basics needed

[creekman]

I have been a cricket man for some time, now I would like to get into crappie. I live near Tar River in Eastern, NC and its fuill of crappie, but i have never fished for them. I need some basics. I have a 14 ft jon boat, no depth finder. I have bought some roadrunner crappie thunder lures and I am thinking to jig them up and down off the bottom and try to do it around structure. Need a few pointers, never jigged before, the closest I have came is ising a beetle spin, and catch one maybe two crappie, never more than two, so I here of people filling the cooler and want to try it, help. Thanks Creekman

[Jason Piper]

If you have any tress that have fallen into the river you should find crappie there. Fish your crappie thunder around those. Youy could jig them, but also try casting and retrieving them slowly in front and along side of the laydowns. Also a minnow under a float 3' down or so should work aroun the lay downs as well! They like sharp channel bends also. Fish some in the deeper part of the bend and if the fish are not there try moving to the outside of the bend in shallower water.

[skiptomylu]

I have been a cricket man for some time, now I would like to get into crappie. I live near Tar River in Eastern, NC and its fuill of crappie, but i have never fished for them. I need some basics. I have a 14 ft jon boat, no depth finder. I have bought some roadrunner crappie thunder lures and I am thinking to jig them up and down off the bottom and try to do it around structure. Need a few pointers, never jigged before, the closest I have came is ising a beetle spin, and catch one maybe two crappie, never more than two, so I here of people filling the cooler and want to try it, help. Thanks Creekman

I have a basic How To Page on my web site that may help some and here is a link...
http://thumpitjigs.com/HowTo.html

[Darryl Morris]

the Informative Articles link below in my sig has some articles that would interest you and I would get involved with the folks on the NC crappie.com board too.

[Crappie Xtreme]

One thing I would do starting off is buy a depth finder to be able to find the structure that you want to fish. It would make it a lot easier. You don't have to spend a lot of money to have a decent one. I just bought me a Humminbird 525 for the front of my big boat and I bought an extra mount and wires/tranducer to be able to put it on my small 14 foot jon. It works great and I don't need anything else.
I have always had one mounted on the back of the big boat and used it but it was a pain because when you find the structure you are already past it.
The 525 cost me $140.00 total not counting the extra wires. Good investment.

Crappie X.

[CrappiePappy]

I have been a cricket man for some time, now I would like to get into crappie. I live near Tar River in Eastern, NC and its fuill of crappie, but i have never fished for them. I need some basics. I have a 14 ft jon boat, no depth finder. I have bought some roadrunner crappie thunder lures and I am thinking to jig them up and down off the bottom and try to do it around structure. Need a few pointers, never jigged before, the closest I have came is ising a beetle spin, and catch one maybe two crappie, never more than two, so I here of people filling the cooler and want to try it, help. Thanks Creekman

I'd use the Beetlespins and Roadrunners for casting, and maybe get some 1/32 & 1/16oz sizes of each. I'd get me some marabou jigs in 1/16, 3/16, & 1/8oz ... with nothing bigger than a #2 hook ... and use those to "jig" with (around sparse cover). I'd have me a minnow bucket w/aerator pump, and some #1 lite wire Aberdeen hooks & #4 Gremlin splitshot sinkers. I'd have an assortment of plastic jig bodies (1"-2.5") ... hollow tubes, solid tubes, Panfish Assassins, Charlie Brewer paddletails, grubs. And I'd get some weedless jigheads in 1/32-1/16oz size, to put the plastics on (for jigging & casting to heavy cover).
I'd read the "Articles" on this site (top of page)... then I'd go to the BnM Poles link (top of page) and click on their "articles/tips" page. And last, but not least, I'd continue to read the related forums here, and post my specific questions.
We're a very diverse crowd, here, and use a multitude of methods, equipment, and baits. Hang around and you'll learn a lot And, if I haven't said it already ...... Welcome to Crappie.com !! ..... luck2ya ... cp

[wefish]

I fish Cape Fear river for Crappie, and now behind a rain the mud lines @ incoming creeks are good, usually do better with minnows, but have caught some with jugs. Creeks with some type of structure in the mouth are best.