I was introduced to crappie fishing in a 25-acre pond in central Mississippi as a youngster. We never caught anything too big there, but it was never about size or even numbers – even though the crappie were abundant. The great thing about crappie fishing then was the time making memories with family and friends. I will never forget the parades of success with my brother and me leading the way on our bikes, followed by our parents in the old Toyota truck with a stringer of freshly-caught supper hanging out the window. It was during one such parade that I wrecked my bike and was rushed to the emergency room with a broken, dislocated jaw and in need of 17 stitches. The thing I remember most clearly from that ordeal, though, is my older brother’s distress at having 94 crappie to clean by himself. Those were, truly, the good ol’ days.
In my youth, I was blessed with opportunities to catch slabs in Grenada Lake, the Ross Barnett Reservoir and other great crappie lakes across the state of Mississippi. In later years, I discovered them to be just as much fun in lakes and reservoirs across other parts of the South and throughout the Midwest. I’ve caught trophy largemouth and smallmouth bass, walleye, northern pike, rainbow trout, redfish, flounder, speckled trout and myriad other species. Yet, no matter where I fish or how many ‘big ones’ I get to catch, I will always remember the days of stunted, overpopulated crappie by the hundreds from a small neighborhood lake where my father passed on his legacy to his children.Everyone has a story about their fishing origins. Some begin in early childhood, while others begin at much later stages in life, but the experiences that shaped us as anglers never lose their significance and the lessons we learned from the very beginning are often the most important years later.
Don’t cast across tree limbs. When you see a loop in the line, get it out before you cast again. Make sure the jig hangs parallel to the ground. Look over your shoulder before you cast. If you forget to look over your shoulder and you get snagged on something, don’t yank it. (There is a man walking around Pagosa Springs, Colorado with a scar in his nose that wishes this lesson had been learned sooner!) Never put your fingers in front of the fillet knife. It doesn’t matter how well the fish are biting – when it starts to hail, find cover!
Another thing I learned early in my fishing career that has served me well is when the bite slows down, try something new. This lesson served me very well a few weeks ago while fishing for spawning crappie.
I was confined to the bank for the day (yet another thing I love about crappie, you don’t need a boat!), but I was on a new section of the lake and I didn’t know where the fish were so I wanted to stay mobile. With that in mind, I opted to leave the minnow bucket behind and packed a small Plano box with the essentials – a few hooks with a variety of 1/8 oz. X-Change Jigheads, a few proven colors of Fuzz-E-Grubs and Wooly Beavertails, a couple hair jigs (Lindy Dancin’ Crappie Series), several jig spinners, and a few small Dancin’ Crappie Spins.
I had really good luck fishing the 1/8 oz X-Change jigs with a Beavertail under a Crappie Cork for the first hour. Many of the fish I caught were small, but I managed to catch 15 or so, including my first blacknose crappie and a 5.5 lb bass on the next cast. Eventually, the bite slowed and after a ten minute period with no bites I decided it was time for change. I threw a hair jig for ten or fifteen minutes with no luck, then switched to a Dancin’ Crappie Spin. With the fish being in less than 18” of water, I couldn’t get the Crappie Spin to work slowly enough to trigger bites consistently. I did catch a few fish, but they were only hitting it as the jig fell, so I knew I needed to fish more slowly. This is when my training paid off.
It was obvious the fish were in the mood for something a little more aggressive than a plain jig, but when I put on a light enough Dancin’ Crappie Spin to keep it off the bottom at the right speed, my casting distance was greatly reduced. So I improvised and decided to build my own presentation. I cut off the Crappie Spin and attached it to a jig spinner, then tied the whole rig back on. I thought the extra blade on top of the spinner bait would provide enough additional lift to allow me to slow the presentation down without losing the weight needed for long casts.
My first four casts rewarded me with three slabs and I knew I was onto something. Over the next two hours, I caught 37 crappie, 15 Kentucky bass, and a few more largemouth – all within a three acre cove! No matter what the target species may be, figuring out the combination that will drive them wild is my favorite part of fishing. Besides, I now have these custom Dancin’ Crappie Spin spinnerbaits in my arsenal for the next time out. This is the most recent example from years of experimentation, and I hope it helps you catch a few more fish next time you are on the water and the bite slows down.
However, the biggest lesson to be learned here is to remember where you started. If not for a solid bank of memories to call on, I would still be cutting my fingers every time I cleaned fish, hanging up on every tree limb I come to, and fishing the same presentations long after the fish have decided they want something else. Every day you are on the water should be full of remembering and making new memories at the same time. As an angler, there is no excuse to ever stop learning. Likewise, there is no excuse for keeping it to yourself.
Pass on the legacy to the next generation of fishermen and women so that they might benefit from your experience and enjoy the great outdoors for years to come. If you are wondering which fish species would be best for this introduction, well, I think you know what I would recommend – however you choose to pronounce it.
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