jacob2000 Posted June 12, 2015 Posted June 12, 2015 I would like to have a central crappie fishing feed on this website, so if no one can point me to one, let's make this it. Any tips, advice, reports, or questions are welcome. I have a question myself. On Toledo Bend, you can catch crappie by the hundreds over brush piles in June. This year, however, was not the case. Anyone know a reason why? I can only think about the rain possibly affecting it but I have no clue. 1 Quote
CeeJay Posted June 14, 2015 Posted June 14, 2015 Good idea. I wish some other species could get a sub-forum of their own as well, (Carp!) but BR is a great site so it's all good to me I haven't had much luck finding the crappie from the bank along the Shenandoah River just yet...but I used to fish for them on the lakes and ponds in Virginia. My largest, and one of the few fish I've ever kept for eating, was caught on a 1/4oz Beetle Spin way back in the late 90's I think. I used to catch them on streamer flies as well. It's funny but those little crappie tubes didn't often work for me, but I should probably give them another chance on the river. Inline spinners are deadly for active crappie. Also I remember the Rebel Wee Craw crank produced at times in my old haunts in Va. 1 Quote
jacob2000 Posted June 14, 2015 Author Posted June 14, 2015 Good idea. I wish some other species could get a sub-forum of their own as well, (Carp!) but BR is a great site so it's all good to me I haven't had much luck finding the crappie from the bank along the Shenandoah River just yet...but I used to fish for them on the lakes and ponds in Virginia. My largest, and one of the few fish I've ever kept for eating, was caught on a 1/4oz Beetle Spin way back in the late 90's I think. I used to catch them on streamer flies as well. It's funny but those little crappie tubes didn't often work for me, but I should probably give them another chance on the river. Inline spinners are deadly for active crappie. Also I remember the Rebel Wee Craw crank produced at times in my old haunts in Va. Question, what's a streamer fly? And awesome, so do you ever fish with live bait like minnows? That's been my mainstay for crappie bait at Toledo. 1 Quote
CeeJay Posted June 14, 2015 Posted June 14, 2015 Question, what's a streamer fly? And awesome, so do you ever fish with live bait like minnows? That's been my mainstay for crappie bait at Toledo. A streamer fly is a "fly" that imitates, or tries to imitate, bait fish and minnows...as opposed to floating dry flies, poppers, wet flies, and nymphs. It has swept back wings, and is usually used on fly fishing tackle and retrieved with a short darting motion. I fish all my flies on spinning tackle these days however. I can just cast them out further with spinning tackle and a few small split shot or "casting bubble". I'll have to post a few pics....one minute... Quote
CeeJay Posted June 14, 2015 Posted June 14, 2015 Sorry I can't seem to post the pics of my streamer flies and how to rig them. I have them all set up and got some pics. But I'm still trying to figure out how to post the actual pics of them on the forum.... Anyway if you google streamer flies: Mickey Finn, Black Nose Dace, Royal Coachman, and Muddler Minnow you'll see the streamers I've had success with for crappie. I've actually never used live minnows for crappie. But I know it's a time tested method, and if it produced for you in the past you should keep trying until you land some slabs Quote
CeeJay Posted June 15, 2015 Posted June 15, 2015 Yay I figured it out Just when I think I can't post any pictures...I get lucky and do something right haha. Top to bottom are my BN Dace, Muddler minnow, Mickey Finn, and Royal Coachman. Those 4 right there have survived many battles and are about 10 years old. Quote
Super User everythingthatswims Posted June 15, 2015 Super User Posted June 15, 2015 Had a good day 'yakkin on a local reservoir. My brothers and I got into a school of nice fish in some standing timber in 10-15' of water. We probably caught 60 of them, lots of fish in the 10-11" range, and one giant 15"er that my youngest brother caught. Fished various straight tailed minnow colored plastics on 1/32 and 1/16oz heads. We could watch them come up and eat it if we kept the bait 6-8 feet under the kayak, visibility was great! 1 Quote
Super User Catt Posted June 16, 2015 Super User Posted June 16, 2015 I would like to have a central crappie fishing feed on this website, so if no one can point me to one, let's make this it. Any tips, advice, reports, or questions are welcome. I have a question myself. On Toledo Bend, you can catch crappie by the hundreds over brush piles in June. This year, however, was not the case. Anyone know a reason why? I can only think about the rain possibly affecting it but I have no clue. Night fishing with minnows Quote
