Fishing style north and south?

[eriksat1]

I see most on here are from the southern states, I'm wonder how much difference there is in the fishing styles. I am fishing in northern Wisconsin and mainly fish crappie only in the spring. Probably because that is the only time I can catch them with any consistency. My rule of thumb up here is when the Popple fuzz is flying in the air and the Lilac's are in bloom that is the time to get out and hit the slab's. Most lakes up here are deep clear lakes but early I hit the darker water flowage's first because they warm up faster. I have found the Crappies to be very finicky at times so I have my best luck using 4 Lb. test Vanish fluorocarbon line with a Thill shy bite bb2 bobber (I almost consider this as a ice fishing bobber because a 1/32 oz jig with the grub will take it under) and for the bait a pink headed 1/64 oz jig with the Cubbies mini mite plastic grub also pink. I catch a lot of crappie while others get skunked, and I out fish a live minnow 2 to 1. What is the normal rigging for you guys down south?

[J White]

It can be difference of night and day - or sometimes just alike.
One thing, I'm fishing river impoundments, no natural lakes around here.

Another, catching more white crappie, think mostly black up north?
Not as many big toothy predators either I think - plenty of gar,
but no northerns or muskies. Crappie here not scared to roam open
water.

I fish for whites here like you guys fish for walleye
slow vertical jigging or rigging, or trolling - big baits most of the time 3"+

[yankee doodler]

Over here across the pond in MI. I have had great success in late April throwing flies in the shallows on clear inland lakes. When the water warms and it's post spawn I pick up on our southern bros tactic of "spider rigging". The limitations here are the # of lines you can use I have done well enough even with that limitation in 12-16' using BnM 13.5' black widow poles to get away from the boat in clear water. J White is right...all blacks as they prefer the clear waters. Haven't pulled a white since KY lake this passed spring.

[eriksat1]

We are allowed 3 lines in the water but I seem to lose more fish than I catch if I use more than one rod. I prefer to use one rod and pay close attention to it.

[ad1974]

The places I fish here in PA I catch both white and black Crappie,but the majority tend to be whites.Other than a few in the spring I don't see alot of other Crappie anglers out and the ones I do see tend to be Bass or Walleyes guys that are just changing it up for the day.

[GRIZZ]

You rarely find anyone spider rigging, trolling, using cranks in the north. Not too many of the longer poles here either. People rarely use rods over 7 ft. Road runners not as popular though they are being sold in the stores. They just don't catch northern crappies as well as in the south.

Boats are different. More multi species style boats in the north. In the south most crappie fishing boats are shallower platform boats designed like bass boats.

Crappie fishing in the south numbers wise is closer to bass fishing. You typically have a good day when you get 20-40 fish, a good day in the north is 100-300 fish.

NY has plenty of whites. There is a vague line somewhere where the whites lessen and it starts to be black only territory. I think its roughly the eastern boarder between the US and Canada by Buffalo, and the mid western states that are north of that typically have mainly blacks.

In general fish grow slower in the northern states, so the average fish is smaller, but very large fish do grow up here, it just takes 5 years longer for them to get that big, so there are fewer of them. More predators in the north that eat even large crappies.

More natural lakes in the north with more weeds as opposed to man made cover. Man made reservoirs in the south are deeper with less cover.

There are fewer crappie only anglers in the north with less emphasis on conservation and stocking efforts up here. They tend to concentrate more on walleyes, muskies, bass, trout up here in the stocking efforts, which irritates me, because in particular Chautauqua lake has suffered greatly from the lack of attention crappies get from the DEC. Its used to be arguably one of the best all around crappie lakes in the north, and for the sheer numbers of large fish it had to be ranked right up there as one of the best. I remember many many days where I could go out and easily get 300 fish with most being 1-2 lbs with some over 2lbs and occasional 3's. Now most fish are barely legal with very rare fish reaching the large sizes of the past.

[eriksat1]

What are some of the limits on crappie in the south ? Here in Wisconsin the daily bag limit is 25 with no size limit, some of the better crappie lakes do have a 15 bag limit. I usually won't keep a crappie unless it is at least 8 or 9 inches. The best I have ever done up here is a friend and I caught 30, between 10 and 17 inch in about 3 hours. We were the only boat on the water and we were just hammering them, btw it was in daylight rain drizzle. I have been to that same spot for several years after we did that and never have hit them like that one time since.

[J White]

Around here, it varies from 30 9"+ fish, to 20 12"+,
according to which lake.

