Bank fishing large ponds, lure help?!

[MasonG]

Hi all, I'm new to the forum but not new to fishing. However I am new to trying to get hooked on crappie fishing. I've always liked crappie, and I've caught many up to 16 inches. But most are by-catches during bass fishing. I fish a few different places with good crappies but one in particular is a very large pond. There's no real noticeable attractions for crappie to migrate to and I'm not able to add brush or anything. But there are definitely a lot of crappie and big ones. I know of a 17" and an 18" being caught and to be honest I'm sure there are crappie over 20" here. My biggest problem is I can't fish from a boat or kayak, it's not allowed, so bank fishing is my only option. ive been on a mission this year to catch a new personal best crappie and I've found myself usually just switching to bass fishing after the crappie bite is slow. I've been using slip floats and grubs with decent success but nothing to write home about. Would small crankbaits be a good idea? I can't troll them obviously but I can cast them. I've also been thinking about trying live minnows under a float but haven't wanted to spend the money on them yet since I have a really good feeling that the bass will probably just tear them up. Or will bass turn a blind eye? Thanks for any help guys, I know there's no one magic lure, but a technique I don't know about my be the ticket

[CrappiePappy]

I'd be casting a 1/16oz marabou Roadrunner, myself. May even go up to a 1/8oz one, if I had to get farther out and the pond was relatively deep. And, yes ... you will catch Bass on most anything you fish for Crappie with, live or artificial. People have even been known to catch large Crappie on various Bass lures (as you are well aware of) ... so, there's really no one special bait or method that will catch ONLY Crappie, and no Bass.

["G"]

Beetle spins and Roadrunners work great in the farm ponds I fish

[jackie53]

We have a small lake or pond about 10 acres that is bank fishing only.Love to fish a popping bug and bream killer.for Bream and Crappie.When I have not got my fly rod a small 1/64 oz jighead under a float is hard to beat.Black and Chart 11/2 -2 in crappie tubes or a Charlie Brewer crappie slider is hard to beat.

[shipahoy41]

Slip float, 1/16th jighead, 2 inch soft plastic minnow imitation should do the trick. Tip with crappie nibbles.

[Blackhawk19]

What Ship and "G" said!

[Crestliner08]

Hard to beat a 1/16 oz. Roadrunner (I prefer the marabou style), or a BGBS straight tail plastic on a plain 1/16 oz. ball head jig. I pond hop whenever I have a couple of hours where I know I won't be taking out the boat. Casting these ponds from shore can be very productive with either presentation.

[MasonG]

Thanks for the tips guys! I have a few road runners but I'll have to go pick up some more. I also will have to try minnow imitations instead of the typical grubs I've been using. I'm considering putting together a crappie rod here soon so I can keep 6lb. test on it instead of the 8lb. that's on most of my bass rods. Can't really go below 6lb. Because of the size of the bass here but I think the smaller diameter may help a lot.

Any tips on fishing the road runners? I've heard in the past that you just keep your retrieve as slow as possible, is that true?

[Ketchn]

you might want to consider the main food source in that pond , i would tend to think it might be crawfish and bluegill . i would imitate whatever you think the main food source is for those fish . and it would be a good bet to examine the actual food source closely and imitate its color as well .
sometimes the smallest bait you can imagine is the ticket in these types of situations especially when there are abundant fry , like this time of year . slow drag something in a fan cast scenario under a fixed float and locate the most likely spot that will hold the larger crappie . they are probably relating to some type of cover/structure .
if you chose to pitch a road runner it helps to keep the rod tip up very high in the air while trying to bring it back VERY slowly . go with the smallest roadrunner you can and try to keep it just off the bottom or weeds that are on the bottom .hope that helps and good luck to you

[CrappiePappy]

Any tips on fishing the road runners? I've heard in the past that you just keep your retrieve as slow as possible, is that true?

Actually, I don't ... I retrieve them at a moderate steady pace, so as to insure the blade is spinning. I get my different depths by using the countdown method, assuming a 1/16oz RR will drop ~1ft per second on slack line. But then, I generally only use a RR to fish 1-8ft deep. Any deeper than that and I'm casting a weedless jighead/plastics.

And remember ... as far as line "size" (lb test) goes, it's not the weight of the fish that matters, but how much "pressure" (in pounds) the line can take before breaking. A reel with a good, smooth drag that's properly set will allow you to handle fish that weigh well beyond the "pound test" rating of your line.
And, if your reel doesn't have a good/smooth drag system, then it behooves you to learn how to quickly switch off the anti-reverse and use the "backwind" method to control the surges of the fish. I've personally used the backwind method to land a 6lb Largemouth & a 12lb Tiger Muskie on UL spinning outfits spooled with 4lb test mono.