Are Crappie line shy?

[Jamesdean]

I recently started using braided line. Around here, no one carries the hi-viz line, or it's out of stock when I'm looking for it. So it's the low-viz green for me. That being said, I have been known to tie a clear 6lb leader to the end, for ease of knot tying.

[CrappiePappy]

Whst about in clear shallow water? I don’t believe they’d be able to see anything at 50 feet deep. Atleast what I read yesterday said they lose the ability to see color around 20 feet because the light didn’t penetrate deep enough but I know in some lakes it would be possible for us to see that deep so I’d think a fish would too. I can see the fluorescent yellow diawa j braid pretty deep with my own eyes.

Les, the problem with clear shallow water is not line color as much as it is the fish's ability to see movement "above the surface" ... including but not limited to : you moving, the presence of the boat, shadows, the bait flying over their heads, the splashdown of that bait, noise created by your movement, trolling motor prop wash or noise, etc.

I've seen fish move, dive, or scatter from shallow water (clear to lightly stained) just from me drawing my rod back to make a cast.

A buddy of mine contemplated buying a 20' rod to present his bait to shallow fish, because casting to them would spook them (just from the jig flying overhead). I told him that would probably not work, seeing as how the rod would present a larger profile & probably a more threatening factor than his jig & line flying overhead.

[Alphahawk]

Whst about in clear shallow water? I don’t believe they’d be able to see anything at 50 feet deep. Atleast what I read yesterday said they lose the ability to see color around 20 feet because the light didn’t penetrate deep enough but I know in some lakes it would be possible for us to see that deep so I’d think a fish would too. I can see the fluorescent yellow diawa j braid pretty deep with my own eyes.

I have fished these 2 lines for crappie the past 5 years with fantastic results. Many of my crappie have come out of shallow clear waters of Center Hill Lake...and from below Center Hill Dam on the Caney Fork River....which is extremely clear...great trout river. Have had many occasions where I can see the crappie come up out of 8 feet of water and inhale the jig.....and I have to tell you it is quite a thing to see. When I first tried out the Hi-Vis line I was concerned that it was not going to work out well..now it is all I use when crappie fishing.








Regards

[skeetbum]

Les, I’ve never fished gin clear water but have done well in cold , great visibility winter waters in middle Tennessee with good success. The fish sometimes set up on ledges and stay there. I’ve seen fish hit my jig and some slow cranked crankbaits. Hard on my nerves watching them come up. That was all on hi vis.

Alpha, that’s some great looking real estate. I’ll get back there one day.

[Les Young]

Les, I’ve never fished gin clear water but have done well in cold , great visibility winter waters in middle Tennessee with good success. The fish sometimes set up on ledges and stay there. I’ve seen fish hit my jig and some slow cranked crankbaits. Hard on my nerves watching them come up. That was all on hi vis.

Alpha, that’s some great looking real estate. I’ll get back there one day.

Thanks buddy. I've wondered just how deep the hi viz braid could be seen. I use to use the trilene photochromic line that looked kind of gold above the surface although hard to see in sunlight & it showed a dull blue in the blacklight & had great luck with it as far as bass & striper went but the crappie thing is a new game for me. I've been adding a mono leader just incase it matters to crappie. I tried straight flourescent yellow braid on my jig rod for bass & feel confident that it hurt me getting bit real bad so i started adding a mono leader & the bites went way up.

[skeetbum]

Crappie are a different animal. I used gold Stren back when it first came out and switched back to clear blue original pretty quick. Crappie don’t seem to care. I got lots of reels with hi vis to back up my theory, let’s go fishin and I’ll show ya.

[Ketchn]

Once seen a fella not ketch diddly using Cajun red fire line when the fish were on fire , other bud swore it was his line , he finally grabbed another rod and began hammering with the rest of us ....no clue what it was about,but seen it myself

[Ketchn]

I was just wondering if Crappie are line shy. I've heard some people say Crappie simply aren't line shy but I don't know for sure. I see people use high vis line all the time, however the lake near me has 10+ foot of visibility(sometimes you can see 20 foot down if it hasn't rained for a while). I normally fish at this lake with 2lb test clear mono for other species like trout. Would it matter to use 6lb test high vis line in a lake as clear as this. Should I maybe be tying 2 pound test leaders or does line visibility just not matter for Crappie fishing in terms of the fish seeing it.

Like stated you are much more likely to spook them than the line

[Alphahawk]

Les, I’ve never fished gin clear water but have done well in cold , great visibility winter waters in middle Tennessee with good success. The fish sometimes set up on ledges and stay there. I’ve seen fish hit my jig and some slow cranked crankbaits. Hard on my nerves watching them come up. That was all on hi vis.

Alpha, that’s some great looking real estate. I’ll get back there one day.

Hope you get to fish it sometime. I am sure I will pop in every so often to visit again. My sons have been tearing up the crappie and trout in that same spot for the past 2 weeks. Not many places I know of that one can catch a limit of big black nose crappie on one side of the boat and cast in current to the other side and get trout in the 18-20 inch range. And almost forgot the place has an abundance of 3 foot sturgeons with an occasional one approaching 4 foot. Unique place for sure.


Regards

[Jamesdean]

I always carry a small spool of clear line in my box. If the crappie seem to get a bit spooky of the line, I'll tie on a good length of the clear, maybe 6'-8'. Then see if they want what I have to offer them. Sometime it works, sometimes they just shut down...