Crappie 101

[TOXIC]

There was a good conversation last time I posted my crappie trip results and I promised that I would go into more detail on my next trip.  Well, that trip was yesterday.  Although they were not biting as well as the last time out (if you can consider 40 vs 80 fish a slow day) we were able to bring home some slabs for a friend who had never had crappie.  That also meant I got to clean fish which was not what I wanted to do.    This is my version of a crappie 101 and I'm sure others have setups they prefer.  

 

Gear:  I included pictures of my 2 main setups.  Obviously, I only use spinning rods for crappie but you could throw the float setup on a baitcaster if you are so inclined.  Both of my spinning rods/reels are Quantum Smoke.  Rods are 6'8" MH.  I have 6lb mono on the casting rig and 8lb mono on my float rig.  I have one longer rod that is a JLM Elite that I use for dropping baits between boats and docks.  

Presentation:  There are 3 main ways I catch crappie.  1.  Simple cast and retrieve on the rod with 6lb mono.  Vary your retrieve depending where in the water column you want the bait to run.  2. Dropping and jigging the bait between boats and docks. Simply freespool the bait to the bottom (many times that's when you will get bit.) reel up about 2 turns of the reel and simply raise and drop your lure vertically. 3. Casting with a float.  This is a great way to catch them and can be used from shore or a boat.  I use the 8lb mono on this rig.  Run your line through the float, tie on your jighead, put a small pinch weight about 3" up the line from the jighead (this helps the line feed through the float after you cast, acts as a stopper from reeling your jighead all the way to the float and gives better castability).  Once you determine the depth you want your bait to be, I just tie a piece of fishing line above the float at that depth (you can use bobber stops).  The line will reel up through the guides if I am fishing really deep but I like to keep my depth at around 6' if possible (that's why my rods are 6'8"). I cast the float setup out, let it settle, and then slowly lift my rod tip and pull the float, then let it drop.  Pause for 30 seconds, then pull it again reeling up the slack and letting it sit.  I do this all the way back to the boat.  Most of the bites come as soon as the bait settles. 

Terminal Tackle:  Although you might see a small spoon or a roadrunner or a hair jig in my bait box picture, 99.9% of the time I am throwing the Gamakatsu jighead I pictured.  I also have small pinch weights and of course floats.  I like the line through floats since crappie are light biters and will spit a bait very quickly.  The Jigheads I posted are a personal favorite and are super sharp but it's a challenge getting 8lb mono through double for a Palomar knot.  

Scents:  Most of the juices nibbles, etc., are a matter of personal preference.  I us the 2 I pictured.  I have found that the casting setup without the float normally doesn't need anything due to the moving action of the bait.  I will say the Crappie Nibbles get stolen a lot and are sometimes frustrating trying to rig up.  I use them to tip the jigs with either the tubes or curlytail jigs.  I personally like the Smelly Jelly because it stays on the lure longer.  I will admit, there are time either will increase bites.  

 

So there you have it.  My go to set ups for crappie fishing and we had a great day.  Any questions, just ask.  Best of all, everything I showed fits in a small tackle bag and is easy to carry and transport.  3 rods and I can fish for crappie most anywhere. 

 

Sorry for the sideways pictures.  This site flips and turns them and even if I go back in and edit them based on what shows on the site, they are never right.  

 

 

[TOXIC]

Forgot to put up the pic of the float setup.....

 

 

[MrFrost]

Thank you!  This is MUCH appreciated!!!

[Log Catcher]

Thank you for the info. I had been thinking about getting back in to crappie fishing. The extent of my knowledge of it is hang a minnow on a hook under a cork. I am surprised you are using M/H rods. I had thought about getting some in a M/L or light action. I guess I can use use my bass rods for this. I was given a pan fish kit years ago I never have used. I just need to figure out which colors are the best.

[TOXIC]

14 minutes ago, Log Catcher said:

Thank you for the info. I had been thinking about getting back in to crappie fishing. The extent of my knowledge of it is hang a minnow on a hook under a cork. I am surprised you are using M/H rods. I had thought about getting some in a M/L or light action. I guess I can use use my bass rods for this. I was given a pan fish kit years ago I never have used. I just need to figure out which colors are the best.

The Quantum Smoke MH are not as stiff as you would imagine.  I could go lighter with the casting rod because I am not normally making very long casts.  I have found that the lb test line I use is more important because the 8lb on the casting rod really reduces distance and doesn't let the light jighead get deep enough on an average retrieve speed.  That's why I drop to 4 or 6lb test on the casting rod and stay at 8 on the float rod and also on the longer rod for vertical fishing docks.  

