gotta question for you spider riggers

[mb4850]

When your spider rigging and your seeing most of the fish at 5 to 7 feet deep on the FF what depth would you set your jigs? I know most of you spider riggers use minnows but I just had rather not use minnows, don't like the fuss so I use jigs if that makes any difference. This weekend I noticed fish at 5 to 7 feet and was setting my jigs at about 5 feet and didn't start catching crappie until I pulled my jigs up to 1.5 to 2 feet deep. Didn't make sense to me but few things fish for crappie do. I'm only using one 1/8 oz jig per line and thought I'd start there. I'm slow trolling and don't have a gps so don't know my speed I've been watching the line and try to keep it at a slight angle. Can you move too slow? I seem to be missing a lot of bites, maybe 50%. Is this normal or do I need to do something different? What would be some of the causes for missing a lot of bites? Thanks for any help.:rolleyes:

[Eager Beaver]

LAZYNESS!!!! Just kiddin ya, EB

[mb4850]

Now Beaver "you gonna hurt my feelin":D

[Eager Beaver]

sorry MB but I couldn't resist. hehe EB

[jeepguyjames]

how big & what style of hook are you using on your jig heads??

[skeetbum]

I do a lot of vertical jigging and spider rigging lately and I use sickle hooks for almost all of what I do. I'm liking the difference in the hookup, being further back in the firmer portion of the roof of the mouth. And these hooks are sharper the any I have used so far. 1/32, 1/16, and 1/8 are mostly all #4. I said mostly. Some of the 1/32 have #6, and I occasionally use #2 hooks when trolling or just experimenting, cause I'm still learning too.
Short strikes can also be a signal that you don't have quite the right color, or style, or depth, or even weight. Experimenting when you do get on fish, and paying attention to what works more consistently, time after time, tells a very big story to me at times. I use several colors whenever I first set up, but it doesn't take much for me to change all of the rods to 1 or 2 colors if the others are taking the day off. Just my opinion, hope this helps some.

[mb4850]

Nothing in particular. I just usually use 3 different colors and what ever size and style hook that is on the 1/8 oz jig I'm using at the time. Is there a certain style and size you like to use and if so why?

[ScottV]

I spider rig with either 1/8 or 1/4 oz jigs with #2 sickle hooks. I like the larger heads for keeping the jig down plus it gives it a larger profile with more color for the fish to see. I use hand tied jigs with crappie nibbles. About 3 weeks ago I caught a 2 lb 12 oz crappie on a 1/4 oz chartreuse jig like the one in my avatar.

[Crappie Buster]

Well that's a big difference in depth, but there are several things to consider. Is your depth finder mounted on the foot of the trolling motor? Is it set to account for the distance of the transducer below the water surface. Also, crappie feed upwards so I generally try to put the bait a foot or so above where I think the fish are.

As far as the missed bites I'm not really sure what a good explanation for that would be. It could be something to do with your hook size. I generally tightline with minnows and use a standard #2 or #1 hook. It probably has a lot to do with the fish being finicky and like skeetbum said something about your setup just wasn't quite right. When I start missing a lot of fish I generally downsize the bait. For me smaller is always better.

[Majesticman]

Make sure their are above the fish. Crappie don't look down. I usually start about a foot above them then adjust in 1 crank intervals. I works for me.