Dinks and Keepers

[jimp]

Was longlining on Saturday morning, caught only 1 keeper and 10+ dinks. My question is do the dinks and keepers/larger fish school up together in the same basic location (in this case some structure in 15 FOW), or are they somewhat seperated by size but in the same area (still close to the structure). And are the dinks usually deeper/more shallow in the water column than the larger/keeper fish, or all of 'em just mixed in together. Trying to figure out why so many dinks. I was pretty consistent on my speed and lenght of line out so my depth was pretty consistent as well as I was hooking up almost every trip over the structure going both ways. Both rods had the same grub, only difference was one jig had a black head (with half of the paint gone) with silver hook and the other jig was just a unpainted lead head with a red hook.

["G"]

Its hard to say.....this time of year the white crappie are pretty much scattered out all over the main lake. I do try to follow the creek and river runs and try to keep the boat off to one side of them. Sometimes a shift in speed will make a difference between catching dinks or keepers. But right now I think everybody is catching a lot of throwbacks.

[Mike Andrews]

Dinks are usually more aggressive than the bigger fish on a given spot. There are exceptions to every rule but in my experience dinks are usually the "slammer" thumps and the bigger fish just seem to be there. I caught a 15" fish a couple of weeks ago that gave no indication of a bite, I raised my jig and there was resistance. There have been times I've pulled up on a spot and caught a big fish on the first drop and hen there have been times I've caught dink after dink before catching anything worthwhile.

[das speck hunter]

Down here in Florida I think Dinks tend to stick closer to the bottom of the school or tighter to any structure, in the same school as the keepers, slabs, and HAWGS. Its my theory that this is for protection from bass or other predators. If they are tight to the bottom or structure they have can "watch their backs," self preservation in other words. Where as a larger fish has to be, due to metabolism, and can afford to be a little bolder in search of food ie. shad in open water or jumpers and crayfish in shallow vegetation. But thats just my way of thinking.

[slabslinger]

In a small body of water like a fish around 100 acre swamp area the deepest part is 15 feet deep we catch the true slabs at 10 to 15 feet if that tells you anything most of the other water isnt but about 7 feet but the slabs are pulled out of the deepest part we could find it may be different on a larger body of water

[Bronson]

Dinks are usually more aggressive than the bigger fish on a given spot. There are exceptions to every rule but in my experience dinks are usually the "slammer" thumps and the bigger fish just seem to be there. I caught a 15" fish a couple of weeks ago that gave no indication of a bite, I raised my jig and there was resistance. There have been times I've pulled up on a spot and caught a big fish on the first drop and hen there have been times I've caught dink after dink before catching anything worthwhile.

I completely agree with this because I've had the same experience. Sometimes, you have to wade through the dinks to get a serious hit. When that happens I'll drop my jig in the thickest, meanest part of the brushpile and slowly work it. I think some of the really big ones that aren't feeding, bury up in a choice spot. You just have to find it and like he said, it may be the lightest bite you get all day that bends your pole the most.

[jimp]

the keeper was not as hard of a hit and did not bend the rod as much as the dinks did, and I was going over the center and both sides of the structure, had the rods going out from the sides of the boat so I was covering all sides of the structure with as many passes as I made over the structure.

[crappieseeker]

I agree with a lot of the info here but there are so many verying factors it is hard to say. Me and a guy from Kentucky were casting a spot one morning that was only about 10 feet wide by 10 feet long and we caught over 500 that morning, but we only ended up with 31 keepers out of all that many fish. For the most part like the others have said, most of the time those dinks will slam it and the bigger ones will just litely grab it. We always had a little inside joke where we called them dishrags cause it felt like you just hung into a dishrag that you were just dragging through the water. However on some instances the big ones would nail it too. I have heard that crappie try and school with the same hatch year class but they sometimes get split up from each other depending on being caught and returned and other factors. I have fished some mornings and caught over 100 crappie and not have a single fish that is big enough to measure.

[kbaker]

I think that crappie multiply so fast and the littles ones eat more often than the slabs do and this is why you catch more dinks.

[jimp]

I agree with a lot of the info here but there are so many verying factors it is hard to say. Me and a guy from Kentucky were casting a spot one morning that was only about 10 feet wide by 10 feet long and we caught over 500 that morning, but we only ended up with 31 keepers out of all that many fish. For the most part like the others have said, most of the time those dinks will slam it and the bigger ones will just litely grab it. We always had a little inside joke where we called them dishrags cause it felt like you just hung into a dishrag that you were just dragging through the water. However on some instances the big ones would nail it too. I have heard that crappie try and school with the same hatch year class but they sometimes get split up from each other depending on being caught and returned and other factors. I have fished some mornings and caught over 100 crappie and not have a single fish that is big enough to measure.

DANG!!!!!! will you take me fishin' with you???? Hands Clapping