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Thread: The Minnow Theory?

  1. #1
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    Default The Minnow Theory?


    I'm kinda confused here.... Why do so many anglers use only minnows or imitations of minnows when crappie have such a large variety of plankton, insects and crustaceans in their diet?

    I have been talking with some long time crappie flyfishermen and asking around about flies to use. The MAJORITY of them laugh when you talk "minnow patterns." This proved true for me this year, on my fly rod anyway, where a small insect/nymph fly did alot better than a minnow (clouser/streamer) type fly.

    I've caught many crappie on bug flies, mealworms, wax worms, night crawlers and small crawfish, but for some reason can't get the minnows out of my head. Any thoughts?

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    Strait Answere They eat all You said, "It's what's handy! "I'm like You leach'es, bug's the work's What's a MINNOW?
    STICK-A-FORK-IN-ME-IM-DUMBER !
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  3. #3
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    Iffen you was in my boat and I was using minnows. You would swear I was fishing for bass. MY theory bigger the minnow bigger the crappie. ( within reason of course. )

    This is just me thinking and observation here over the years. ( 62 of em ). Crappie like perch eat almost anything as a fingerling. As they grow they reach a certain body mass that takes a LOT of protien to support in warm water. Ever caught a slab crappie on a crank bait ? Some days crankbaits can be a go to system if you want slabs.

    Even through the ice I have caught slabs on minnows intended for walleyes. Although most of the time I prefer smaller baits through the ice. I have seen days when crappie would smash a single maggot on a small hook and nothing else .Snub their nose at minnows all day long. Next day the reverse may be true. I hate taking minnows out on the ice with me due to the weight and bother. But I take a full smorgasboard of bait every time.To rely on one bait 100% of the time would be like using only one size and one color jig.

    If the fish want a certain thing one day . I just want to be able to present it to them.
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  4. #4
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    The very best way to find out what the Crappie are eating is to do a stomach contents check when you clean them, you may be surprised... especially in the winter!

    One of the main winter forages for Crappie on the Coosa river chain here in 'Bama is Chironomids (Midge Fly larvae). They're itty bitty wormlike lookin' critters about 3/8-1/2 inch long and no bigger around than 8 lb. test line. The Crappie here will be absolutely packed with hundreds if not thousands of these little critters... and not only the Crappie eat them, the small Catfish and Bass will be full of them too.

    I think Crappie are mainly nibblers in the winter, they'd rather eat 100 tiny things than 1 big thing!

    One of my best presentations down here in the winter when Crappie get picky is a Chironomid imitation fly and a Tuffy minnow. My theory is that it looks like the minnow is trying to choke down the Chironomid and is in a little distress. I think this looks like a main course and desert to the Crappie.:p

    The next time you clean a mess of Crappie for the table, check the stomach contents!

  5. #5
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    I believe most fish species have a varied diet that includes nonfish food. But big fish eat little fish and then an even bigger fish eats the big fish, etc. Case in point, a few weeks back I had a monster largemouth bass take my crappie from me while I was landing it and this is not the first time a bigger fish consumed a keeper size crappie. I use extra small minnows (#4's) and small hair jigs (minnow imitations) year round because that is what produces the best results overall for the waters I fish. I'm sure I would use a wider variety of bait choices if I fished different waters. The primary and secondary food sources will vary from water to water even in the same climate east to west and they vary wider in different climates north to south.

    I think food source in a particular body of water is the key. Here's an example. Jerry Blake had a minnow pond overrun with grass and moss. Another guy put a couple of small grass carp in the pond. Once the grass and moss was gone the carp were feeding on our minnows we'd put in there. Needless to say, the carp are no longer in the pond and they were well fed. Crappie live off instinct and they will eat what they have to survive. Matching what is most plentiful in your waters should be the ticket.
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    i have yet to find me a plankton bait.

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    Quote Originally Posted by crappiejohn View Post
    i have yet to find me a plankton bait.
    Use a frozen green pea... it looks like a gob of plankton!:D

    ... let us know how big of a Smallmouth Buffalo you catch with that!

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    Quote Originally Posted by AtticaFish View Post
    I have been talking with some long time crappie flyfishermen and asking around about flies to use. The MAJORITY of them laugh when you talk "minnow patterns."

    I think it depends on where they're fishing. Most of the fly guys I know (including yours truly) do NOT fish massive reservoirs where shad is the base forage. They tend to fish smaller waters where there is a lot more insect life. Rick Zieger over at FAOL is a good example. He fishes small ponds almost exclusively and uses a lot of small nymph-type patterns.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Darryl Morris View Post
    I think food source in a particular body of water is the key. Here's an example. Jerry Blake had a minnow pond overrun with grass and moss. Another guy put a couple of small grass carp in the pond. Once the grass and moss was gone the carp were feeding on our minnows we'd put in there. Needless to say, the carp are no longer in the pond and they were well fed. Crappie live off instinct and they will eat what they have to survive. Matching what is most plentiful in your waters should be the ticket.

    Oops! Darryl already made my point.

  10. #10
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    Darryl made a good point and GCD made a good point as well. When I use to clean crappie from one body of water I fished, they mostly had bream fry in them and I usually caught the crappie on colored jigs, another body of water the crappie had mainly shad minnows in them and I caught the crappie on minnow imitation jigs.

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