Newbie In Need of Tips/Advice

Thanks for taking the time to read this and put up any help you can give me at all. I am new to crappie fishing, and I love to bass fish. I am 14 and fish from the shore. I have never really spent a lot of time crappie fishing, so I started reading this site and I am really interested in getting into crappie fishing. Can you guys give me the basic strategies on how and where to catch crappies. :confused: Thank you for reading this and posting up whatever you can. Even links to articles about how-to tactics for crappies would be great! Thanks guys!! CoRy

Welcome aboard!
Go to the home page and select the link to Articles and Tips. Many of those articles are written by Bruce Spangler, who is a tournament fisherman here in Ohio. Many others here on the forum have contributed their knowledge as well.
Crappiepappy shares his knowledge without reserve. He answered all my questions when my husband andI got back into fishing after a long absence.
Pick up a copy of Crappie World. There are usually good crappie articles in In-Fisherman and you might want to check the Iowa Game & Fish. Good luck and good fishing. - Roberta

I agree with Roberts get yourself a subscription to Crappieworld. I started crappie fishing off the banks myself. The first thing I did was buy a 9' rod and a good spinning reel. Then I would use a slip float and jigs. The benefit to it is you can continuesly change the depth of your jigs until you find the fish. I also would carry a 5' ul and use it to pitch to structure if I was fishing around tight areas where the 9' wouldn't work. Also, dont throw out the good ol' minnow. Hope this works out for ya and good luck.

Cory, one thing to do is use lighter equipment then you do for Bass. Like Dave says -an UltraLite is a good choice. Also go to 4 or 6 lb. test. there is tons of info. here on the board and plenty of help! Welcome from Dale Hollow!!

Welcome to the site....You can and will learn alot here....You will find that all of us fish a little different...As for me I only use minnows...Never jigs...Thats what I like to fish with and have more luck with....But others feel totally different about it...Really its what you like ....I have caught alot of crappie fishing from the bank...Find an old tree thats fell and more that likely crappie will be there...I dont do any bank fishing any more...Mainly because its hard to find a place where they let you fish from the bank....And second because I cant walk very far because of my health...But I wish you all the luck in the world for your new adventure... Keep us posted on your catches..I know there will be alot of crappie caught by you...So please dont make us look too bad ..

Thank you for all of that information. I bought a cheap fly-rod last year, it is an 8'er, and I took the fly reel off of it and put on a spinning ree. I also have a 4'6" ul combo with 4lb test on it. I have a lot of jigs, and if I want to use minnows I need to get a 10$ minnow bucket so they will stay alive. The lake I fish is ranked #1 in southwest Iowa for bank fishing. The only problem right now is that it is really, REALLY low. I am turning twards the older lake that holds fewer, but bigger fish. I cought a few crappies over the summer out there on an orange/char. 1" squid jig, but that is about the only crappie fishing I did last year. Thank you again for the information, and I will keep you posted on my catches...when I get to go. We are expecting a lot of snow here, but pray for me that it melts into rain as it comes down!! Well, thanks again!

The answer for me was to find someone who knew how to catch em' on the lake I intended on fishin'. I made some of the best friends I ever had learnin' from them. Now and again I teach them something. But just startin' out the main thing is to keep tryin'. Everything you do should teach you something even if it's wrong.

Very true longpolesworkbest...now all I need to do is find someone who is good at catchin em!