Set-ups for casting for slabs?

[Phishman]

What kind of set-ups does everyone use for casting for slabs? What kind of pole, line, and jig. What do you look for in the area where your going to cast? I don't have much experience casting for crappie.

[CrappiePappy]

What kind of set-ups does everyone use for casting for slabs? What kind of pole, line, and jig. What do you look for in the area where your going to cast? I don't have much experience casting for crappie.

Well, Phishman ... you certainly are likely to get a lot of differing replies on this question

Myself, I use a 6'6" ESP Powerlite rod, 6lb Vicious Panfish hi-vis line, a 1/16oz Y-guard weedless ballhead jighead (unpainted), with a plastic minnow shaped body attached. My main targets are fallen trees, standing trees, brushpiles, bridge pillars, & empty boat dock slips ... mainly in the 10-20ft depth ranges. I look for those objects to either be IN the shade, or be the producer of the most shade in an area or situation where there is little to none.

That's my main "set-up" for CASTING .... but, I do have other set-ups for variations of the casting method, such as dock shooting or casting larger or more expensive baits.

My main casting "method" (swimming the jig) ... is to cast beyond the target area as far as conditions allow, raise my rod to the 10 o:clock position, reel the bait back as slow as necessary to keep a slight bow in the line, and watch the line for any movement not caused by me or wind, and setting the hook immediately upon seeing such line movement. That "line movement" can be a single twitch, sideways movement, or a sudden slack line that's not produced by the jig hitting bottom. I don't wait to "feel" a hit, but actually watch the line to "see" the hit. I can, & do feel some hits, due to the sensitivity of the rod ... but, while I don't always count on feeling a hit, I do count on "seeing" it 100% of the time.

... cp

[chucktx]

great post!! hope to see more techniques........

[genec]

much like crappiepappy,i use mostly 1/32 stinger type jigs and cast and count down to preferred depth and slowly wind with and ocassional drop the rod and lift it back up or pop it or stop it,i use a 5 and 1/2 cheerywood light action rod for most of my fishing ,casting ,shooting docks and jigging over brush after I have cast to it and fish stop hitting,i use 4 lb hi vis line.i use bouy markers and drop them upwind of brush piles and not on the piles,then come back and cast up windand move side to side but not up wind ,too hard to handle boat up wind unless I am jigging,again as said ,be a line watcher and wind as slow as wind and jig weight will allow,if they are aggressive the 1/16 is better for you can wind a little faster,but faster is still slow compared to bass fishing,when they stop hitting aggressive then cast the 1/32 and really go extremely slow,if I don't get bit in a few min ,say 10 to 15 min at most I am gone to another spot,unless a cold front or something has about shut them down and then I have to just try pick one up every so often but they have to be seen on df

[BTB]

I use a 5' ultralight rod with 6 lb mono (clear line, but I do plan to try some hi vis). I use 1/16 oz or smaller jighead- I only use a weedless one when necessary. I cast, count down, and retrieve. Retrieve may be steady or irregular, depending what fish want. Sometimes I cast to visible cover, or drops or submerged cover, and sometimes I fan cast a larger area. I also agree that strikes are very subtle at times- set the hook if in doubt. Good luck and I hope you catch a bunch!

[bluedrifter]

I like 7ft rod with 4-6lb test. I like the longer rod because it allows me to get farther casts, especially when I am fish from bank. like the others, I like 1/16th jigs or smaller. you can very the fall of your jig by changing the size, or style of your plastic. straighter plastics like mighty mites and bobby garland type plastics will fall a little faster than say curly tails or paddle tail swim baits. as far as what to cast to, I cast to anything you see in the water. a small branch in the water can hold just as good of crappie as a hole tree. I think that is because they are targeted less by most anglers.

[justinp61]

I like longer rods too, mine are 6'6" and 6'9". Use a braid the difference in feel is like daylight and dark. For mono use a larger reel, less line twist. For braid you can use a smaller reel because it doesn't develop memory like mono does. I use a high viz small diameter braid and still use a larger reel as I feel the larger reel casts farther than small reels. IMO buy a good rod to start with and you only have to buy it once, same for the reel. Spend the money up front. I make my own jigs, all of them have a weed guard, either monofilament or wire. A lot of times I'll cast a Road Runner type jig, usually 1/16 oz, if it's windy I'll go heavier. I like large hooks, since I went to larger hooks my misses went way down. What I'm casting to depends on the time of year. In the spring it may be banks and in the winter it can be stumps or brush piles in 25' of water.

[Phishman]

That's what I was curious about if you guys ever have luck casting to rocky banks. I seen a lot of people here cast into brush on deeper water. I normally fish deeper water because I can usually find crappie there most of the year. How do you guys set up floats when your casting and what kind of set up do you use. I know with casting you can get into the bigger fish with out spooking them and that's what I'm after I still catch large crappie when spider rigging but I know I'm spooking slot more especially in shallow water.

[sky hawk]

I'm no expert, but I like the longer 7' rod for casting as it makes a lot longer casts. I've got a 6'6 and a 7, and I find myself reaching for the 7 most of the time. I go with the BPS micro lite 7', ML action, I think. Pfleuger president is a great spinning reel, and I top that with either 6 lb. hi-vis mono or hi vis braid. In cold water when fishing deeper, the braid is really worth it. Feeling the bites is night and day different. With mono, I'm watching the line all the time, but I found I catch more fish on that light bite if I use braid. I guess I'm in line with justinp61. Most of the time, I'm casting 1/16th jigs to docks and brush.

[Rdrunner]

I really love casting and have been doing it for many years. My set up is a Diawa SS700 on a GM UL 7 ft.IM8 rod.This set up is a little pricy but if you love casting it is worth it. From spring until fall my go to bait is a 1/16 oz roadrunner tipped with a Big Bite Fatgrub.I hardly ever use a steady retrieve unless it is really shallow.When the fish are 8-25 ft. sometimes the best way to catch them is to let it fall all the way to the bottom,crank it a few times and let it fall again.This works( for me) when nothing else will.Another bait I really like is a Zoom Tiny Fluke on a 1/32 jig head when they are deep on brush.