Thread: More advice please. minnows or jigs

For me my 10 biggest crappie i have caught was on jigs. All of those was caught using hot rods or shad body. As far as what catches most i think it depends on the lake and time of day. I do think jigs work better between 10 and 4pm for me anyway. Green river i havent used minners for several years and normally catch between 40 and 80 keeper size fish a trip. Cumberland average between 30 to 50 keeper a trip depending on what part of the lake and it is pretty even most jigs versus minner but i would give the edge to minners. Dale hollow only fished 6 times this year averaged 30 a day and would give the edge to the jigs there...

For several years I fished jigs only. You wouldn't find a minnow in my boat. But then a friend of mine and I started fishing crappie tournaments which we did for 20 years. I would say that 95% of all the tournaments we fished were fished spider-rigging (slow trolling) with jigs tipped with minnows. However, we usually always had one pole baited with a minnow only and I can honestly say that that pole caught as many or more fish day in and day out as any jig. These days, I spend a lot of time guiding and you will always find a bucket of minnows in my boat. True, there are days when jigs work better....but there are days when minnows win hands down. Personally, I find minnows work the best in the summertime and when night fishing for crappie, but that's just me. Basically, I believe that the best bait (whether jig or minnow) is the one you have the most confidence in.