighten out one of these hooks while fighting a fish. And 4lb line was used in most instances.
A jig, by its nature, rides in the water on the retrieve - with it's hook pointing upwards ... and is more likely to stick a fish in the roof of the mouth - whereas a baited hook (plain hook/live bait) is taken into the fish's mouth in random positions ... resulting in hookups "all over" the inside of a fish's mouth, or even in the thin membrane of the lips. So - technically speaking, on average you have a better chance of landing a jig hooked fish, than one that is hooked with a plain hook. .................cp :cool:
The size or weight of the jig effects not only the way it looks ( smaller in the water ) but the speed at which the jig sinks in the water. The slower the jig sinks the more time the fish (Crappie) have to see it and decide to bit or not.
BUT! The weight of the jig does not always equal a smaller hook. What size hooks do you find on your jigs? Are the hooks ALWAYS smaller on the smaller weight jigs?
How much does JUST the hook itself weight?
You could still use a #2 size hook and just add less lead to the hook when making the jig
Also if you are using a slip bobber then the friction of the lone going though the slip bobber can and does slow the jig's decent down tremendously. Sometimes my bobbers ( foam type) get a slot carved into the top by the fishing line and that can make the fishing line stop inside the bobber. When that happens the small jigs won't fall at all and just hang beneath the bobber. I solved that problem with my particuar type of floats by adding some clear fingernail polish to the top section of the foam float (bobber). This hardens the foam or puts a coating on the foam that helps protect it from getting a grove carved in it by the fishing line. I normally will change out the foam bobber when they get a deep grove carved in the top. I want my jigs to sink very slowly for the first 8 ft or so. Since my rod is only 7.5ft long and 12ft long I set the bobber stop at 7 ft up the line and 11ft up the line respectively on the two rods that I use. I don't want the bobber stop getting into the spooled line on my reel where it can get tangled and prevent a good cast. Most of the time the crappie that I fish for with a slip bobber setup are in water less than 8 ft deep. If the crappie are deeper than 8 to 10ft then I will use my drop shot method and slow troll for them.
I have conducted some experiments with small minnows and my captive aquarium crappie. I have not reported lately on these fish. I went to a local lake and took a small dip net with me and attached the net to a long piece of pvc pipe. I used this long net to capture some baby minnows along the shoreline and took them home in a minnow bucket. I put these small 1/4" long to 1" long minnows (various sized most were 1/4" to 3/16" long) and in my minnow tank and then later I fed them to my captive crappie. Hey it beats paying $1.25 a dozen for minnows at the bait shop. LOL Anyway the crappie went right for these little minnows and ate a bunch of them. So maybe that is why the smaller jig head work so well.
Crappie when they are in their first year of life are not eating big stuff. The are too small to eat big stuff so they must survive that first year on aquatic insects and other very small minnows. Heck I have even seen a small 1" long minnow go after one of my #16 hair nymphs that I was fishing along the edge of the concrete boat ramp in clear water. I was using my fly rod and catching small 9" bass one after another. I caught 5 small bass in under 30minutes at the boat ramp. Of couse they were all turned back after getting an education about hooks. :)
I have been using 1/16oz jig head lately with the 1.5" long Hydra shaped plastic crappie jig bodies. I use this with a slip float so that my 1/16oz jig drops though the water as slow as the lighter jigs that are not fished under a float.
I find it hard to cast the smaller jigs without using some kind of slip bobber setup.
But if I wanted to tie a 1/64oz jig head to my drop shot line it would work since I can add a drop shot weight to the line below my small jig. I can go up to 1/4oz weight on my Bass Pro Shop's Finess drop shot weights.
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Originally Posted by IBNFSHN
But having said that, we fish for crappie using a cast and retrieve method about 90% of the time. Since we are usually fishing in 15 feet or less of water, a 1/16oz jig lets us get the jig down where we need it and well out from the boat. However, we have 1/16 oz jigs with a wide range of hook sizes.
