Mitch Glenn, National Sales Manager for Arkie Lures and expert crappie angler, acknowledges the consistent cold temperatures are influencing where the crappie have been staging. “The crappie have been holding really close to deep water then moving up once the sun warms things. Once it stays warm for awhile, the crappie will just stay up shallow around wood,” said Glenn.
Within the next 30 days, Glenn anticipates the crappie moving up shallow. “Right now logs, big logs are where the crappie are next to, but if the lake comes up crappie will move to buck brush to spawn,” said Glenn.
When fishing for early prespawn crappie, Glenn will start his day out spider rigging two Arkie Lures Shineee Hineee jigs (www.arkiejigs.com) on each rod with eight rods off both sides of the boat’s bow. This allows him to cover more water while waiting for the sun to come up and warm the water temperature.
While spider rigging fishing, Glenn watches his sonar unit looking for schools of baitfish and crappie. “I use my side imaging sonar to look for fish and down imaging to stay close to the breakline where crappie will stage before moving up shallow during the day,” said Glenn.
Spider rigging allows Glenn to cover a wide area with multiple lures at different depths moving as slow as possible. “The rods I use when spider rigging are B’n’M Capps & Coleman series CCT122 12 foot long rods. It’s a stiffer rod, but when you put ˝-ounce weight on it you need a stiffer rod to set the hook,” said Glenn.
Once the sun gets up and starts warming up the water, Glenn will move up shallow to catch crappie. His favorite technique is jig poling. “On Beaver Lake it’s a great way to catch crappie up shallow. Really anglers can use this technique anywhere once the crappie move up shallow in the spring,” said Glenn.
A jig poling rig consists of a weighted cork and an Arkie Lures Shineee Hineee. “The 1/16-ounce Shineee Hineee has the perfect hook to head size ratio for using under a weighted bobber or to cast out and retrieve. Every Shineee Hineee has two tinsel tails coming out from the body of the jig. One side of the tinsel is gold and the other side is silver in color,” said Glenn.
By having two contrasting colors, the Shineee Hineee can be fished on cloudy days or sunny days noted Glenn. Although, Glenn pointed out his favorite color is whatever the fish wants to eat that day.
Shineee Hineee also comes with a red hook. “I used to think a red hook didn’t make much of a difference, but one trip I had out, I caught all my fish with the Shineee Hineee and none with a gold hook,” said Glenn. From that day forward, Glenn always uses ones with red hooks believing that the hook probably disappears when it gets so deep in the water column.
Jig poling is a simple technique, but requires some dexterity to get the lure in and around wood without getting hung up. “I like to keep my boat in 12- to 20-feet of water and cast my lure to the shallow brush. By shallow I mean 2- to 3-feet of water. Then I simply make short pulls on the bobber which gives the lure a lifelike action of swimming,” said Glenn.
If Glenn has a choice he will use the jig poling technique in stained or muddy water especially in the spring when crappie have moved up shallow. Depending on water temperature, Glenn will fish towards the mouth of coves early in the spring when water temperatures are around 45 degrees then move back into the coves as water temperatures rise. He noted that every degree warmer makes a difference where crappie will be in the springtime.
Glenn prefers a 10 foot long rod with a soft tip when jig poling. Currently he uses a Quantum Dip’n Stick, a rod no longer in production. As for a reel, he believes any spinning reel will do since it really just holds the fishing line.
One of the reasons Glenn likes jig poling is because it allows him to change presentations quickly. “I use a weighted snap bobber so it’s easy to put on, take off or adjust my bobber. I adjust or remove the bobber according to how deep the crappie are holding,” said Glenn.
As crazy as this year has been for weather with all the snow and cold temperatures it hasn’t stopped the crappie from moving up shallow. Few techniques are more deadly for catching shallow water early prespawn crappie around wood than jig poling.
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