Crappie Tube versas Live Minnows?

[slimeyslab]

Thanks guys I like all your replys. We can't us live bait here in idaho.

Why no live bait?

[Matt Smith]

Why no live bait?

No beginners in Idaho?

[Ken Jones]

Why no live bait?

Very Good Question. People would catch minnows one place and transport them some where else to fish. Then release minnows in places they shouldn't have. People have ruined prime fishing lakes with speices that weren't there in the first place. Thats the reason Fish & Game outlawed transporting live fish of any kind. Except hatchery fish. Transported buy fish and Game for stocking..

[Ken Jones]

I guess I am a beginner. I use both. Fish ain't so dumb that they only go out looking for jigs to snack on.....

Cane Pole what do you do with your live minnows when you are threw fishing?

[Cane Pole]

Cane Pole what do you do with your live minnows when you are threw fishing?

Put them in the flower garden.

[fishin'aholic2]

I think that jigs have a slight advantage over minnows. Jig fishing you can put the bait where you want it and put the right action on it based on water temp and fish activity.

Minnow fishing is good when the fish dont want jigs, but you cant use a minnow in the same places and ways that you can with a jig.
Just my 2 cents.

[SpeckWick]

I think that jigs have a slight advantage over minnows. Jig fishing you can put the bait where you want it and put the right action on it based on water temp and fish activity.

Minnow fishing is good when the fish dont want jigs, but you cant use a minnow in the same places and ways that you can with a jig.
Just my 2 cents.

Not true! I fish both, but I like using minnows. I use them much the same as most guys use jigs, and I can fish a minnow anywhere anyone can fish a jig. There are days that I prefer jigs. But, I am no beginner, and I still prefer minnows more often than not. A lot of guys think minnow fishing and picture a guy sitting in one spot all day wathing a float, but I like to keep moving and pitch minnows under small slip floats into places where you would pitch a jig. Think of it this way. There are hundreds of colors, shapes, sizes of jig bodies to choose from, and on any given day the fish might want any one of those. Minnows are always the same, and crappie always eat minnows. No color selection or changing half a dozen times before you figure out what they want.

[Speck]

I use jigs 90% of the time but will turn to minnows when thats what it takes. I just have a hard time storing minnows in my tackle box for 6 months before I use them again.:D

[coastal bend]

This is my second year fishing Crappie. I would reather use jigs than minnows. the pier at the lake is the old dam for the lake. All of the regulars use minnows and I started out using minnows but changed to jigs. It turned out to be a great learning experince. the regulars told me that minnows were the only way to go. At first it took a while to catch numbers of crappie on gigs. If you pay attention to what is going on it helps. Fish a gig like the minnow guys. Before long I was catching crappie like the minnow guys. The only thing I was catching a lot of dinks and a few keepers. I saw that the best catches were on big minnows( they call them bass minnows down here). After cleaing crappie I would see 3-4" shad that they had eaten. I started using 3" jigs. Got some Rocky Top tubes in different colors. The blue and silver was the ticket. After I changed I was catching as many Crappie as the minnow guys and sometime out fishing them. Caught a lot less dinks and more quailty fish. So I guess what I'm saying is watch and learn. It really helped me learn how to better fish gigs.

[deathb4disco]

Crappie Tubes is for people who know how to fish. Live minnows is for people who are still learning.

Could not disagree more. Although I use jigs exclusively, I've never bought into the "real fishermen use artificials" argument. Good live bait fishing is an art.

Back in the early '80's, Southern Outdoors magazine had a contest with a jig fishermen against a minnow fisherman. The jig guy was a tournament fisherman and used a very nice spinning outfit. His opponent used minnows and a simple canepole. The minnow guy won by a WIDE margin.

Now, that's just one example and doesn't prove a lot, but it was still interesting.