[Fishingmickey]

I was fishing Lake Fork a couple of weeks ago. Caught three slab crappie on a Jenko CD25 crankbait in 25' fow. 

FM

[Todd2]

1 hour ago, TOXIC said:

  2. Dropping and jigging the bait between boats and docks. Simply freespool the bait to the bottom (many times that's when you will get bit.) reel up about 2 turns of the reel and simply raise and drop your lure vertically

 

Good stuff, when jigging just off the bottom, are you targeting brushpiles or marked fish?  

[TOXIC]

11 minutes ago, Todd2 said:

Good stuff, when jigging just off the bottom, are you targeting brushpiles or marked fish?  

Generally just the dock slips both empty and with boats in them.  With the longer rod, we can go into an empty slip and fish across the dock between a boat and the dock itself.  If you are an accurate caster, you can cast in from the front of the slip.  Where we fish it's all structure.  No brushpiles.  We do target schools of crappie on the electronics.  

[Bankbeater]

This is a great write up. Thanks!

[Catt]

Y'all ever heard of "Dock Shooting for Crappie"? ?

[Mr. Aquarium]

ive been wanting to try that slip bobber rig.   

[TOXIC]

1 hour ago, Catt said:

Y'all ever heard of "Dock Shooting for Crappie"? ?

Having guided for Woo Daves annual get together a number of years, I am well versed on the technique he utilized a lot when he was fishing the Elites albeit for bass not crappie with his trademarked push button reels  I never thought about it for crappie though.  Seems it would be harder with the lighter weights of the lures but I'm sure it would work.  

[fishwizzard]

1 hour ago, Catt said:

Y'all ever heard of "Dock Shooting for Crappie"? ?

I tried that once but to get a little spinner up under a dock for some white perch.  It worked well until I came too close for comfort to shooting the hook into my hand.  

[Mobasser]

My wife and I fish for crappie each spring. I'll fish for them after that, then we'll go together again in fall. 3 yrs ago we each bought Falcon original graphite spinning rods in 6ft length. We run Shimano 1000 size spin reels. I also use a couple of older 5ft spin rods, which work well for jigging directly over the boat.We usually use 4lb mono. Our rods are light , fast action with a slight tip flex, which works good for casting and more vertical jigging. If I'm casting in more shallow areas, we use a quarter size weighted float, made by Comal tackle. We use a mix of tube jigs, puddle jumpers, and Bobby Garland minnow shaped plastic baits. I also have begun using a sickle hook jig-made by Arkie, usually 1/32 up to 1/8 oz. We fish for them to stock the freezer with fillets. Lots of folks say that walleye is the best tasting fish, but I'm not so sure.Crappie fillets fried to a golden brown, with a small shot of hot sauce are very hard to beat. Good thread Toxic.

[KLoell]

Do you happen to know the water temp that day?  I’ve been trying to figure out the fall bite and have only been able to pull out a few here and there. Nothing like the spring time when I’m able to catch big numbers.  I’ve heard that the fall bite can be just as good. Just haven’t been able to figure that out yet. 

[TOXIC]

Right now our water is 48-53 on the River.  

[JustJames]

@TOXICI have a question for you. I've been fishing this spot from super long dock(almost 100') for weeks. I caught a few crappies almost every time but all of them small 4-6". Most of the fish caught around 5 FOW close to shoreline. If I move out further let say 15 FOW (40' out and cast parallel to shoreline) the concentration of fish is less but fish get a little bigger. Will I be able to find bigger crappies in this area? Doesn't seem like they are schooling but more like roaming around. This area is well know to have a lot of shad in the morning and evening. I see a lot of activities on surface. I tried bobber a few time with no success even changing the depth so I use what I know best dropshot double rig(1/16oz Ned Rig as weight and #4-6 hook Nose hook baby shad/crappies Magnet about 12-18" on top)

[TOXIC]

Chances are they are schooled up around the dock but the question is where and how deep.  I would give the setup I use a try and how I determine depth (other than my sonar) is to not put a bobber stop on the small tube jig and let it go to the bottom.  Then I reel up from 6 inches to a foot and set the bobber stop there (the bobber stop for me is just a piece of fishing line tied on.  When you move and the depth changes, you have to re-set the rig.  If the depth is pretty consistent along the dock, you can just cast parallel to the dock and retrieve it with slow pulls and then pause, or you can literally walk along the dock letting out line and then pulling your rig back to you.  I would also cast out from the dock every so often just to see if they are hanging off a little bit.  Like I said, they school by size but usually there are multiple schools in an area.  You just have to find them.  I fished for many years off a long fishing dock on a public lake here in VA and usually did pretty well.  

