Had a decent night but have a few questions

[Potatoe]

First night out with boat and we started with a jig head and minnow no body on a slip bobber. We hit a few right away and then nothing. We are fishing a rock reef really close to shore and it drops off pretty quick to 15 ft and deeper. We then switched to throwing a jig and not much luck but then we started to catch a few. We would cast out and reel in slow. Not really sure if we are doing it correctly but we caught a few nice ones. Should you let the jig lay on the bottom and then jig up and reel or just reel in like we were doing.

My son was using a minnow with his jig with some luck, I had a jig with a little spinner and green body no minnow.

thank for any info

[Crestliner08]

Not knowing the body of water - type, clarity, etc. - it's difficult to know, but it sounds like you were doing it right. I would just say that an on/off bottom retrieve with your jig is probably not the best way to go. I'd use the count down on the cast and a slow, steady retrieve back to the boat. Some other night fishermen may shed more light on your tactics. I think the main problem you were having was location, more than presentation.

[Ketchn]

sometimes crappie go real shallow at night this time of year , you might try fishing tight to the shoreline if its rocky , I don't know your area or water temps. but it is possible they go up to the bank to spawn instead of in deeper waters or out in open water like they do often in the summer to chase bait schools in the dark

[Potatoe]

Thanks for replies, we started at 6:00 and fished till dark. It got real hard to see your jig casting so we stopped at dark. Water temp was 60 and this water is pretty murky.

I like the countdown idea, I think we are going to try the same area today around 3: 00 but the lake will be busy with pleasure boats today.

Just curious how do you night fish for them trying to cast or do you try vertical jigging

[charlie817]

Once you establish the depth they're biting at, pull out that much line and pitch it out so the jig falls back towards you, keep the slack out of the line so you can feel the bite.Once the jig is straight down from your rod tip hold it still for a while. If no bites after several pitches, move a little deeper or shallower until you find them. If you're fishing close to the bank you may consider a night cork.

[Potatoe]

Thanks for all the replies, Friday evening was our best day of the weekend. Friday was calm no wind and they were hitting really good. We went back out Saturday the wind was up from the South at 15 - 20, today we went out late at 6:30 and fished till 9:30 only caught 4 and they were small. We are still learning this but trying to figure out if the wind and power boaters messes it all up or if we were doing something wrong. They moved somewhere just not sure where.