Crappies and sunnies

[CTom]

They've been hitting like crazy in a couple areas I fish and the plastics have been up there in size already. Normally I see smaller plastics run their course before the 1.75 inch stuff starts to draw attention, but this year with the early warm water these three colors have just plain smoked crappies. I've seen four of the largest sunfish I have ever seen this sprin hanging on these babies too.

If this size trend keeps up I'm going to have to start making three inch minnows. lol



These three colors are the bluegill/chartreuse, purple/chartreuse and ambercracker.

[no1son]

In the spring we move back and forth between sizes from under 1" to over 2", until we find the size that clicks. Sometimes more than one size will work. We have also seen some real decent sunfish, and some smaller ones, take the bigger tails, and not just this spring. Some as small as 6" will have a full 2" Baby Shad tail all the way down their throats at times. We also get a lot of sunnies that nibble on the tail behind the hook. A lot of times reducing hook size will take those fish which can be any size that happens to be around. This time of the year the sizes can be mixed even though they tend to segregate when they go on the beds and later in the summer. I suspect that is more true on smaller waters, though, than on the much bigger ones.

[Crappie 1]

They've been hitting like crazy in a couple areas I fish and the plastics have been up there in size already. Normally I see smaller plastics run their course before the 1.75 inch stuff starts to draw attention, but this year with the early warm water these three colors have just plain smoked crappies. I've seen four of the largest sunfish I have ever seen this sprin hanging on these babies too.

If this size trend keeps up I'm going to have to start making three inch minnows. lol



These three colors are the bluegill/chartreuse, purple/chartreuse and ambercracker.

Ctom, do you fish these with a bobber? Or how do you fish them? We've been using micro jigs/tails/waxie. Just wondered.

[CTom]

I fish these and most of the plastics under a float until the spawn gets started. In the spring I find crappies very depth oriented and that means keeping the bait at a specific depth. I use a #2 Thill Mini Stealth float [shaped like an acorn with a short stem with a hole in the end below the balsa] when using the 1/32 heads. Larger heads I cast/retrieve. This particular float is the master of showing upward hits. To keep them horizontal in the water I adjust the knot on the eye of the jig towards the hook's point slightly and add a mere speck of super glue to hold it. Some days the fish really need to see it straight horizontal while other days they don't appear to care less.

I let the fish tell me what and how they want things. For the most part though, from the time I can find open water between sheets of ice right up until I quit fishing crappies during the spawn I use a float almost exclusively. From that point until we see cold water again in the fall I will use a float only when circustances demand it. Late fall will see the float back.