*Hank Posted June 19, 2015 Posted June 19, 2015 The majority of the Crappie I catch are from Drop shottin a live worm near docks. Quote
Fisherman) Posted June 20, 2015 Posted June 20, 2015 Try bright green and yellow rooster tails! Quote
jacob2000 Posted July 2, 2015 Author Posted July 2, 2015 Awesome Everythingthatswims, and I didn't know plastic worms were successful for crappie? That's awesome. Same method as for bass? Quote
Super User everythingthatswims Posted July 3, 2015 Super User Posted July 3, 2015 Awesome Everythingthatswims, and I didn't know plastic worms were successful for crappie? That's awesome. Same method as for bass? Not worms, these 1 Quote
Super User Jar11591 Posted July 5, 2015 Super User Posted July 5, 2015 On Toledo Bend, you can catch crappie by the hundreds over brush piles in June. This year, however, was not the case. Anyone know a reason why? I know crappie populations fluctuate greatly from year to year. One year they can be over-abundant, and the next they can be very sparse. I remember reading something recently in "In-Fisherman" or one of the other magazines that said years with high water levels and heavy rains often lead to higher crappie populations due to the greater amount of cover high water offers as it floods new areas. It offers crappie safer spawning locations and better protection for the fry. Quote
Snakehead Whisperer Posted July 5, 2015 Posted July 5, 2015 Awesome Everythingthatswims, and I didn't know plastic worms were successful for crappie? That's awesome. Same method as for bass? I've never caught a crappie on anything but artificials. I've caught them on some very large baits while targeting bass. When I'm targeting crappie I'll usually rig a soft plastic similar to the one the everythingthatswims posted onto a 1/32-1/16oz jig head and work it until I find the depth they're holding at. A slip bobber is indispensable if you're attempting to do this from the bank. 1 Quote
jacob2000 Posted July 5, 2015 Author Posted July 5, 2015 What are yalls favorite ways to retrieve a jig Quote
CeeJay Posted July 5, 2015 Posted July 5, 2015 What are yalls favorite ways to retrieve a jig Usually I would use a reel and pause retrieve under a slip float. I've caught them straight swimming the jig as well. Quote
jacob2000 Posted July 18, 2015 Author Posted July 18, 2015 When you are retrieving a jig do you wait for it sink ever? Quote
CeeJay Posted July 18, 2015 Posted July 18, 2015 When you are retrieving a jig do you wait for it sink ever? Yeah it depends on the depth the Crappie happen to be. If blind fishing an area I'll let the jig drop more and more on each cast, count it down...but most of the time I'd just use an Inline spinner to locate them, but also let it fall progressively deeper each cast before retrieving. And a cool thing about jigs under a float is you can set it at any depth...even just off the bottom of the lake if necessary. Slip floats are a must for Crappie fishing in my opinion. Quote
CeeJay Posted July 19, 2015 Posted July 19, 2015 Favorite colors? For Crappie in a lake or pond yellow or yellowish-orange is always a good choice. But if you ever check out Crappie-specific lures (and there are many hundreds of them) you'll see thousands of crazy colors.... When looking through my own lures though I tend to keep things a bit more simple when color comes into play. Having 50 different color combinations of the same exact 1" Crappie tube, for example, seems kind of ridiculous to me. Keep in mind I'm no expert on Crappie though. Quote
MARsSPEED Posted July 20, 2015 Posted July 20, 2015 Just started Crappie fishing myself. I only use one lure however. It's the 1.75" Bill Lewis Ratl trap and I use different colors depending on water clarity. So far I have caught 5 different types of specie on it including a 22" LMB. I caught this last night which is my largest crappie to date. 2 Quote
Super User slonezp Posted July 20, 2015 Super User Posted July 20, 2015 FYI there are forums dedicated to crappie fishing. Might be worth looking into. 1 Quote
CeeJay Posted July 20, 2015 Posted July 20, 2015 FYI there are forums dedicated to crappie fishing. Might be worth looking into. Yeah there are also magazines and all kind of tournaments and organizations dedicated to Crappie. Lots of info about fishing for them out there. Quote
jacob2000 Posted July 20, 2015 Author Posted July 20, 2015 I know that there is also Crappie.com, and Im on that as well, just looking for as many opinions as possible. 1 Quote
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