I can still remember when it was 50 of any size,
glad they tightened it up some. Wish they'd move the 9" up to 10" here.

[Crappie Kid]

You rarely find anyone spider rigging, trolling, using cranks in the north. Not too many of the longer poles here either. People rarely use rods over 7 ft. Road runners not as popular though they are being sold in the stores. They just don't catch northern crappies as well as in the south.

Boats are different. More multi species style boats in the north. In the south most crappie fishing boats are shallower platform boats designed like bass boats.

Crappie fishing in the south numbers wise is closer to bass fishing. You typically have a good day when you get 20-40 fish, a good day in the north is 100-300 fish.

NY has plenty of whites. There is a vague line somewhere where the whites lessen and it starts to be black only territory. I think its roughly the eastern boarder between the US and Canada by Buffalo, and the mid western states that are north of that typically have mainly blacks.

In general fish grow slower in the northern states, so the average fish is smaller, but very large fish do grow up here, it just takes 5 years longer for them to get that big, so there are fewer of them. More predators in the north that eat even large crappies.

More natural lakes in the north with more weeds as opposed to man made cover. Man made reservoirs in the south are deeper with less cover.

There are fewer crappie only anglers in the north with less emphasis on conservation and stocking efforts up here. They tend to concentrate more on walleyes, muskies, bass, trout up here in the stocking efforts, which irritates me, because in particular Chautauqua lake has suffered greatly from the lack of attention crappies get from the DEC. Its used to be arguably one of the best all around crappie lakes in the north, and for the sheer numbers of large fish it had to be ranked right up there as one of the best. I remember many many days where I could go out and easily get 300 fish with most being 1-2 lbs with some over 2lbs and occasional 3's. Now most fish are barely legal with very rare fish reaching the large sizes of the past.

We dont spider rig up here cause of the 2 pole limit so that just dont work.... I troll tube jigs all the time up on Black lake with pretty good success.. And the statement of you getting 300 fish a day is over doing it and besides sounds like you might have contributed to the problem that there are so few fish in the lake you talk about... Getting 300+ Callies is allot of fish being pulled from a lake... I remember the days of no limit on size or catch and did my fair share of keeping ... But thats what we have to live with now i guess..

[GRIZZ]

We dont spider rig up here cause of the 2 pole limit so that just dont work.... I troll tube jigs all the time up on Black lake with pretty good success.. And the statement of you getting 300 fish a day is over doing it and besides sounds like you might have contributed to the problem that there are so few fish in the lake you talk about... Getting 300+ Callies is allot of fish being pulled from a lake... I remember the days of no limit on size or catch and did my fair share of keeping ... But thats what we have to live with now i guess..

I didn't say I am getting, I said I did get 300 a day when the crappie fishing on Chautauqua was much better than it is now. For a period of about 15 years I had several 300+ days per year, and everything I stated in my post is accurate. I rarely keep any fish and generally caught 3000-5000 crappies/year, releasing all but a few meals worth. On a good day I could still have 300 fish days if I had the inclination to fish that much, except that most of the fish would now barely be keepers as opposed to the larger fish I got back then. Catching 100 5-9 inch fish just doesn't get my blood moving, so I rarely keep fishing after 100 fish these days.

I regularly suggest people catch and release crappies more, because most crappie anglers keep everything they catch that is legal, and it can damage the population. The crappie population on Chautauqua was damaged by poor fisheries and lake water quality management over a period of about 12 years. They bend to the will of the wealthy land owners around the lake as far as water quality is concerned and stock too many walleyes and muskie, ignoring the crappies.

On a personal note I'm not one of the exaggerating type of fisherman, in fact, those who do exaggerate irritate me and if they are obviously lying to my face about crappie fishing or any fishing I'm knowledgeable about for that matter, and on the lake I typically know a lot more than they do, I call them on it, and ask them for some kind of proof. That generally either shuts them up, sends them into a tizzy of more lying or they present the proof I asked for, which I congratulate them on. I do it as politely and light heartedly as possible, but I have heard one too many stories of 20+ inch crappies, and my patience with lying knuckleheads is a little shorter than it used to be. My point is that I try to be as accurate in fish size and numbers as I can, and if people don't believe me they simply don't know me, but those who do know me never question anything I say about what I have done fishing, because many of them have been with me when I did it. If I tell a fish story its going to be as close to exactly what happened as I can manage. I've even had a 300 walleye night between my fishing buddy and myself without a fish below 26 inches, which was real work, but that's another true story for another day.