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Reply With QuoteI’ve been using a regular 10’ jig pole and a spinning reel. Occasionally if the fish are around 10’ I might use a jig pole and a little jig reel. Nothing fancy.
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Slabmaster II
Slabmaster II
I’ve been using a regular 10’ jig pole and a spinning reel. Occasionally if the fish are around 10’ I might use a jig pole and a little jig reel. Nothing fancy.
Slabmaster II
I’ve been trolling up to the derricks, tying on, and fishing straight down next to the structure. If I don’t get a bite in about 20 minutes I move to the next side of the Derrick until I’ve gone completely around it. You mention casting and reeling back slowly. Should I be casting out next to the structure then reeling back? Do I need to use something with a spinner or just a jig head and plastic tube? Does the Crappie bites work well or should I use something else?
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If the derricks are the main cover feature in the lake .... I'd troll past them (using a combo of jigs & jigs with spinners), turn and troll past the opposite side & then cover the other two sides in the same manner. THEN, I'd go to the side of the derrick that produced (tie up to it) and "Vertical Cast" ( Crappie Pappy Article ) with the jig/plastics. BUT, if the spinner jigs were more effective during the trolling runs, or the only effective ones, then I'd be casting them ... not AT the derricks, but across/down the sides and close to the support beams/pillars (in much the same way I cast to bridge pillars).Originally Posted by dchoate
What you use, as far as rods/reels, is not always as important as "how" you use them & the "presentations" you make with them. When I first started Crappie fishing, I was using 6' fiberglass rods & various brands of spincast reels, hook/sinker/minnow on 8lb test mono. I used the same outfits when I first started casting a jig (1/8oz Dollfly) ... and was successful. I've since upgraded, changed my methods & presentations, and my line size & jig weights over the last 60yrs ... and yet still not much more successful, any more often, than I was back then.
Slabmaster II
Thank you. This is a lot of good advise that I’m going to try. I appreciate you taking the time to help!
Slabmaster II
Thank you. This is a lot of good advise that I’m going to try. I appreciate you taking the time to help.
Slabmaster II
I’ve got one more question. Ok, while watching my fish finder I see that the fish are suspended at 17’. When casting ; what is the best method to know my bait gets to where the fish are? Being the new guy here, I don’t want to wear out my welcome. Hope I’m not asking too many questions.
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I too went thru the learning curve years back. I stumbled and cussed and everything that comes with trying your heart out and getting no results. Line watching became second nature, but paying attention became paramount. Wind and wave action and other factors make it tough when you’re learning. I found a school of fish that were there most every time I went. Now I just had to make em bite. 1/32 #6 jig head, no color, and some small panfish assassin bodies in about 10 colors. Could’ve used a shirt pocket for my tackle box. I would cast about 20’, close the bail and let the jig fall pendulum style back towards me. If it hit the bottom, I started a slow crawl of a retrieve before it hit bottom on the next cast. Sometimes that worked, but then it wouldn’t. So I had to figure out how to make em bite. Do it all again, but this time I would add a 1” lift of the rod tip. That worked, then quit. They wanted more subtle. So instead of a lift, I would drop the rod tip an inch, or just stop the retrieve for a count of 1. All of these would get fish to hit, sometimes with abandon but other times the line would just fall to the surface and I would feel nothing. Set the hook and a fish was there most every time. Hundred fish mornings with about 4 keepers. No joke. But I learned their behavior and subtleties, the change of a color to a hot one or a dud. A curl tail or a straight. There’s no one answer that anyone can give, no magic bullet. All you have to do is pay attention and have a bag of tricks to dip into to find what it takes. Time on the water builds that, nothing else. Fish alone all you can so your not jabberin when you should be learning. The light will come on and you’ll be teaching folks before you know it. Keep us posted, we all learn from each other.
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You aren't going to wear out your welcome. If you use a 1/32 jig with a Bobby Garland Baby Shad plastic bait on it, it will take it 1-1000, 2-1000, 17-1000 to get to 17 feet. It won't be at 17' but that's the popular line of thinking. It will probably be more like 14'-15' deep based on what I see on my electronics, but that gives you a place to start. You can add to, or take away from the 1-1000 count to make it run higher or lower. To fish 17' deep, you're gonna need to be close to the structure and cast way past it, to get the jig that deep before it falls past the structure on the way back to your pole. I'd be more inclined to vertically jig fish that deep. Park on top of them and use that 10' rod to drop it right on their head. Sit there and hold it dead still. Wait for the thump then try to rip it's head off. LOL
Slabmaster II
Thanks. That makes a lot of sense. Your right, I just need to spend time figuring them out but this advise will help a bunch!
