what is the best lure and color for catching shellcrackers?also live bait whats the best?reason for asking is because i located some and they would knock the fire out of my baits but wouldnt grab hold of it i could watch them chase my lure all the way to the boat and then stop

I prefer wax worms or crickets.

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we had crickets but they wouldnt hit those either we floated them and fished them on the bottom

How close were you to them?

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red wiggler on the bottom

probably 10 yards or so

worm on bottom, no float, they bite very subtle sometimes, watch your line. Alot of time they swallow the hook. Good luck and enjoy

Jr. B

We used popeye jigs, tipped with waxworms, fished under a small bobber to get these.

A really sensitive float will cure that. I was reading a shellcracker article in the latest GON (Georgia Outdoor News.) The guide they interviewed used a float and complained about how shellcrackers were always swallowing the hook. This guide was using some of the worst floats I've ever seen. No wonder the fish were swallowing the hook!

Fish swallow the hook when you don't see the bite, and most floats are just not good bite indicators. Fish a light waggler with enough split shot so that just a pimple is showing above the surface. You won't miss bites with that!

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What size "lure" were you using ?? Maybe if you downsized the same lure, they'd take it better

Last ones I caught, came on nightcrawler pieces (under a float). Thought seriously about using a slip sinker/bobber stop/hook setup ... to get/keep my bait on bottom, and still be able to detect the bite. Problem was ... the wind got up, and was blowing my line pretty good. So I just stuck with the float setup, and let the wind blow it along
I think I was too late to find them nesting, anyway. The little lake I fished is known to produce some pretty nice Crackers, so I may give them another go .... unless the Crappie start biting good, there

.. cp

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