[Vilas15]

On 11/13/2018 at 9:16 AM, Log Catcher said:

I am surprised you are using M/H rods. I had thought about getting some in a M/L or light action.

I was also surprised by this. I use a 6' St Croix Light action rod that works pretty well.

 

I only fish crappies one way with a bobber set-up, but one thing I've found is that tungsten ice-fishing jigs work very well. They are heavier than the same size lead so you can stay small but the additional weight helps greatly with casting distance. We just throw some tiny crappie minnows on the jigs.

[Team9nine]

When you dig into it, you'll see crappie fishing is just like bass fishing - a wide range of presentation options and technical levels of expertise, from fun fishing right up to National tourney circuits.

 

I take it pretty seriously, but have several friends that fish either the state or national level events. You'll see planer boards, spider-rigging, crankbait trolling and pushing, dock shooting, jig casting and trolling, and both live bait as well as artificials.

 

Boat rigging is very technical and specific for crappie fishing, too. It's become its own niche market in the fishing industry. Personally, I stick with single pole jig fishing on structure, breaks and breaklines. Spent 5 days over the Thanksgiving holiday chasing crappie in 42-45 degree water, and we caught a few hundred. Will be going again this weekend if we haven't froze over yet. 

[TOXIC]

I'll be going out this weekend again myself.  The pure joy of catching numbers is what keeps crappie fishing so much fun for me.  The fact that they are fantastic table fare is a bonus......as long as you want to clean fish.  With multiple spawns during the year, they are plentiful and no one gripes or is offended by taking a limit home for release into Lake Crisco.   

[Catt]

@TOXIC How about showing a slip bobber setup?

 

The Crappie bit is on ?

[Mobasser]

6 minutes ago, Catt said:

@TOXIC How about showing a slip bobber setup?

 

The Crappie bit is on ?

Nice!!! Good catch! Best tasting fish of all

On 11/29/2018 at 5:31 AM, TOXIC said:

I'll be going out this weekend again myself.  The pure joy of catching numbers is what keeps crappie fishing so much fun for me.  The fact that they are fantastic table fare is a bonus......as long as you want to clean fish.  With multiple spawns during the year, they are plentiful and no one gripes or is offended by taking a limit home for release into Lake Crisco.   

I love em! My wife doesn't bass fish, but goes crappie fishing with me. She's pretty good! We fillet them, and stock the freezer. July 4rth fish fry is a tradition for us

[Mobasser]

On 11/28/2018 at 12:40 PM, Team9nine said:

When you dig into it, you'll see crappie fishing is just like bass fishing - a wide range of presentation options and technical levels of expertise, from fun fishing right up to National tourney circuits.

 

I take it pretty seriously, but have several friends that fish either the state or national level events. You'll see planer boards, spider-rigging, crankbait trolling and pushing, dock shooting, jig casting and trolling, and both live bait as well as artificials.

 

Boat rigging is very technical and specific for crappie fishing, too. It's become its own niche market in the fishing industry. Personally, I stick with single pole jig fishing on structure, breaks and breaklines. Spent 5 days over the Thanksgiving holiday chasing crappie in 42-45 degree water, and we caught a few hundred. Will be going again this weekend if we haven't froze over yet. 

Yes, I won't say it's replaced bass fishing, but I do enjoy it too. There is just as much involved with all the teqniques out there. In our area the first big spring spawn brings out crappie hunters from all over. After they move to deeper water, locating them can be a science, and we sometimes fish 20ft and deeper. In the hottest months, we use floating lights, and jig over the side of the boat. Recently I picked up 2 10ft jig poles made by B&M. They telescope down to around 5ft. Lots of folks using this type of rod now, with and without a reel. I can see a benefit in shallow water for these, but not so much deep water. They feel awkward- long whippy poles compared to our other crappie tackle. I've found crappie are sensitive to colors also. Some days they'll tear up one color, the next day you need to use something else. White, chartreuse, and yellow or combos of these have been the best, but my wife tries off the wall colors, and many work well. For casting into and through wood, Brewers crappie slider is good too. Last year, I got hung up on the sickle hook jigs. I sharpen the hooks to a needle sharpness, and I feel my hook up rate improved on light biting crappie.Ive caught them on rattletraps, spoons and bass crankbaits, accidently but the jig is the crappie getter day in and day out. Years ago we took minnows, but now never do. Like you guys, I've seen crappie fishing grow a lot over 30 yrs. Lots of specific tackle, methods etc.Now it's become hugely popular.

[Catt]

What plastics y'all like?

 

What bobbers y'all like?

 

Y'all ever throw Minnows?