Has anyone had success with cut crappie for blues? Just wondering. We have a lake that is full of dinks. Lake manager wants all of the crappie catch taken out of lake. I hate to just trash can them.
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Has anyone had success with cut crappie for blues? Just wondering. We have a lake that is full of dinks. Lake manager wants all of the crappie catch taken out of lake. I hate to just trash can them.
Many States Crappie are a Game Fish and Not Legal as Bait. In Louisiana Bream and Sunfish are also Protected from using for Bait..... Shad are the Primary food for Fish
Check your game regs closely. I think a few states allow it as long as it is included in the daily limit and used on the same waters.
I do know some guys that fish the big rivers a lot and have inadvertantly caught crappie while fishing for other bait.
They kept them to eat...then later ran out of shad and really wanted to keep catfishing...they said they worked good.
You asked...there it is...you have to figure out the legality
Thanks guys
Yeah, that's illegal in my area.
If it's legal it will work. Personally I prefer shad.
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If you're gonna "cut'em" anyway, and there's no size limit on Crappie at that lake ... then catch a limit of dinks & fillet them. You'll get a "tater chip" piece of meat from each side. Eat those & use the heads for your "cut bait". Just stick the hook thru the eye sockets and :fish ..... win win situation :twocents
I would check for sure before I used them for bait , but to be sure you can eat lil ones head off whole and or fillet them ..my 2 cents
My favorite blue cat bait is the front half of a crappie. In the winter I usually keep several 9" ers in a cage in my pond and then put them in the live well to cut in half for fresh bait. Shad are not always easy to find in the winter around here.
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crappie heads best bait I use
We have certain bodies of water where the use of minnows/live fish bait is illegal,and others where anything goes.In all our lakes it is illegal to gut/ fillet aquatic life and discard the parts into the body of water,but some of those same waters I'm allowed to use cut and live bait including guts and eyes ........Go figure!
Thanks again, Guys.
A whole crappie fillet from a 9" crappie catches BIG blues here....and it's legal.;)
Talked to a game warden the other day about using my crappie heads for bait. I clean my crappie and save the heads for blue catfish bait. He said that legally I could use crappie for bait as long as they were caught on a hook and line and were legal size. That being said he said that legally I would need the whole crappie there to prove it was legal size. Doesn't make much sense. I can use them for bait, but if I cut them up I can't prove they were 8 inches. Guess you are supposed to put that whole 10 inch crappie on the hook. Now he also said that if he stopped me he could probably tell from the size of the heads that they were legal, but if another warden wanted to be a butt, he could write a ticket if the rest of the crappie was not there. I am still using heads. Hopefully if I get checked it will be by one of the many fair and level headed wardens that support those of us that try to do things the right way.
Yeah, they call that a trap, and you have been duly warned. Just think, the game warden is not going to lose his job over some crappie heads. He gets paid to make sure other people's heads roll . . .
Same regulations in Oklahoma. You can use crappie remains as long as they were caught on a rod and reel. Heads are good but the rib cages are greatQuote:
Originally Posted by funbun
Tell me about using the rib cages Tim. Do you use them with the entrails or just clean. I’ve never thought to use those but have used heads several times with good success.
Caught this nice one last weekend on a huge crappie head.
He was 35 lbs. biggest so far for my brother in law.
I always cut through the rib cages when I fillet my crappie so after I fillet it off a side I just cut trim the remaining rib cage off the fillet and keep them in a zip lock bag if i'm planning on catfishing. Deadly especially in the fall and winter.Quote:
Originally Posted by Crappie ciller
Interesting returns, I think I will get my jugs out and go today, thanks to all who shared their info.
Get'em!
I’m looking forward to trying out the ribs. About that time!
That being said then crappie fillets should be deadly as well. Just so I don't get lambasted by C2 and TimY, let me be clear why I am saying this. I set a quart of crappie fillets out of my freezer about a month ago. The next morning I found them laying next to my freezer thawed. They were still cool so I figured they were still ok. I put them in the fridge which was registering 34 degs and didn't have time to cook them in the next few days. Finally I remembered them and CRAP......are they still good??????? I figured they should be fine for jugs so I refroze them. No free kicks on my posterior anatomy C2. These fillets were off some 14+"
fish. I assume that slicing them in half or quarters should be more than enough to fish on some 4/0 or 5/0 circle hooks. Thoughts????
