Crappie Rookie

[Fortunato]

Hi guys,

I'm relatively new to crappie fishing (in Iowa) and have been struggling a bit this spring. I've noticed lots of interest in helping out rookies here on this board, so I thought I'd offer up a real world fishing example I encountered this weekend.

Water temp is about 75. There are no fish in the shallows. On my finder I see lots of fish relating to what looks like a big shadowy glob of something (baitfish maybe, I dunno). This occurs in 18-20 FOW. The fish are anywhere from 8-11 feet deep.

What would be the best way to fish this situation. (I slow trolled over these depths with a slip bobber rig and minnow-tipped jig, but only managed a single 7" crappie. )

Any help appreciated.

[skiptomylu]

Hi guys,

I'm relatively new to crappie fishing (in Iowa) and have been struggling a bit this spring. I've noticed lots of interest in helping out rookies here on this board, so I thought I'd offer up a real world fishing example I encountered this weekend.

Water temp is about 75. There are no fish in the shallows. On my finder I see lots of fish relating to what looks like a big shadowy glob of something (baitfish maybe, I dunno). This occurs in 18-20 FOW. The fish are anywhere from 8-11 feet deep.

What would be the best way to fish this situation. (I slow trolled over these depths with a slip bobber rig and minnow-tipped jig, but only managed a single 7" crappie. )

Any help appreciated.

I troll a lot in the spring, but hardly ever use a bobber at all. Check out my site and the How To Page about trolling jigs and maybe it will help. It is not an end all for sure and there is a lot of good reading on this site in the Articles. Here is a link to my How To Page.....

http://thumpitjigs.com/HowTo.html

And a link to Articles on this site....

http://www.crappie.com/tips.html

Hope this helps,

Skip

[joejv4]

I never trolled until this year (put a trolling motor on my row boat).

First attempt was this past Saturday - all we did was tie on some little tube jigs and putter around with the motor at it's slowest speed. These were light jigs (1/16 oz) and were running 2-3 feet below the surface. as soon as we cast rod #2 out, there is a fish on rod#1, then vice-versa.

I'm going to say, you want to probably use crappiepappy's vertical casting method (see articles on this site) while drifting to find out what depth is working, then troll so that your' jigs are at that depth.

Good luck!

[backtocrappie]

I'd slip cork a jig or a tube on that, but thats just me.