Best Crappie Day Ever - PB

[Dorado]

Took the kayak out today and landed 11 slabs. Vertical jigging with double 1/8 oz chartreuse jigs (loop knots) in 17 ft of water. Bobby Garland Baby Shads were the ticket (confidence bait). Pearl Chartreuse caught the #’s but Blue Thunder landed the two largest - including my new PB!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dorado]

More pics

 

[Catt]

When's the fish fry?

[JustJames]

Good time man, have not caught any crappie for month.

[DanielG]

I live on a lake that's nearly 5 miles long, up to 90 ft deep. The bass run about 1 1/2 to 3 lbs. Sometimes larger but mostly that. 1 1/5 - 2 is usually the size on a typical day. I think a 5 pounder was the largest I've heard of here. But, later in the summer, after they grow a bit, the crappies are plentiful and even though I never weigh them, they average the size of the ones held up in the OP's pictures. I call them 'dinner plate' sized.

When I was a kid, crappies didn't exist, at least here. I had started fishing again here a few years ago after not having fished since I was a teenager. I caught my first crappy and had never seen one before.

 

One weird thing about this fish, is that after they hit and they come to the surface, they lay flat on the water, hardly fight, and it's like reeling in a mat of weeds. Wonder if that's the case everywhere.

[jimmyjoe]

5 hours ago, DanielG said:

Wonder if that's the case everywhere.

   Yes, if you overpower them. Use a lighter power rod, slower action, set your drag way down, and then they'll stay subsurface and fight like a bass. I went from a ML/F 1/8 to 3/8 rod with 6 lb line to a UL/Mod rod and 4 lb line. Drag is set really light, but I couldn't tell you how many pounds resistance. My luck went up by leaps and bounds.    jj

[DanielG]

3 minutes ago, jimmyjoe said:

   Yes, if you overpower them. Use a lighter power rod, slower action, set your drag way down, and then they'll stay subsurface and fight like a bass. I went from a ML/F 1/8 to 3/8 rod with 6 lb line to a UL/Mod rod and 4 lb line. Drag is set really light, but I couldn't tell you how many pounds resistance. My luck went up by leaps and bounds.    jj

Good point. Never thought of that. I'll think of that in the spring. Thnx.

[Dorado]

[ryanerb]

3 hours ago, Dorado said:

Love the sonar screenshot! The downscan really helps show the fish, the 2D almost looks like weeds or something??

 

Were the fish on a brush pile? creek channel? Any rhyme or reason they were where they were? Did you meter lots of schools all over? 

 

Super fun, glad you got into them, thanks for the post!! Congrats on the PB!!

[Dorado]

@ryanerb thanks brother. Started the morning strolling small paddle tails and Lake Fork Live Baby Shads over open water in the deepest part of the Lake. Deepest part is only 19’ and found schools and schools of Shad, but no signs of active gamefish. I fished hard for a couple hours mixing colors and trying various depths. 
 

I ate a quick lunch and regrouped. I switched to my confidence bait. I altered my strategy and tossed buoys on transition points that had the sharpest declines. The money spot happen to have some submerged bushes at the base (sonar pic) of these drop offs. For example, it would be flat at 7’ then abruptly drop to 15-17’. That’s where I started seeing the grouped crappies..... not the Christmas tree shapes I typically find in larger reservoirs, but downscanning images gave me enough clues that they were more than likely huddled panfish 

 

vertically jigging got the school fired up after I switched from natural colors to the bold, bright colors with stronger contrast since the water was very stained

 

I tried double jigs both tied with loop knots for the first time ever crappie fishing. I don’t ever want to go back to another knot. Having two jigs on one line gave me more confidence because I could offer more options and switching colors was a breeze until I figured out the puzzle. The loop knots keep the jigs perfectly horizontal resulting in flawless hook sets in the upper mouth. Didn’t miss a single fish and on 4# test on a light action, fast tip rod they sure were fun!

 

The most difficult part was marking sure my presentation was just over the structure and I just had to visualize. I studied the sonar unit and would yo yo to gauge where my jig was in relation to the bushes to mark my depth. High CHIRP and higher sensitivity made that video game fishing easier to interpret. 
 

1/8 oz jigs gives me more accuracy to get my jigs down faster and stay in the strike zone too. I only use 1/16 and 1/32 oz jigs on slip bobbers especially during the spring with crappie tubes and Gulp Alive minnows. 
 

Last thing, those BG Baby Shads are incredible! Those puppies have caught all of my large crappies and prove to be consistent every season. Perfect profile and that tapered tail quivers in such a tantalizing way that drives the slabs crazy!

 

Sorry for the novel. I’m getting addicted to crappie fishing ever since I moved to AZ. They are too much fun!

[soflabasser]

Congratulations on your new personal best black crappie.

[Bankbeater]

Some real nice size crappie right there. 

[Crestliner2008]

On 12/20/2019 at 8:44 AM, DanielG said:

I live on a lake that's nearly 5 miles long, up to 90 ft deep. The bass run about 1 1/2 to 3 lbs. Sometimes larger but mostly that. 1 1/5 - 2 is usually the size on a typical day. I think a 5 pounder was the largest I've heard of here. But, later in the summer, after they grow a bit, the crappies are plentiful and even though I never weigh them, they average the size of the ones held up in the OP's pictures. I call them 'dinner plate' sized.

When I was a kid, crappies didn't exist, at least here. I had started fishing again here a few years ago after not having fished since I was a teenager. I caught my first crappy and had never seen one before.

 

One weird thing about this fish, is that after they hit and they come to the surface, they lay flat on the water, hardly fight, and it's like reeling in a mat of weeds. Wonder if that's the case everywhere.

