The use of Crappie nibbles or other attractants

[Meat on the Table]

I recently tried Crappie nibbles and had trouble keeping them on the hook. I have regressed to my old method. I buy a red sponge and use a small round gasket cutter and cut small ovals out of the sponge. I then store the oval sponges in a jar of attractant. When using with jigs, I pinch off 1/4" of the head of the jig and thread the sponge on just behing the head of the jig. This method has worked for many years now. I also use them with minnows. Any thoughts or ideas?

[J White]

I recently tried Crappie nibbles and had trouble keeping them on the hook. I have regressed to my old method. I buy a red sponge and use a small round gasket cutter and cut small ovals out of the sponge. I then store the oval sponges in a jar of attractant. When using with jigs, I pinch off 1/4" of the head of the jig and thread the sponge on just behing the head of the jig. This method has worked for many years now. I also use them with minnows. Any thoughts or ideas?

just curious, are you casting/reeling, trolling, or tightlining with them?
I used to fish a jig under a cork and used nibbles all the time. I noticed
they didn't hold up as well fast-trolling though. I like your sponge trick,
sounds like a good idea. The thought crossed my mind too, that you may
have got a bad batch of nibbles - too dry or too wet?

[Mo'nBack]

If I know it's going to be real hot, I'll stick my Nibbles in the freezer the day before. When I go I leave them either in my fish ice chest or my cooler with my drinks, as long as they are on ice. They hold up pretty good like that, but you have to make sure to put them back in whenever you get one out. They stay a little harder that way and stay on the hook a little better. Hope this helps.

[Moose1am]

Take some of the crappie nibbles out of the jar and lay them in the sun to dry for a few minutes. About 30 min or a hot summer day maybe less. They will form a thicker skin and stay on the hook better.

Cane Pole take the head of a chartrues plastic body jig and soaks it in baby oil. Attractant would work also. He puts a minnow on the hook and then thread the plastic on the hook. The plastic adds some chartruse color to the bait and also helps the minnow stay on the hook better.

I tried Cane Poles method when I got home the last few times I was out fishing and it worked at my home lake as well as it did at KY lake. Only I didn't use baby oil. I used a minnow, #4 hook or #2 hook Gold thin wires types, a plastic jig body part ( chartruse) and a chartruse crappie nibble. It worked good. I was catching crappie so fast I could not get the bait back in the water fast enough. I got my limit that day (25) fish in IN. The spot I fished has produced many limits of crappie for me over the last two years. I know it's a good spot and I can go there anytime of the year and catch some fish. Some days I get a limit in a few hours and other days I may only catch one or two fish. But most days will produce about 10 to 15 fish in a few hours in the evening.


I started fishing a new way this last few months. Actually it's an old tried and true method of fishing. I just make up my own KY lake crappie rig by using 6lb test stren and tying a loop knot in the line. I use a #2 gold thin wire hook that can be straighten out easily when it gets snagged. I tie the loop knot so that I have about 4" of line standing out from the main line. This gives the minnow some room to swim around and an active minnow works better than a dead minnow. I only use one loop knot per line and I put a BPS Finesse Drop Shot Weight on the line below the bait about 12" to 18". I am using 1/4 to 3/8 to sometimes 1/2 oz drop shot weights depending on the wind.

I noticed that when I fished with Larry Southern IN at Patoka that he did better with live bait tied off his main line this way. I was fishing with the jig and crappie nibbles tied on the line with a palomar knot and slow trolling. I think that letting the bait have some room off the main line works better. But I get hung up a lot more with the drop loop knot setup than with the palomar knot setup. I may increase the line wt to 8lb test when I fish in the heavy cover.

There are directions on how to tie the loop knot in the Crappie.com Articles section. It's in the first or second article when you get to the Articles link
It's in the "less junk more fish" article.

I recently tried Crappie nibbles and had trouble keeping them on the hook. I have regressed to my old method. I buy a red sponge and use a small round gasket cutter and cut small ovals out of the sponge. I then store the oval sponges in a jar of attractant. When using with jigs, I pinch off 1/4" of the head of the jig and thread the sponge on just behing the head of the jig. This method has worked for many years now. I also use them with minnows. Any thoughts or ideas?

[dsacalaitman]

jerryblake told me about cod liver oil and made a beleiver out of me.
but i used to use nibbles allways,like the one guy said i too would set them out to dry and that would work nibbles are good but cod liver oil rocks :D good luck keep it wet

[Mrs. Crappie Stalker]

I usually fish a tube jig and just push the crappie nibble up into the tube. Stays on longer and it's just as effective. Every time I open a new jar, they're really soft, but if you leave the lid off for a while, they'll dry out some and stay on better. We've been using the cod liver oil too (learned about it here). It works pretty good, too but nibbles are still my favorite, they're a confidence thing with me.

[slabbandit]

Hey this is the first time I have heard of using cod liver oil. Would someone explain a little better how this is done? Soaking, spraying,ect. I am a regular user of of the gold sparkle crappie nibbles but I too have problems keeping them on the jighook.


CATCH A BIG-UN

[herb]

I've had no trouble keeping nibbles on except when attacked by fish. Not sure how you guys hook them, but I run the hook point into the end of the nibble, not the side.
If hooked into the side, they will quickly fall off.

[Crappie Stalker]

the cod liver oil i buy comes in soft gel capsules,just puncture the end with your hook point and squeeze a small amount onto your jig,be careful not to get on your boat or carpet it can be a real pain to clean up.as for the nibbles,i have access to small syringes that hold metal polishing compounds in them,when empty, i clean them out and then load with my crappie nibbles and inject into jig body.lasts alot longer and not as messy,i usually end up wearing as much glitter as the jig does when i handle them

[dsacalaitman]

you can buy at any pharmacy they come in gel caps .
istarted emptying the caps in old nibbles container and then dunking jig in container works good even better than nibbles when fishing in the rain .
i still use nibbles occasionally , but oil lasts longer than nibbles. oil remindes me of stuff i used to get at k mart called bait mate spray. good luck