Tons of bites and few fish!

[crappie-day]

Anybody have a remedy for tightlining with minnows, for crappie that will bite but cant be hooked? My wife and i went through 4 doz. minnows in about 2 hrs. and caught 9 fish. We were in 22 ft. of water fishing 7 - 8 ft.down. consisting of a gold crappie hook and a med. split shot and minnows fishing right over the side of the boat. we got tons of bites but for some reason they were super hard to hook. Any suggestions?

[KCMO CRAPPIESLAYER]

i started using the gamagatsu finesse wide gap blood red 2/0 hooks. i was hav'n the same exact problem nite fishing the last month or so. i rarely use minnows, don't like them but they have been get'n the job done with the nite bite. i was using just a 16oz jighead with a minnow and also a regular little gold hook and miss'n them left and right. i posted a thread asking for help and a few guys suggested trying those circular type hooks, and they also said the crappie may be line shy. well i have stuck with the 6# test but did get the circular blood red hooks. the last 3 times iv'e been out iv'e only used that hook when i'm using minnows. this is NO LIE, i bet i have hooked roughly 70% more fish that i would have missed, until i switched to that hook, may be all in my head but there work'n for me. iv'e also noticed i'm getting them hooked deeper in the mouth instead of the hook just barely in there. remember you don't want to set the hook very hard with those or not even at all. i just lift up ever so gently, almost gotta finesse them. went last nite and got 38. 4 in the 12 inch range. mostly 8 1/2 - 10 1/2". but most of the bites were still lite, lite, lite. still prolly missed 20 or so, i can feel them just spit the hook back out when i apply the littlest amount of pressure. we caught all of them between 6-8 ft down in 30ft of water, anything shallower or deeper, we could'nt get a hit. also don't know what size minnows your using but you may wanna try smaller. hope this helps some, well gotta go clean these fish, do some chores around the house so that i can get back at it again tonite!:D good luck and good fish'n.

jeff the crappieslayer

[moswampy]

Gamagatzu circle hooks, they cost some extra$$$$ especially if you are fishing heavy brush but if you can' hook em on a regular hook this may be your best bet.

[Speck]

Man KC, I would like to make the trip up there sometime and get some night stalking lessons from you!!!

[crappie-day]

Thanks KC and Moswampy, To Wal-Mart it is! Be back in the a.m. with a report on the hooks.

[fishandhunt]

I make my own baits and I have the most success with the jigs I pour/tie with a number two Matzou red sickle hook. I do tip them with a minnow. You can find the hooks on Barlow Tackle Company's webpage. The shape of the hook promotes a better hook set and they are also very sharp. Happy fishing

[beagle man]

them cycle hooks are the thing my catch rate went up a bunch my buddy still fishes the bare gold or green hooks and he will get the bites but not the set they really help kinda hard to find though I like em still using 6and 8 lb. line the eight in dingy water the 6in clear good luck

[ship]

Hey Beagle,

You might want to tell everyone the weighted jig that makes life a whole lot better when jigging. Beagle gave me some of those, but I can't remember what he called them.

He's an expert!

Later, Ship

[crappie-day]

Well we found what i call a circle hook, Gamagatsu red "finesse wide gap" in 2/0. Wow those are some sharp hooks,I wouldnt say they really helped maybe someone could tell me if i got the right ones? We did catch some fish on them but not too much different than the gold Aberdeen hooks. I just dont think i got the right ones!
Beagle any input on the jigs ship is talking about?

Thanks to all!

[beagle man]

Hey crappie-day I am not sure what is going on but I think the hooks I use are cycle hooks bug man got me started on them they are not circle hooks they are cycle. got a funny bend in the shaft they are in the cabelas catalog but they are high 50$a hundred I think I may be off here but I thought they were called cycle. I'm not to sure I am an expert at anything sept. maby bulls&^%(* your know (toro caca) anyway thanks for the kind words SHIP see you for coffee soon later man