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[summer slabs]

Thanks to VietVet68,I finally decided to become registered and either bug you guys to death or maybe even contribute .His post the other day was very convincing and maybe one day I can catch crappie that big.I am very interested in the summertime night fishing.I was wondering how deep you guys put your green flourescent submersible lights to attract shad thus attracting crappie.Any help is appreciated.

[CrappieLips]

Welcome summer slabs; you must have read my mind, I too am fixin to starte night fishin and was going to ask the same question (plus) Which is better the clear or green light's. ( maybe we can kill two crappie's with one minnow). LOL

[gooch]

you need to do a search on this site for nightstalking and you should find more info than the mind can digest. Rango, Kunes and Falcon Smity are full of night fishing info so you might look back thru some of there threads. One thing I have learned from them, and personal experience this year is the clear light seems to produce more fish than the green. Dont know why.

Good luck and welcome aboard.

[whizkids]

Rango on green lights:
i bought three of those green lights a few year ago and tried em. I never had no luck under em so they in storage. . im not saying they dont work. i use the qbeam starfires and am happy with em. if i was you, i wouldnt load up with greens, but get one of each, try em on seperate nights and see which you prefer. i wouldnt put one at each end for an experiment like i done but try em seperately on different nights. if you do that, then i dont know how youd tell which one worked the best. most nights the bite is usually better under one light than the others hung out on any given night with all lights the same... If anyone tries that experiment, id like to hear how it went.

Link to thread
http://www.crappie.com/gr8vb3/showth...ht+stalk+light

another
http://www.crappie.com/gr8vb3/showth...ht+stalk+light

http://www.crappie.com/gr8vb3/showth...ght=nightstalk

[CrappieLips]

Wayne;; Thanks for the previous post's. That took care of my question's. LOL

[kunes]

Went out last nite and got set up with a clamp on lite with 50 watt 12v bulb shining on the water. Also had a q-beam submersible down about 18" and a lite I picked up in a moment of weakness a while back. It is a submersible white lite that gives off bubbles and has a rattle chamber and it was down about 12". All 3 lites brought up bait in seemingly equal quantities. The lite shining on the water had bait on the surface and the other 2 had bait just below them. I've never used a green lite but I suspect it would work just about as well. The lite with the rattles etc brought up bait but is a pain in the ass otherwise so I'd pass it by unless it's the only alternative. Where you're at is more important than what lite you use.

[unknown 5]

OK, where you are at makes a difference. So, what type of locations or stucture are good places to fish with these lights?

[kunes]

OK, where you are at makes a difference. So, what type of locations or stucture are good places to fish with these lights?

Well, if the crappies are holding on brushpiles then fish near a brushpile. If they are under docks then fish near a deep water dock. Where a steep bank meets the bottom of the creek channel is good. During the spawn fish the deep water next to the shallows where the fish are spawning. They will also stage in these areas pre and post spawn. Casting a lited bobber to the bank will produce sometimes during the spawn. If all else fails go on a search about dusk, find some fish and set up over them.

[FalconSmitty]

Places to set up... summer
....Bridges or train trussles on any lake and area as long as they are in deep water
.... channel intersections...deep water. Curves in creeks on the deepest side.
you want to find some type cover or breakline. Crappie like sudden drops. They seem to travel them at night.
.....Humps out in the main lake near deep water on each side.
.....over my Bamboo condos if you find them...HA HA HA never ha ha ha

Green or clear lights work if you are in the right place. Before I had a green light I sat near some men with one under a bridge. they were killing them and I wasn't so I got me one.. It seems to work better during the very hot times of summer. I still like the floating beam. It gets deep and concetrates the bait..... I just got a Q-beam and it worked great 2 nights but I was skunked with it last Friday.

My set up will now be a combo of 4 lights. Green on each end of the boat with the Floater beside the Q-beam. I put pvc with a hanger on it in rod holders to get the green lights out from the boat.

BAIT.... Well the lights bring it to you so DIP them up and fish with it. Some nights they don't hit the store bait but will tear up the shad and long minnows from under the lights. They are hard to dip at times but you will get the hang of it.

[CrappiePappy]

them "long minnows" you refer to ........... are you talking about these: http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/wildlife/...id/bsilver.htm

If so ..... they're some of the best kept secret live bait for Crappie !!

I used to catch those with my Grandparents. We used to ease along the bank with a light (lantern, blacklight, white light, whatever) hanging over the side of the boat, between the boat & bank. Using a home-made long handled dip net - dip them "head first" and drop them into an aerated 5gal bucket.
I sat on the front of the "14ft wooden rental boat" and used a sculling paddle to keep us moving. The Silversides would come towards the light and follow it, as long as we kept moving. My "Paw" would be in the back of the boat, with the dipnet ... scooping them up and dropping them into the bucket. Pretty easy to do, and worked real good just after dark or just before daylight (would probably work anytime during the night). I've used them alive, dead, and cut in half ......... and caught Crappie with them (day & night).

Because of their shape/size ... having a net made of "window screen" will work to catch them, of all sizes. Our net was a "square" job ... probably 10-12 inches deep --- but, those "cone" shaped ones work, too. Also, the "bucket" shaped ones (like this commercially made one - http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/...12681/cid/3316 ) would work. A nylon webbing type net would work as well ... just as long as the "holes" weren't much bigger than those of a minnow dipper net.

"Long minnows", pin minnows, skipjack, ghost minnows, ribbon minnows, or Silversides ......... whatever you call them, in your neck of the woods ..... are some GREAT little baitfish for Crappie. Get'cha some & givem a try ...... luck2ya .......cp