Last spring, I watched a young boy and his dad fishing for crappie. The crappie were ganged up around a big fallen tree, in shallow water. The kid had a cane pole and live minnows. Every time he dropped a minnow near this tree, he would pull out a crappie. His dad helped him re bait, and he'd do it again. The kid was having a blast. I often target crappie at ice out. We use light action spinning rods and jigs. Tube jigs have been a great producer for us. We usually jig vertically right near the canoe. I've realized that I've caught many over the years by dropping the jig down, and holding it motionless. As the water warms, the crappie move more shallow. I like to use a weighted float made by Comal Tackle which has a pear shape, and helps with casting distance. Slowly reel this rig in. It's caught scores of crappie for us over the years. The Charlie Brewer Weedless Crappie Slider is another good one. For these, I like a rod with a little more backbone.You can throw these over all sorts of cover. 4 or 6 lb mono lines are all I've ever used. Color combos with chartreuse have always been good. Crappie can be finicky, and it pays to carry a few different styles of jigs. Tubes, grubs, and small minnow styles can all work good, and I've found that throwing a changeup bait will often catch a few more. I'm my state of Missouri, when the crappies move into shallow water, everybody goes crappie fishing. The shorelines are lined with folks of all ages, with minnow buckets everywhere. It's a good time to be a fisherman. What are your rigs for spring time crappie?
