Jig head/Grub color recommends please

[Joe58]

Hi!

Was hoping the experts here might give me a couple suggestions. I mostly fish for crappie just using bobbers and minnows but am trying to learn more and get better at crappie fishing.

The lake I mostly fish at is a smaller lake with fairly green water, lots of algae now this time of year. Poor visability. Deepest part of lake is around 18 feet is all. There is a fair amount of cover in around 8 to 12 feet of water along the east side, where I usually fish my minnows.

I want to try learning to use a jig and grub or plastic minnow combination but there are so many colors and weights/lengths out there, I was hoping you guys may be able to narrow me down to a few likely colors and weights to start of with for my lake conditions.

Thanks !! Joe

[Tim The Lippa Rippa Mon]

Hi Joe. About the best all around jig size will be a 1/16th oz for Crappie. Most top, go to colors for Crappie, will have some Chartreuse in it. Black & Chartreuse, Black & Chartreuse Sparkle, Red & Chartreuse, or White & Chartreuse would be top choices to start off with.

Scent is often important too. I like Fish Formula, Kodiak paste, and Crappie Nibbles in that order.

Don't get too hung up on all the color options out there. Crappie will change what they want minute by minute, day by day. If you stay with the normal producers, you will end up catching more fish on average than if you bounce around throught the color spectrum every couple of minutes or so.

Luck to ya!

<,"}/>{ Rippa

[J White]

No expert, but I did use to fish a smaller lake that depth and water color-
wise sounds a lot like what you describe. This time of year there, a
1/16 or 1/8 oz. marabou jig was always a killer, red head, black "collar",
white tail. I either slow trolled them, or if I could find a school, cast them
under a slip-cork. Liked crappie nibbles then, too. Funny, lots of times
you would have to "wiggle" the cork real easy to get them to bite - just
barely make it move. And sometimes they would grab it and pull it under
2 or 3 times before I stuck them. I got in the habit of setting the hook
just hard enough to feel if they were on - if not, if you didn't pull it too far,
you could wiggle it again, and get another bite. But black/chartreuse,
red/white, black/blue, and blue/white plastic tubes sometimes did the
trick too, hope this helps. Jeff

[DENNIS BOWERS]

Joe58<welcome aboard!! Lippa pretty much covered my picks in size and color. sometimes I"ll drop down to a 1/32 oz head when fishing wood.It falls slower and doesnt seem to hang up as much. I use unpainted minnow head jigs with a #2 hook,The bigger hook results in easier hookups in my opinion.I tried different color heads and didnt notice any more bites--unpainted are cheaper to!! Good luck!!

[J White]

One more thing I just thought I'd pass on, when using a jig I always
twisted the hook point slightly to one side, I think the term is "kirbed"?
Seemed like I got better hook ups like that, but maybe it was just in
my head. If you THINK it is an advantage, then it probably is -
at least the confidence factor Had to be careful with some of the
gold jig hooks doing this though, they were brittle and would break if
you got carried away with it.

[CrappiePappy]

I would recommend getting some 1/32 & 1/16oz weedless jigheads ... for probing that "cover". For water depths of no more than 20ft - casting & slow retrieving will cover the top half of that depth, quite well. Vertical jigging or "Vertical Casting", to the bottom half of that depth, will complete the coverage. The weedless jigs will allow you to bounce or drag your jig over that cover, without hanging up as much as with open hook jigs. And forget that "rod lift/wrist flip" type of hookset, that most people use for live bait fishing. A fast upsweep of the rod tip, with authority, will stick a jig into the upper portion of the inside of the fish's mouth - when using a jig. Watching the line for the telltale signs of a hit, is paramount in jig fishing. It could be something as simple as a slight "bounce" of the line (commonly called a "tic" or "tap"), or could be a sideways movement of the line thru the water. It could come in the form of a pretty pronounced "thump", or just a mushy feeling (like having the jig stuck in a leaf, or dragging a clump of moss). Then there is "my favorite" - having the line suddenly go slack ... and knowing full well that my jig isn't on the bottom !!
Color choices are everyones dilemma - but, some colors & color combinations have stood the test of time. White, Yellow, Green, Blue, Red, Black, Pink, and Chartruese ... and combos thereof ... are a good starting point. Tubes, grubs, curlytails, and all manner of shapes of plastic bodies are available ... and they all work, at one time or another. Jigs with hair, feathers, or artificial materials are also productive. The lengths of the plastic bodies, or the overall length of the jig & plastic or hair body, range from around 1 inch to 2.5 inches for most usage ... but, even 3 inch or larger ones, can produce at times (esp in cases of 1lb and larger fish). Matching the size of the predominant baitfish, at the particular time of the year/season, is a good way to determine what size bait to present ... but, don't get too hung up on it - Crappie will take tiny to extra large "baits", at any given time ... you just have to get it in front of them, and make it look like an "easy meal".

Find the areas with cover, when the water above it is in the shade, and start with the shallowest cover ... working your way deeper, as the day progresses. Roadrunners, Beetlespins, and Roostertails are some other baits that are good to have around ... for those times when a faster retrieve is productive or necessary to produce a hit. I use them to cover the top few feet of open water, overtop of submerged cover ... switching to the jig/plastic combo when covering water below that depth, or when working around thick cover & timber.

The bottom line is this - get some jigs, & plastic bodies in colors mentioned - and use them ... experiment with several different "methods", retrieve speeds, weights, sizes, and colors - in the same area. If fish are there, something (and sometimes anything) will eventually work. ...luck2ya ...cp

[Eager Beaver]

Hi!

Was hoping the experts here might give me a couple suggestions. I mostly fish for crappie just using bobbers and minnows but am trying to learn more and get better at crappie fishing.

The lake I mostly fish at is a smaller lake with fairly green water, lots of algae now this time of year. Poor visability. Deepest part of lake is around 18 feet is all. There is a fair amount of cover in around 8 to 12 feet of water along the east side, where I usually fish my minnows.

I want to try learning to use a jig and grub or plastic minnow combination but there are so many colors and weights/lengths out there, I was hoping you guys may be able to narrow me down to a few likely colors and weights to start of with for my lake conditions.

Thanks !! Joe

Joe are you on the east end of Ne. I am in Omaha

[fiddlefarter]

Hard to beat an unpainted 1/16 head with a black and chart. tube. But I caught a lot on a BPS 2" tri colored tube in blk/green/chart earlier this year. And also a blk/chart Crappie Slider on same jighead

[skiptomylu]

I like blue/white tubes, Big Crappie Jig, Want some Jigum Jigs, Roadrunners in 1/32 and 1/16 marabou. I like chart. on most somewhere. Red/Chart, Black/Chart. maybe some pink combo.

I could go on, but my favorite color is Red head/Green body/Chart marabou, and so far Roadrunner marabou Original is my favorite Jig.

Now I am about to see how much I like Jigum Jigs. I am also going to try some 1/4 oz. jigs with small hooks, like a #4. This is something I have never tried on crappie, but a very good crappie fisherman I have a DVD of said 1/4 oz. is what he most always uses

Most jigs go up in size with weight and most 1/4 jigs are bigger than I like and when I get some of them Jigum Jigs 1/4 oz. I will try.

[Joe58]

Thanks to all for the great response.....another order to Bass Pro. :p

Sure is fun to have these new things to try.

Joe

Eager Beaver.....I live in Madison...up by Norfolk....so only about 2 hours from Omaha. Was just in Omaha yesterday...had to go for a checkup at the VA.

Thanks again guys..........