I can probably give you some insight on your last question. If the water is <40 degrees and you are fishing water >15' deep, then it's a natural phenomenon. What happens is the bladders don't have enough time to decompress in the cold water. Solution is that if you are throwing them back, then force them head first back into the water. For whatever reason, this keeps floaters to minimum.

[DanielG]

2 hours ago, Crestliner2008 said:

I can probably give you some insight on your last question. If the water is <40 degrees and you are fishing water >15' deep, then it's a natural phenomenon. What happens is the bladders don't have enough time to decompress in the cold water. Solution is that if you are throwing them back, then force them head first back into the water. For whatever reason, this keeps floaters to minimum.

Thanks, that's nice to know but it happens in the early spring and right through the summer when my Garmin says the water is 71 degrees. But, the lake is deep. My swimbaits and cranks only got to maybe 8-10 feet at the most. That bladder thing is interesting though. They become very lively once on the deck.

[TimberTodd]

Nice day Dorado. Ive found an area of a small cove at my local lake that is a fun time come May for crappie. I have the same Lowance unit on my kayak. Would you mind sharing how you have set. Ping rate, chirp setting etc.

[ryanerb]

On 12/20/2019 at 8:17 PM, Dorado said:

@ryanerb thanks brother. Started the morning strolling small paddle tails and Lake Fork Live Baby Shads over open water in the deepest part of the Lake. Deepest part is only 19’ and found schools and schools of Shad, but no signs of active gamefish. I fished hard for a couple hours mixing colors and trying various depths. 
 

I ate a quick lunch and regrouped. I switched to my confidence bait. I altered my strategy and tossed buoys on transition points that had the sharpest declines. The money spot happen to have some submerged bushes at the base (sonar pic) of these drop offs. For example, it would be flat at 7’ then abruptly drop to 15-17’. That’s where I started seeing the grouped crappies..... not the Christmas tree shapes I typically find in larger reservoirs, but downscanning images gave me enough clues that they were more than likely huddled panfish 

 

vertically jigging got the school fired up after I switched from natural colors to the bold, bright colors with stronger contrast since the water was very stained

 

I tried double jigs both tied with loop knots for the first time ever crappie fishing. I don’t ever want to go back to another knot. Having two jigs on one line gave me more confidence because I could offer more options and switching colors was a breeze until I figured out the puzzle. The loop knots keep the jigs perfectly horizontal resulting in flawless hook sets in the upper mouth. Didn’t miss a single fish and on 4# test on a light action, fast tip rod they sure were fun!

 

The most difficult part was marking sure my presentation was just over the structure and I just had to visualize. I studied the sonar unit and would yo yo to gauge where my jig was in relation to the bushes to mark my depth. High CHIRP and higher sensitivity made that video game fishing easier to interpret. 
 

1/8 oz jigs gives me more accuracy to get my jigs down faster and stay in the strike zone too. I only use 1/16 and 1/32 oz jigs on slip bobbers especially during the spring with crappie tubes and Gulp Alive minnows. 
 

Last thing, those BG Baby Shads are incredible! Those puppies have caught all of my large crappies and prove to be consistent every season. Perfect profile and that tapered tail quivers in such a tantalizing way that drives the slabs crazy!

 

Sorry for the novel. I’m getting addicted to crappie fishing ever since I moved to AZ. They are too much fun!

The more details the better!

 

I had never heard of the BG baby shad (no one here in CA stocks it... Crappie ain't as popular as back east, etc...)  but ordered some off Bass Pro and was able to get some crappie last fall in 17ft of water within 10 minutes of trying on some fish in a creek channel I saw on my sonar. Pretty rewarding, a good bait!

 

Love it. Congrats on the fun day, thanks for all the info! 
 

[Dorado]

On 12/21/2019 at 9:55 AM, TimberTodd said:

Nice day Dorado. Ive found an area of a small cove at my local lake that is a fun time come May for crappie. I have the same Lowance unit on my kayak. Would you mind sharing how you have set. Ping rate, chirp setting etc.

Vertical jigging:

-Shallow Mode

-Auto Depth

-Auto Sensitivity (sometimes I find this too sensitive as it picks up too much white noise. I find my self calibrating this more with experience)

-Surface Clarity on Low

-Ping Speed on Fast

-Downscan on 800khz (Must)

-High Chirp for the narrowest cone. When I’m strolling and looking for schools of baitfish I’ll switch to Mid Chirp to widen the cone to broaden my scan and it transmits more distinct fish arches too

-Blue grad is what gives me the best color contrast 

-Brightness should be mentioned since it took me awhile to snap out of it and adjust accordingly. Made it a lot easier depending on the weather 

-Turn off the fish identifier. It’s deceiving. Learn to trust your sonar

When you’re at home, play around with the “Demo” mode and that will help understand all of the nuances with your settings. Hope this helps! This is based off memory so let me know if I missed anything 

[TimberTodd]

Thank you this is great! Ive only really used it for a half dozen trips or so and still trying to get it somewhat dialed in.

[N Florida Mike]

Those are some nice fish dorado.

We call em Specks in Florida. My PB was 1 3/4 pounds- caught it on a white roostertail. I haven’t fished for them in years. When I did, I primarily used live minnows. I used 6 pound test , which was perfect for the specks. The problem was that catfish like minnows too. I once had a huge catfish eat a minnow intended for specks on that rig. The catfish did whatever he wanted until he went around the anchor rope and broke off.

I haven’t caught any in years in my home lake. I’ve only caught a few in there  and they were around a pound each.

Anyway, nice catch and you made me want to go catch some for myself!

[tander]

That's some might fine eating there!!! Nice catch.

[SuperDuty]

One of the local limestone quarries I fish has massive crappie. You can catch 18 inches one after the other. Simply amazing!