When I'm fishing a tube, I usually use an insert jig , but a even with a collared jig with a #2 or #4 hook, there's enough hook exposed to tip with a minnow if that's what they want, because the tube collapses when the fish takes the bait. But if we're using solid body grubs, there's less hook exposed, so we'll go to a jig with a 1/0 hook. That leaves plenty of hook after tipping with a minnow, especially if the minnows are larger (we can't always get small ones).
A couple of weeks ago, we ran out of minnows, so I put one of Mike Simpson's (crappie magic) realistic minnowhead jigs in 1/8 oz size on with a plastic minnow body and got hit right away.
BTW, we've caught dinks on big baits and big crappies on tiny jigs tipped with a waxworm. I think they'll eat whatever they think they can catch. - Roberta
Once again location and weather conditions can also play a part in jig selection. I normaly stay at a 1/16 oz. jighead in the area I fish, not because I dont think a smaller jig can land the fish, but just because thats what the fish mostly prefer. There have been a few times when the water temp was real cold that I had success with a 1/32 oz., but I have also caught fish sometimes on a heavy 1/8 oz. jig when they wouldnt bite a smaller one. As far as line goes, I use 4-lb hi-vis gold stren line, not only is it more visible, but I have landed 20 to 25 pound drum hooked in the mouth on it, and I've landed 50 to 60 lb buffalo that were accidentally snagged in various locations while fishing in moving water. 4-lb regular stren is not very strong, but the hi-vis gold is, I dont know what the difference is, but it works great for me. Good luck to all you fellow crappie fishers
Seems to me like a lot of good info in this thread, and that crappie fisherman from all over use similar methods.
1. Long limber rods, I use an 8.5' and 7'5' mirco lite rods from BPS, except under low bridges where I use a 40 year old 5' Garcia glass ultra lite. My buddy has a 9' Ugly Stick fly rod that he found in a dumpster and coverted to a spinning rod.
2. Slip bobbers, I use the foam one with the hollow black plastic sticks, clean the holes with a Dremal and spray with Pam to help the line slip thru.
3. Jig sizes, keep changing size and color till you find what works, my buddy and I fish different sizes and colors when we start out till we find what works. We also use fly clips for attachment because it gives the jigs better action, it makes for quicker changes of jigs and less time tryng to tie 4 lb line with 50+ year old eyes.
4. Moose hit on something about minnows, we catch mosquito fish out of ditches, dump them in my wife's goldfish pond and feed them dry cat food. They swim with a lot more action than store bought shiners and hold up much better in hot weather. They are native to the places we fish and are natural food for crappies.
I haven't had much luck catching them crappie lately . I went out this morning and netted some mosquito fish and put them on a 1/16 oz jig with a green and chartreuse tube . I trolled very slow in 20' water . The crappie seemed to be holding between 12 and 15 ft . I kept having to stop and let the jigs fall . I only caught 4 . And kept the biggest one(11") . I had some bites but was to slow to set the hook . They seem to gobble those mosquito fish up . I picked up a fat mosquito fish and went to hook it when it gave birth to about 20 or so little guppies . Seems they have live birth . Never knew that . Does anyone know a good attractant/bait to put in a minnow trap to catch them . Bread doesn't seem to work well for them and I don't know where you'd get mosquito larvae .... Chris
For trapping mosquito fish try something with a fishy smell, we have used skins from fillets, shells from peeled shrimp, or even cat crunchies in a mesh bag made from discarded panty hose.
Try using saltine crackers. Crumble them up. Also the flake fish food that you get for tropical fish may work. I know that my shiners will eat the flake food when I put some in their aquarium.
NOTE: My minnow trap is made out of heavy duty glass, not a wire cage. The wire cages may work also but the cracker crumbs will not stay in side the minnow trap. With the glass jar the bread, cracker crumbs or flake food stays inside the minnow trap.
I set my minnow trap out for the first time last spring and caught a few small bluegills in it after an hour. I again set the trap out Friday evening and left it out in 10ft of water for 3 hours but it didn't catch a single minnow or crawdad. Friday night I baited the trap with some old Turkey slice lunch meat (about three slices) and all they did was make a gooey mess inside the glass minnow trap.
I am going to go again and hope to find a good spot to catch minnows in the trap. I need the minnows to feed to my two captive crappie.
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Originally Posted by cmistfp