They should stay on your hooks a little better than chicken livers and bring in those more discriminating slicks. You may be onto something but trading potential golden nuggets for catfish filets is never gonna catch on. Let us know how it goes General. Good luck.
George even though you have committed the upmost fishin sin and will probably never catch another crappie, that will work. This is just a personal preference but I don't and never have liked or used any kind of frozen bait. I only kept the rib cages when I know I'm gonna be catfishing the next day or so and I place them in a ziplock bag and put them on ice in a chest. Even shad I do the same thing after I remove the tails. Nothing beats fresh bait and mainly the blood.
Tell us about removing the tails Tim. That’s a new one to me but I am pretty inexperienced.
Timy - I guess i must pray to the crappie gods for forgiveness for desecrating a quart of golden nuggets and be beaten about the body and face with a carp. it was an honest screw up on my part (old age) and I will swear on a gallon of rosie reds to never do it again. I feel better now. I agree with only going with fresh shad although I have used 4 year old frozen shad that were coated with cornmeal and caught a bunch of channels in the Deep Fork River. I'm gonna give the fillets a try since there is no point in wasting the fillets. I will post a response on how the trip turns out.
Now tell us about removing the tails to, I assume, release more blood and scent.
My buds and I fish a lake that is overstocked with crappie, The fish and game folks want as many as possible taken out, I started this thread. To get some answers, not start problems for anyone. Things happen and folks do what they have to do.
THEY do work. I scale them and filet into pieces. I still do not know If they are legal. I think not here in TN. I also do not think a Warden would care.
No one in trouble I know of. No way I could miss a chance to give George some grief. George/C2 I fillet just the skin off one side of the shad and try to leave the float bladder intact and trim down about an inch from the tail then cut it off. The reason I do this is because shad actually preserve better with the tails off and they bleed better. Before I put them on a hook, I also lightly squeeze the head because this is where the oil glands are and that helps as an attractant. Good luck fellas and George a good thrashing with a Carp may help your crappie fishin in the future LOL
Since getting into crappie last year, I can't imagine feeding them to catfish! But seem's to me it I was going to, filet's would probably work good but I think they would probably stay on the hook a lot better with the skin left on. I get to many of them next year and I just might try that!
I am talking small 5/6" crappie. I treasure my filets to. If the state says to get them out, I would rather use them for something. I did not explain my self at first, many thanks for the comments- ALL IS WELL.
Trypman1 are you fishing Glenn Springs
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I use my carcasses from crappie and gills to set my crawfish traps or feed them to my chickens. I’d never in a million years use a whole crappie or fillets for bait. I catch all my catfish on cheese bait and have no need to use anything else. It’s kinda insulting in my opinion to suggest using crappie as bait .
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I don’t know the legalities of it but a guy was at our shop earlier today that was showing me pictures of 30+ lb channel cats that a friend of his was catching on crappie heads.
We caught a 35 lber a few weeks ago on crappie heads. I asked a game warden here in nc about using them. It is legal here he said if they are legal size and taken on hook and line. The problem with just the heads he said was proving they were legal size. He said he wouldn’t do anything but if I got stopped by the wrong warden it could be a problem. I still use them. I don’t keep any if they are not 10 or 11 inches so they should be able to tell they are big enough.
[QUOTE=Slab Slayen;3951200]I use my carcasses from crappie and gills to set my crawfish traps or feed them to my chickens. I’d never in a million years use a whole crappie or fillets for bait. I catch all my catfish on cheese bait and have no need to use anything else. It’s kinda insulting in my opinion to suggest using crappie for bait.
I don’t understand why it would seem insulting. I think anything we do with em that repurposes the carcasses is a good thing. Certainly beats dumping them in the lake by the ramp etc. Here are twin 37 pounders that hit heads back to back.
Ok I left out the word fillet in that last sentence. I think it would be insulting to use crappie fillets as bait or whole crappie for that matter. We all should absolutely be using carcasses in any way we can
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