Quote Originally Posted by MidHillbilly View Post
Some really good advice on here so far and thanks for all of the great replies. Sounds like they are likely in brush mostly now but will be moving to flats with bait fish. If fish are in 20 ft of water or so near bottom, is tightlining preferred over long lining? I normally cannot get jigs that deep long lining.
IMO, usually it isnt the fish lying on the bottom arent the crappie you will catch as theyre not the agressive fish. I'd be looking for arches more in the 15' range and fish 1/8th jigs down around the 13' mark trying to get those "target" fish to bite. Again, IMO you can catch fish all winter long longlining but you have to study the graph to know where your jigs should run and keep moving around to find biting fish that are willing to chase jigs.

Now that said...tightlining is also a great way of catching fish as well as single pole fishing. I prefer longlining first but dont mind spider rigging live bait over top of marked fish using long rods. That's ALOT of fun catching 'em on those long poles. AND, during the cooler months it's easy to keep your bait alive on the hook and at home so youre always ready to go fishing.