Old grandpa tricks still good??

[centerdriver]

Was just wondering and thinking, as most of us do with poles in the water waiting on a bite. There were quite a few tricks my grandpa use to do for crappie. Some for day fishing, some for night. I know a few of these are illegal now in certain states, but have mentioned a few to some fellow fishermen and a lot had never heard of them. Here is a list of some of the tricks he used back in the 50's and 60's. Can yall tell me if they are still legal??

Day fishing.
1. Crappie are a school fish, so grandpa use to take a smaller one and attach a length of line to it with a hook in the dorsal fin and a float on the other end . Used about 20' of line so the fish could not go too deep as to pull the bobber down under. His thinking was that the fish would find his/her school shortly. Then all you had to do is fish around the bobber.

Night fishing.
1. He would take a can of cheap dog food, punch a bunch of holes in it, then lower it about 2'deep and tie it off the side of the boat. This helped attrack minners to the light.

2. He would put a dozen minners in a glass gallon jug (wide mouth pickle jar) and put screen over the top with a rubber band holding it in place. Then lower it down to a depth where we got the first bite. Remember, this was before the high tech gadgets of today. His thinking was that the crappie would stay near the jar looking at supper and when you dropped a minner down beside the jug, bang, the crappie thinks one got out.

Will only put these on for now, fingers getting tired. Let me know what you think works and why and if it is still legal. I know in the state of Texas, the one about hooking one in the dorsal with a hook, line and bobber is illegal. They were at one time (before the ban) using small white baloons.
This could turn out to be interesting. Also if you have a trick that works, and is still legal, sure would like to hear about it as I am sure a lot of fishermen would.

[slabbandit]

Hey there Centerdriver,

I have heard of a guy using fishing line and tying it off to the hole made by the hook and using a small balloon to keep up with the fish. I have saved a few gallon pickle jars for the minnow trick but as of yet haven't tried night fishing. Good tip about screen over the jar.

I really like reading about the tricks used by some of our grandpaws back before we had some of the equipment available to us today.

[CrappiePappy]

we have already had discussions on all three of those "tricks".

I was the one that brought up the "minnow/jar" & "dog/cat food chumming" tricks. And, I remember a lively discussion about the "balloon" trick.
I heard/learned about all of these many years ago ... but, have never used any of them.

I don't think any of them are "illegal" in KY. The "minnow/jar" deal would probably only be illegal where "minnows" were illegal to possess or use. Or where "baiting" wasn't allowed ... which would also include the "dog/cat food chumming" trick - since both are being used to "bait" the area. The "balloon" trick probably isn't "illegal" ... but, many may consider it "unethical". And it would probably only work in a limited situation ... such as when the school was roaming open waters. I believe it was originally used on White Bass (a more widely roaming schooling fish) to keep up with the school, when they were chasing baitfish.

.............. cp

[tarheel in tx.]

Here in Texas balloons are illegal, but i like to use dog food cans to bait out holes.I try to find deeper holes around old timber and drop the cans tied to a cord down, then start fishing them the next day.

[centerdriver]

Ok. just wanted to know. Could not think of how to search for it on the forum. Is there some where I could look for the "old ways" of attracting crappie??? Not wanting to start anything....like I said, in Texas it is illegal to do the hook. line and baloon thing. Wanting to keep it legal and on the up and up.

[tarheel]

Was just wondering and thinking, as most of us do with poles in the water waiting on a bite. There were quite a few tricks my grandpa use to do for crappie. Some for day fishing, some for night. I know a few of these are illegal now in certain states, but have mentioned a few to some fellow fishermen and a lot had never heard of them. Here is a list of some of the tricks he used back in the 50's and 60's. Can yall tell me if they are still legal??

Day fishing.
1. Crappie are a school fish, so grandpa use to take a smaller one and attach a length of line to it with a hook in the dorsal fin and a float on the other end . Used about 20' of line so the fish could not go too deep as to pull the bobber down under. His thinking was that the fish would find his/her school shortly. Then all you had to do is fish around the bobber..

Sounds like a good way to catch a Big 'ol Flathead to me.

[Moose1am]

I made a post about how to use the crappie.com vbulletin search function.

Here is a link to that thread:

http://www.crappie.com/gr8vb3/showthread.php?t=15811

Hope this helps you find the information quickly

The advanced search function is a little bit more complicated but it's not hard to figure out once you give it a try or two.

good luck

Ok. just wanted to know. Could not think of how to search for it on the forum. Is there some where I could look for the "old ways" of attracting crappie??? Not wanting to start anything....like I said, in Texas it is illegal to do the hook. line and baloon thing. Wanting to keep it legal and on the up and up.