Chasing Shad

Do you want to catch crappie right now? Then you need to keep it simple. You need multiple jigging poles and single lures rigs.


Yes, we are talking spider rigging for crappie and why is spider rigging so productive right now till the spawn? It’s because the crappie are out chasing schools of shad. Unlike structure or cover, baitfish move constantly and can be spread over a vast area making catching crappie more challenging to catch right now.

Spider rigging allows an angler to cover vast areas with multiple poles. By varying the depths of rods an angler can put lures where crappie will bite them.


“Wintertime up till spawning time is my favorite time to spider rig. The water temp will drop to around 50 degrees and the bite will be on. Shad will bunch up and you have to find them to catch crappie,” said Beaver Lake Crappie Fishing Guide and Bobby Garland Pro Greg Robinson.

Water clarity also plays a factor when chasing shad to catch crappie. Robinson noted water clarity is not a major factor when spider rigging. He just doesn’t want it to be super muddy; in fact, Robinson will spider rig in stained water because when the sun warms up the water temperature the crappie will start biting.



Before fishing an area Robinson will scan the location with his Garmin side and down imaging for crappie. Once he has found a school Robinson will start fishing.


“I will set the Livescope on forward view to 50 feet in front of the boat and chase the crappie that are chasing the schools of shad. Of course the Livescope allows me to see the depth that the crappie are at and identify what size of crappie I’m chasing. If I see the lures are too high or low then I will adjust it accordingly to get it in the strike zone,” said Robinson.


Robinson noted that he would probably be lost without Livescope. “Before you had to fish a whole area to find and catch the crappie in the schools of shad. Now it takes the guessing game out of fishing for them with spider rigs,” said Robinson. Robinson did say that you don’t have to have Livescope to catch crappie spider rigging; in fact, he and other anglers had done it for years without.


One thing Robinson will find often on Beaver Lake where he guides is gar chasing the schools of shad. For him that isn’t an issue although he might lose a lure to one of the toothy critters. That’s because gar will often swim into schools of shad stunning them before turning to eat the shad, but the crappie will also be feasting on the stunned shad.



When rigging his boat for spider rigging Robinson will set up 8 B’n’M Poles (www.bnmpoles.com) 16-foot jigging rods with 8-pound high vis Vicous line down to his homemade terminal tackle rig. Robinson will utilize a 1/2-ounce round egg shaped sinker with a ……hook on the top leader and a Bobby Garland (www.lurenet.com) 1/16-ounce Crappie Pro Mo’ Glo Jighead then rig a Minnow Mind’R soft plastic twin-tailed lure to the jighead on the bottom of the rigging.

“I like the Minnow Mind’R because of the action the lure has when slowly pulled. On some days, I will add a live minnow if the crappie are being fussy. My favorite color patterns in the Minnow Mind’R are bone/white/chartreuse, horsefly, beatle juice, silver fish, black/chart and dragon fly,” said Robinson.



Another option for anglers is using the B’n’M Poles Capps and Coleman Minnow Rigs. It’s available in five sizes from 1/4-, 3/8-, 1/2-, 3/4- to 1-ounce, but the 1/2-ounce and heavier are preferred for trolling. These rigs are pre-tied with two Eagle Claw #2 type 214 EL hooks with swivel wrapped on a holder and ready to fish out of the package.


Normally Robinson will put 4 rods on the right side of the trolling motor and 4 rods on the left. The 2 closest rods to the trolling motor will be set at the shortest distance from the rod tip to the lures. Each rod after that will be at a deeper depth to keep the lures from hanging up on other rods.


As for speed, Robinson will troll .03- to .05 and not any faster. The slower speed keeps the lures from being pushed backwards to far and out of position.


Robinson noted there are exceptions of course to chasing shad for crappie. That’s when the crappie stage in or suspend above the brush pile. Those days you can still spider rig, but target brush piles instead of the shad.


Tip: Robinson said to keep your spider rigging gear as simple as you can and only use as many rods that are legal.