Essentials

[Tugaloo]

OK, I'm planning a trip to BPS tomorrow. I have rods & reels. Mostly Mitchell reels. One ultralight & several light. I'm going to be looking for some jigs. The colors that I'm mostly interested in are those someone posted earlier. White, blue/white, black/chartreuse, red/chartreuse, orange/chartreuse, purple/chartreuse and pink. Someone has also mentioned blue/chartreuse, so I'll be looking for that. I have some chartreuse 1/16 oz jig heads with red eyes & some white 1/16 oz with red eyes. I may look for some 1/8 oz., and some chrome or silver jig heads. I'm also going to try to get some of those fly fishing lure clips. I forget the name right now. I'll have it by tomorrow. I'm also going to be smoking over the fish finders. Probably won't be buying one tomorrow. This is a "fishing expedition" as far as fish finders are concerned. I'll be fishing but not catching, more than likely.

So what else do I need that you would consider essentials?

Tugaloo

[TAE73]

Get ya some scents, most people like the crappie nibbles any color but for sure chartruse. I perfer the Kodiak scents myself, minnow or shad scent. These are always a must

[Big Zig]

Don't overlook the 1/32oz. jigs, and I'd pick up a few slip bobbers and live bait hooks for minnow dippin'.

[Tugaloo]

Don't overlook the 1/32oz. jigs, and I'd pick up a few slip bobbers and live bait hooks for minnow dippin'.

What type & size of hook do you recommend? Also, what do you recommend in the way of slip bobbers. Size, color, brand?

I've added scent to the list.

Tugaloo

[Big Zig]

I'm a huge Thill user - but use the European Thills, I haven't seen any of these locally. The small foam slip bobbers will suit your needs just as well - and they're usually dirt cheap ($.15ea?). Don't forget bobber stops, beads, and split shot.
If you are referring to live bait hooks - hmmmmm, it's been awhile since I've seen what's available. #4 or #6 would be my first pick, but I go down to a #8 depending on the size/type of minnow I'm using. (Rosie reds can get fairly small at times) I believe they are still called "baitholder" hooks.

May want to wait for some others to suggest a live bait hook - The guys that fish live bait more often will get you in the right direction there.

[DENNIS BOWERS]

TUGALOO-FOR LIVE BAIT I USE OCTOPUS HOOKS{RED} IN SIZE#6 or #1.0,SEEM TO GET A QUICKER HOOKSET WITH THESE.ABERDEN HOOKS WILL WORK ALSO--GUESS ITS ALL IN PERSONAL PREFERENCE!I TOO RECOMEND YOU GET SOME 1/32 oz JIGHEADS-THEY FALL SLOWER,ALOT OF TIMES {NOW} YOU NEED THIS TO KEEP BAIT IN STRIKE ZONE LONGER!!YOU MIGHT TRY THEM WITH LONG SHANK HOOKS--THEY TOO SEEM TO HOOKUP EASIER!GOOD LUCK AT BPIT COST ME EVEN WHEN I JUST GO TO LOOK! DENNIS

[Kokanee King]

get gamakatsu hooks they are the sharpest in the world all the hook s I use or of that brand, i even replase all of the hooks on my cranks with gamakatsu.

[chaunc]

If your crappies average 10"s in your area, i'd suggest #2 gold tru-turn hooks. I'd also get #4, for the smaller fish. I'd get some 1/64 oz grizzly jigs in blk/green and orange/brown. The gills and redears love them. Do you have a cricket box? For crickets, get some #6 long shank hooks. A bucket of minnies, some waxworms or maggots,and some redworms and you've got the panfish covered.

[Jerry Blake]

Hey Tugaloo:

This is a reprint (with some changes and additions) of a previous post I made in response to a newbie’s questions a while back. It's long but it mentions all of the tackle I use for crappie fishing and may give you some ideas of what tackle to pick up and some ideas for using it.

My Crappie Fishing Methods:

Here in the mid-south (Arkansas) we find crappie during the summer and winter in reservoirs along the old creek channels where the depth changes rapidly from a fairly flat area around 16 to 18-feet deep to depths of 25 to 40 feet deep and on points that extend into deeper water that have similar drop-offs, especially on two or more sides.

We place brush piles (small trees and bushes and fish attractors made from bamboo) in these areas, which attract the baitfish and crappie as well as other game fish. The crappie will bite anywhere from 15 to 30-feet deep but usually around 20-feet deep during the summer and winter.

In the spring crappie will move shallow to spawn. You should be able to find crappie spawning around any kind of cover (but especially wood) in shallow areas when the water temps warm into the 60s in the spring. Depending on the water clarity they may be in as little as one foot of water in muddy or murky condtions.

They will also move shallower in the fall for what we affectionately refer to as the “Fall Feeding Frenzy”. They won't get quite as shallow as when the spawn but we typically find them 8 to 12-feet deep in the fall.

Year around they seem to hold best in areas where there is deeper water near by, possibly as an escape route from predators or sunlight penetration or maybe to be able to move up or down in the water column to find there comfort zone where the temperature, oxygen levels and PH are to there liking.

As far as what bait and fishing style to use there are many that are effective. My favorite method is tight-line (or vertical jigging) with a 12-foot jig pole, 6-pound colored line marked with permanent marker so I know how deep I am fishing and either hair jigs or tube jigs from 1/48 ounce when they are very shallow to 3/32-ounce for tube jigs when they are deep.

The easiest and most productive method for me, which I use for most of my clients, is minnows under slip floats. Small shiners - 1” to 1.5-inches - are good but if you can get Rosy Red Fathead minnows they’re even better.

I use #6 light wire Aberdeen cricket hooks (smaller than most crappie anglers use), ½” diameter Thill Pencil style slip floats, Gizmo bobber stoppers, enough split shot so that only the very top of the float sticks out of the water, 8-pound line (so I can pull the hooks out of the brush without disturbing it when we get hung up) and 10, 11 and 12-foot jig poles.

Once a brush pile is located in a likely area and marked with a marker buoy we set are bobber stops so the bait will be 1 or 2-feet above the depth of the greatest concentration of fish we see on the graph. If nothing bites, or if we get some taps but no hook-ups we start moving the stoppers up the line 6-inches to 1-foot at a time until we either start catching fish or stay hung up all the time. If nothing bites by the time we’re fishing down in the brush – which we sometimes have to do – we move on to another brush pile, either in another area or shallower or deeper in the same area.

With the long poles it is easy to measure the depth of the stopper. I mark each pole at 10-foot from the tip with pink finger nail polish.

By holding the bobber stopper at the mark and estimating the distance from the end of your pole to the hook you can then slide the stopper up or down the line to the desired depth. If the hook comes back to the mark then you are fishing 20-feet deep. If it comes half way back then you are fishing 15-feet deep and so on. I use the same measuring method for marking my line for tight-lining - either at 10 or 20-feet.

I keep the poles set up and the hook on the hook-loop in front of the handle when not in use, which keeps about 20-feet of line nice and straight so it slides nicely through the slip float.

Hope this helps!

[bugman]

Fillet Knife & A Six Pack