Thread: Night Fishing for crappie.

Take some minnows

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Originally Posted by mighty

Take some minnows

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Thank you! I might try to catch some of the indigenous species around here since shiners in South Louisiana go for 10 to 15 cents a piece (lol).


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Some people use Sabiki Rigs to catch Shad, but they're generally looking to catch those 4" & over sized Shad. One "could" probably make a Sabiki Rig with much smaller jigs and use them for smaller Shad, but unless you have a big circular tank setup ... the Shad aren't going to live very long.

What some people around here do is to tie on a couple of small treble hooks & a small weight on the bottom of the line .... then when you get a good concentration of Shad circling under the lights, jerk the treble hooks up thru the school & snag a Shad, then transfer the Shad over to one of your other rods. You just have to be careful and gentle when transferring the Shad. You don't want to handle the Shad any more than necessary, as you will de-scale them with your fingers and they'll die a lot faster. Best to hook them with the regular hook (thru the lips, nose, or eye sockets) before you remove the treble. Then grab the treble & gently shake the (hooked) Shad off the treble hook (or gently nudge it off). Unless you tear the Shad real bad snagging them, they'll survive long enough for a hungry fish to smell the wound or sense the damaged (wounded/crippled) Shad's erratic behavior.

If you have Brook Silversides in your waters, they're even better bait than Shad or minners, just a little more cumbersome to catch. What my Grandparents & I used to do is take a home made net and hang a lantern over the side of the boat, then ease around the banks until some Silversides were following along with the light. We'd dip them up and put them in a 5gal bucket full of lake water. After catching a few dozen, we'd go tie up to our favorite tree or brushpile & fish with them just like with minners (but, you have to hook them thru the eye sockets due to their pencil shaped body). The "net" was a square shaped deal on a 10ft handle and the "netting" was wire weaved screen. The "screen" was like window screen, but the holes were 2-3 times larger. They have to be, because you have to be able to pull the net thru the water pretty fast or the Silversides will just swim out of the way.

I tried that technique with a landing net with fabric mesh netting & it didn't work. It took too long & was too hard to pull the net thru the water due to the tiny holes of that type of mesh netting. (just some FYI for those thinking to use that type of netting)

Here's what a Silverside looks like :

Originally Posted by CrappiePappy

Some people use Sabiki Rigs to catch Shad, but they're generally looking to catch those 4" & over sized Shad. One "could" probably make a Sabiki Rig with much smaller jigs and use them for smaller Shad, but unless you have a big circular tank setup ... the Shad aren't going to live very long.

What some people around here do is to tie on a couple of small treble hooks & a small weight on the bottom of the line .... then when you get a good concentration of Shad circling under the lights, jerk the treble hooks up thru the school & snag a Shad, then transfer the Shad over to one of your other rods. You just have to be careful and gentle when transferring the Shad. You don't want to handle the Shad any more than necessary, as you will de-scale them with your fingers and they'll die a lot faster. Best to hook them with the regular hook (thru the lips, nose, or eye sockets) before you remove the treble. Then grab the treble & gently shake the (hooked) Shad off the treble hook (or gently nudge it off). Unless you tear the Shad real bad snagging them, they'll survive long enough for a hungry fish to smell the wound or sense the damaged (wounded/crippled) Shad's erratic behavior.

If you have Brook Silversides in your waters, they're even better bait than Shad or minners, just a little more cumbersome to catch. What my Grandparents & I used to do is take a home made net and hang a lantern over the side of the boat, then ease around the banks until some Silversides were following along with the light. We'd dip them up and put them in a 5gal bucket full of lake water. After catching a few dozen, we'd go tie up to our favorite tree or brushpile & fish with them just like with minners (but, you have to hook them thru the eye sockets due to their pencil shaped body). The "net" was a square shaped deal on a 10ft handle and the "netting" was wire weaved screen. The "screen" was like window screen, but the holes were 2-3 times larger. They have to be, because you have to be able to pull the net thru the water pretty fast or the Silversides will just swim out of the way.

I tried that technique with a landing net with fabric mesh netting & it didn't work. It took too long & was too hard to pull the net thru the water due to the tiny holes of that type of mesh netting. (just some FYI for those thinking to use that type of netting)

Here's what a Silverside looks like :

Thank you!

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