Help me set up my crappie arsenal

[Bream Master]

Hey,

What are some "must have" jigs, grubs, etc. in your tackle box?  What colors and suggestions on how to fish 'em?

What size jig heads?  

Cheers.

[.ghoti.]

Bass Assassin Tiny Assassin's, charteuse, pink, orange, white and black for dingy water. Shad colors for clear water.

1/16 and 1/32oz jigheads in a variety of colors, including no paint.

Thill slip floats and stops

split shot

Berkley power nibbles

Around here. a Tiny Assassin on a small jighead, tipped with a Crappie Nibble, fished beneath a slip float with just enough shot added to almost sink the float, will catch crappie any time of the year. The only critical variable is depth. Get that right and speed and color almost don't matter.

[GitRDoneIke23]

I'll use Mr. Twister twirl tail and double twirl tail jigs. Usally Chartuse, White, and Gold. I'll use them with 1/16 and 1/32 ouuce jig heads. I like Red, White, and Pink heads.

Also try this rig.......

A Jig on the bottom and a minnow a foot or so up. Kinda like a drop shot rig.

Good Luck!!!

[Daniel My Brother]

1st choice: crappie jigs, I like 1/16 oz marabou tails fished with a slip bobber.

3 favorite colors are: white, chartruese, and pink.

You don't have to move these baits much at all to entice a strike. In fact, the marabou tails are almost impossible to hold steady in the water.  

A couple local crappie guys did a season long test to figure out if crappie jigs with painted on eyes performed better than plain colored ones...The eyes won.

2nd choice: Live minnows,  I use 1/0 Eagle Claw crappie hooks, split shot and a bobber.

3rd choice: Beetlespin

Gear: 7' medium light spinning rod, with a pflueger president, and 6lb pline cxx.

Good luck and have fun!

[Daniel My Brother]

One other thing I heard the other day that makes sense. A guy was saying he liked the heavier jig heads (1/16 to 1/8) with a smaller hook. The reason? Crappie suck in thier prey like a vacuum. If the jig head is heavy and the hook is light, the hook will spin around and enter the crappie's mouth first.

Makes sense to me.

[maxke01]

Booyah baits work good for crappe too

[FishTank]

I like using a single tail GYCB grub in white and sometimes green pumpkin with black flake with a 1/8oz jig head.  I use 6lb test line with a Quantum Energy Pti-a 20 and a St. Croix Avid 6'ML spinning rod.

[Alpster]

You guys will laugh, but if I am going serious crappie fishing, I take 4 or 5 bamboo cane poles and a box of 1/16 & 1/8 oz crappie jigs & some garden worms. I cover the jig hook with a worm, then I set the depth of the jigs at each pole 2' deeper than the last one. When they start hitting, I set all poles to the hungry depth. I can usually clean em up if I find what depth they are feeding.

Ronnie

[GitRDoneIke23]

Alpster...

I'll sometimes use that same method. Only with 12' fly rods and minnows.  

[huston]

Check out Charlie Brewers Sliders

[RoLo]

As a rule of thumb, Missouri minnows are best during the coldwater periods, but as the water warms up a little,

you can do as good or better with jigs because of their greater coverage. During peak activity though (very short season),

a spinner like the XPS 1/16 oz Crappie Spin might out-produce all else.

Spot fishing the bulrushes can be very productive but to do it right you really need a long cane pole (a whole other game).

I try to target schools over a suspended drop-off or brush pile, then use a 5.5-ft ultra-light spinning outfit spooled with 4-lb Yo-Zuri line.

There are three basic crappie lures:

> "Marabou Jig" a self-contained lure like Uncle Buck's 1/16 oz Crappie Bug

> "Shimmy Grub" like a 1.5" Charlie Brewer's Crappie Slider Grub

> "Curly Grub" like Kalin's 2" Triple Threat Grub

As Daniel MB mentioned, my favorite crappie colors are also white, chartreuse and pink.

Depending on the drift, a slip-float and stop might be best, or sometimes it's enough to peel off a specific shot of line before closing the bail.

I'll often mark the school with a marker buoy, so I can accurately pick-up every new drift. When the drift is too brisk, then of course you're forced to anchor-up, or would that be anchor-down?

Roger

[Bream Master]

You guys ever fish road runners with success for crappie?

[FishTank]

You guys will laugh, but if I am going serious crappie fishing, I take 4 or 5 bamboo cane poles and a box of 1/16 & 1/8 oz crappie jigs & some garden worms. I cover the jig hook with a worm, then I set the depth of the jigs at each pole 2' deeper than the last one. When they start hitting, I set all poles to the hungry depth. I can usually clean em up if I find what depth they are feeding.

Ronnie

IMHO, this is how I have seen the serious crappie fisherman do it.  They will always have several rods set up in rod holders on their boat with them set at various depths.  The one thing that gets me though is how they manage not to get tangled.  Me, I am more of a hands on kind of guy when it comes to fishing.

[IDbasser]

I use 1/16 oz jig heads with red hooks, and 1-1/2 in tubes. My favorite color is black/chart, but a variety of colors is good to have on hand to be able to see what their mood is. I have to drive 2 hours for crappies here in Idaho :'(, and it is illegal to use live minnows.

[Bankbeater]

You guys will laugh, but if I am going serious crappie fishing, I take 4 or 5 bamboo cane poles and a box of 1/16 & 1/8 oz crappie jigs & some garden worms. I cover the jig hook with a worm, then I set the depth of the jigs at each pole 2' deeper than the last one. When they start hitting, I set all poles to the hungry depth. I can usually clean em up if I find what depth they are feeding.

Ronnie

IMHO, this is how I have seen the serious crappie fisherman do it. They will always have several rods set up in rod holders on their boat with them set at various depths. The one thing that gets me though is how they manage not to get tangled. Me, I am more of a hands on kind of guy when it comes to fishing.

I think they call that spider rigging????

[kybassangler]

I have had good luck with calcutta 2" frogs, they have tails that flip and give good action. also works well for bass. Small inline spinners work well too. As well as jigs.  One of the largest bass I have ever caught was on the frog with 4# test.

[Bamadan]

That is how we do it on the Tennessee river.Spider rig with 1/8 oz jigs and tube baits.I have caught 145 since the 2nd week of Feb. the trick is to set the poles spread out so you have a small channel between corks and swim the crappie in that channel to the boat.