Something I've always wondered

[Cope]

Let's say you're sitting over a brush pile, using your favorite bait or jig catching crappie. Now the ones you catch and throw back maybe do to them being a little small, will they bite right away or take it easy for a while after getting hooked?

I've also been told that if you catch a small crappie in a location, that the rest will also be about the same size and it's best to move along to the next spot. fact or fiction?

[greenchicken]

I have heard the same thing, I was told that the crappie like to hang out with their own size

[SteveJ]

I've heard that too but it doesn't always work out that way for me but it seems that I generally catch the best ones first, again not always true, and then the smaller ones. However I seldom remain on the same stump, etc. for too long, maybe 10-15 mins. But if I have caught some nice ones I will return later. I try to set-up a milk run where I have a few spots close together and fish those before I crank-up the big motor and move.

[Spiderman]

In my experience sometimes the bigger ones are a foot ot two deeper than everybody else. And sometimes the biggest crappie are the last ones that you catch in a spot before moving on. Seems to me the big ones are a little less aggressive and a little more cautious.

[Locator79]

Most of the time the same size fish will hang out together. Every now and again you can pull a slab from a school of dinks, but it is rare. I dont know how long it will take them to bite after they have been caught. But this past spring while dipping minnows on stumps, I broke my knot twice, rigged back up, and caught my slab with two hooks in its mouth.

[TreednNC]

caught a dink once where the hook barb came out and back in in a different place....no doubt leaving a distinct mark....caught it again a few minutes later

[SOWDADDY]

It seems when fishing brush alot of the bigger fish that I catch will be right behind the limbs and wait till the bait is right in their face and alot of the slicks will just thump it b4 it gets down to them especialy later toward the summer.

[crappiekid24]

Its not that the bigger ones aren't around. Its a matter of who grabs the bait first. When I am ice fishing my buddy has an underwater camera. We would watch a nice crappie come into the area and watch the jig intently. He would then move towards it to take it and a small crappie would come out of nowhere and take it before the bigger one does. We watched this with bluegills also. The bigger ones dont get big without being stupid. From what I have seen and noticed the smaller ones tend to take the bait before the bigger ones. Again this is just what I have notice.