Plastic vs live ?

[lowe175]

Eagle 1 I'm not knocking minnows the question was which are Better. A jig is more versatile is all I was getting at. Come on over to Alabama and we'll go shoot some docks.

[wannabe fisherman]

I always used minnows and waxies, didn't catch a lot of fish, changed to plastics and hand tied jigs, caught even less, back to minnows.

[Treeline]

I only use minnows on the yearly trip to MS. I say to each his own..minnows are not worth the effort for me..rarely have trouble catching on plastics..if i needed fish to feed my family i would probably use minnows..but i fish for enjoyment as do most others. Catching crappie is fun no matter how you do it..so Have fun.

[Tony the Tiger]

I fished a bayou this morning for a while drifting 4 poles with C&C type rigs. 2 riged with jigs over minnows and 2 minnows over jigs. Jigs with black/chart tubes tipped with Chart nibbles. I've been struggling to catch fish the last couple of weeks, I'm still a horn at catching perch. Only caught a bunch of dinks but most of them wanted the jigs, even the channel cat I caught before I finaly gave up.

[clfarms1]

It takes skill to catch crappie with either method. I can put a jig and plastic under a bobber and cast it out and reel it in and catch crappie and that takes no more skill than using a minnow under a bobber. the skill comes in with that fact of being able to find fish first of all. I have a 3 lb crappie caught on a minnow and I am pretty dang proud of it just as I would have been if it had been caught on a jig and plastic. Day in day out you will catch more crappie on minnows than plastic, its just a fact. Fish however you want and enjoy it as it is your time on the water.

[jhef]

i prefer minnows myself but 9.50 for a half pound is getting pricey. bait store has been out of shiners so been using tuffies (i hate tuffies) when i bass fish i love plastics, and ive got tons of plastics for crappie just no faith in them. are you guys casting and slow retrieving. my buddy will use a small float and a small tube jig and wear them out.. ive tried it but just never got the hang of it. i really enjoy shooting docks but the small lakes i fish now are water reservoirs with very few docks..

[Zippy]

For me it's all verticle jigging and casting depending on the time of the year. One thing I do know, when retrieving a jig slow swim it depending on the depth you want to be at. Don't jig it at all just a slow steady retrieve with your rod tip low. Another method that works well when the crappie are deep is to cast out, let it sink to the bottom and lift your rod tip slowly letting the jig swing towards you then reel in the slack and do it again. The strike is just a slight bump and as your reeling up to the fish they will typically be swimming towards you and you will feel a weight not a tug.

[DockShootinJack]

Both have there place. My him lake has allot of shad. They are the predominant forage species of the crappie in this lake. A minnow thrown out while they are feeding on shad goes unnoticed. On the other hand a jig in shad colors will put a hurting on them. I like to keep the minnows that I use in a tank where I can feed them a little and make sure the water stays clean and filtered. They are more hearty and livelier that way. To me healthy bait will out catch have dead bait store minnows every time. Plus I have them if I wake up in the middle of the night and decide to go fish. I don't have to find a bait store open.

[scrat]

i prefer minnows myself but 9.50 for a half pound is getting pricey. bait store has been out of shiners so been using tuffies (i hate tuffies) when i bass fish i love plastics, and ive got tons of plastics for crappie just no faith in them. are you guys casting and slow retrieving. my buddy will use a small float and a small tube jig and wear them out.. ive tried it but just never got the hang of it. i really enjoy shooting docks but the small lakes i fish now are water reservoirs with very few docks..

jhef; Minnows are not as expensive here as yours are $9.50 is bad. If you know anyone with a pond that will let you check for minnows you can do like I do. I take some bread,crackers,floating catfish food,etc. and see if they are any minnows in the pond(my family has a catfish pond and it has minnows) once you find them all you need now is to catch minnows and most people will not charge anything so you have found free minnows. They are ways to trap them but that takes too long for me so what I did is buy a 1/4" multifilament mesh 5' cast net. Go to youtube and watch how to throw cast net I use the (one handed method) but they are several ways to throw one. I take mine in a 5 gal. bucket fill the bucket with the water and cast when you see them feeding. I went today and caught the wife and me about 5 or 6 dozen to use tomorrow the net cost me about $50.00 and it will last for quite a few years and at the price of your minnows it would have already
paid for itself. I don't care if people don't like me fishing with minnows. I eat animals myself and other animals(fish) each other to that is life. If you place (drop) fish habitat you are setting up a chain so that one can eat the other. I am not trying to do anything here except to help others but sometimes I will agree to disagree.

[rnvinc]

Minners vs jigs ...

1 pole vs 12 poles ...

Catch and release vs catch and filet ...

Chain vs drift socks ...

Humminbird vs Lowrance vs Garmin ...

Humans are so "vs opinionated" ...

Geez ...

Rickie