Christmas Wish - by Brad Wiegmann

I could wish this Christmas from Santa for peace, love and happiness. Maybe, I could wish to be something, to have something, to go somewhere or to meet someone? However, I’m going to keep my list short for Santa this year and every year because I wish to catch one more crappie!


Yep, I want my thumb to be raw from catching crappie and to smell like fish. That’s my wish.


I feel like this might be challenging for Santa to deliver this for my Christmas wish. Think about it. How many times out fishing do you say to yourself I’m just going to catch one more fish then go home or I need just one more fish to get my limit and you never catch it. Now if Santa can pull off getting me that one more crappie that would be the perfect Christmas gift.


I guess I better have a back up wish list for Ole Santa to make good on this year as there are a few things I would love to have in my Christmas stocking or under the tree. I mean how hard can it be to buy a Christmas present for an angler? There are thousands of lures, rods, reels and other possible gifts to buy. Maybe it’s the fact there is so many to pick from that makes it challenging.





So here are some suggestions for what you can buy for your fishing angler starting with Crappie.com apparel, SLABSAUCE and more. Yep, die-hard crappie anglers have to look good out fishing or heading out to their favorite restaurant so why not get them a Crappie.com hat or visor. Do they have too many shirts and hats? Check out Crappie.com 2024 Crappie.com calendar, coffee mugs, Billbob can cooler, decals or the big 2-ounce insulated coffee mug.


For sure get your angler a bottle of SLABSAUCE. For anyone that doesn’t know SLABSAUCE is Ed Moes secret sauce. Moes is the inventor and producer of Slabsauce the ultimate fishing scent formula. Slabsauce’s secret formula attracts game fish and adheres to any fishing lure or even to live bait cast after cast. The formula’s oil base scent in original or garlic flavor creates a trail allowing game fish to track lures and incites them to strike the lure. How much do you use and how often do you reapply? “Normally, I apply one time onto a jig or lure and reapply every dozen or so casts,” said Moes.


Next on the list has to be PICO Lures crankbaits. PICO Lures has deep diving and squarebill crankbaits; they are the hottest crankbaits for trolling you can buy. “Our deep diving PICO Crankbaits are better for lakes with deeper water and the squarebills are great for tolling in shallower reservoirs,” Mitch Glenn the owner of PICO Lures continued, “its crazy how good the squarebills are in the Mississippi lakes and other shallow reservoirs across the United States.”




Now PICO Crankbaits come in 40 different color patterns in the deep diving model and 14 in the squarebills. “This year we are offering online crankbait kits that make perfect Christmas gifts and the color patterns are already selected so you don’t have to pick which ones to get. It takes the guess work out of what color crankbaits to get,” said Glenn.


Every angler can also use a new fishing rod or two. Our choice would be one of the three new fishing rods by B’n’M Poles. The 16- and 18-foot Black Diamond poles are popular with the anglers utilizing live imaging sonar technology. “The 16 foot, 3 piece Black Diamond pole was designed for anglers fishing live imaging sonar,” Jack Wells the owner of B’n’M Poles continued, “Like all of our poles the 16 foot Black Diamond is made with genuine Portuguese cork handle, a carbon fiber reel seat and only weighs 9.6-ounces.” Well’s continued, “We also have the 18 foot Black Diamond pole that’s new for this year at ICAST,” Wells went on, “It’s a 3 piece pole with genuine Portuguese cork handle, carbon fiber reel seat, however, unlike the 16-foot Black Diamond the 18 foot Black Diamond pole has a weight counter balance system. This weight counter balance system makes it easier to hold a rod all day and it’s stiff enough to set the hook and get a crappie in the boat.”


Every crappie angler needs more jigheads. Crappie Magnet teamed up with Blake Phillips and Eye Hole Jig resulting in new packaging and products that would be great stocking stuffers. Maybe a pack of Live Roam’R crappie baits designed to target roaming crappie or Charlie Brewer’s Slider Company grubs. Don’t forget to get a package of TTI-Blakemore Team Crappie Gold Hooks or some Road Runner jigheads.


Other good gifts for Christmas is a Lithium powered Rapala Fillet knife, Bajio Reader Sunglasses, rodholders by Driftmaster, Varivas fishing line, Slab Hunter SmartRod, Offshore Tackle planer boards, a package of Mr. Crappie lures, an Impulse Lithium battery.


If Santa doesn’t get you everything on your wish list than make a plan to go to the Grizzly Jig Spring Tackle Show February 1-4, 2024. Grizzly Jig Company is one of the nation’s #1 crappie fishing tackle store located in Caruthersville, Missouri.