Help a true beginner!

[Girljigger]

I am an avid bass fisher, but when it comes to crappie I have always had the best luck using a 10-13' Expandable Panfish/Jig pole (8-10' test / 10-13' line length) rigged with a chartruese jig head and a jig tail that has a lot of action (swirly tails - get several colors). You just drop the jig in the water, let it sink to the bottom (or as deep as your line) and just slowly move it up and down. With a panfish pole there is no denying when you have a bite, just don't jerk too hard when you set the hook, crappie have a soft mouth and it's very easy to jerk it the hook out. If you don't have luck with the color jig tail you are using, change it until you find what they like. I think this is the cheapest and easiest way to get started. You will catch bass like this too and landing a three pounder on a Panfish pole is a lot of fun! I normally fish a 10 acre man made lake/tank in a jon boat and I find the crappied beds just to the out edge of the weed beds or underwater brush/twigs. They can be anywhere from 2 - 12 ' deep. This method can also be used to fish creeks. When you get on a bed of crappie you can pull in one after the other.

I never go anywhere without my jigs & jig pole, they've always done me right.

[skeetbum]

I'll let the 'Bama boyz steer you to the right technique, I just wanted to give some input on the jigs that produce lots of fish for me at a low price. Keep in mind Crappie like cover, and cover likes to eat your jigs so you want to do it cheap til you refine your methods. I use panfish assasin bodies, and the cheap renegade brand red hook 1/16 and 1/32 jig heads. Crystal shad, albino, and black/grey are good starters, and some called electric chicken(pink/chartruese) and crawdad(orange/green) are worth putting in the box also. That will get you off the ground for less than $20. The jig n bobber thing works good with these also.If you pull up to a tree that marks fish, slowly drop the jig into the mess and watch for it to stop fallin or doin anything you didn't tell it to do. Hooksets are mostly from the wrist unless you want to get just a pair of lips!! Good luck and welcome from middle tennessee.

[SnowBass23]

After reading all of these great suggestions I now have a few ideas. That deeper channel I mentioned that runs through the lake also leads through the area with standing timber (in that area, it is the channel that everyone uses to idle through so that your prop doesn't strike anything). I'm thinking right at the start of that area may be a good place to start.

I have seen a couple places along the channel where the water is 25 to 35 feet and shows a lot of fish (can't remember if it showed any cover or real structure here) that are probably also good places to try. I am anxious to get back at it.

I think the big thing for me is learning how to hunt crappie. It's no big deal to go along flipping and pitching (even cranking) for bass, but it just feels foreign using that method for a different species.

Thanks again for the great tips!

[Bob # 1]

Send a PM to Bob#1... He's taken the time to go through this forum and compile a ton of information that would take you weeks of browsing to find. He calls it Crappie 101.

Thanks for the plug. Ernest Patty is 101
Bob # 1 is "Crappie Basics"

You are forgiven, now go wet your line.