Help a newbie spend some money.

I'm getting back into fishing after a few years hiatus, and have grown fond of fishing for crappies. Issue is I've had a series of bad luck with minnows, and do not have a wealth of knowledge when it comes to jigs to know what to buy, so I'd like your help. What kits would you recommend, specific jigs etc. I'm not the most knowledgeable when it comes to colors either, so any of those recommendations would be helpful as well. Looking to stock the freezer with some south central pa crappies soon.

Thanks

Load up an various sizes of jigheads up to 1/8oz and a slew of curltail grubs and tubes. No telling what color they may decide to chew on any given day. I would suggest a lot of combinations with chartreuse and pink. If ya do some reading on your state board ya might be able to narrow down some good starting colors. Good luck and welcome from Florida.

Reese ... take a look at the Jig Tying & DIY Plastics forums. Most "kits" I've seen are not worth the price asked ... but, our own members can sure make some very productive stuff.

If you have a couple dozen each of 1/16 & 1/32oz jigheads, some 1.5" tubes in the basic colors (with Chartreuse tails), a couple packages of white or chartreuse marabou jigs, and a half dozen 1/16oz marabou Roadrunners (all Chartreuse) .... IMHO you're stocked with the basics.

Send a PM to Grousefly, Pbug, Skiptomylou, Shipahoy41, Snake River, or any of the other members that make jigs/jigheads/plastics ... and let them tell you what they've got in the way of surefire Crappie catchin products. You'll be amazed at what these boys can conjure up ... LOL !!! And they work, too !!!

... cp

I realize your OP is learnin about jigs ....but....Don't give up on the minners...

There's lots of ideas here in the forum for keeping minners alive...on and off the water...

Nothin wrong with havin jigs too....but there's sometimes minners are what the fish want...

Rickie

First, welcome to Crappie.Com, and like Ricky said don't give up on the minners. There is days when they don't want anything else but a minner. Always be prepared to give um what they want. EB

Check on your state board and see if anyone there fishes the same lakes as you want to fish and ask them what style of jigs and colors works for them and cut out a lot of guess work.

Quote:

---

I realize your OP is learnin about jigs ....but....Don't give up on the minners...

There's lots of ideas here in the forum for keeping minners alive...on and off the water...

Nothin wrong with havin jigs too....but there's sometimes minners are what the fish want...

Rickie

---

Ditto. The crappie don't get fat from eating jigs!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Reesestix85

Issue is I've had a series of bad luck with minnows

---

Just outta curiosity- What kind of bad luck have you had? Just that they have died while fishing? The key to minners is "cool and bubbly". There is a wealth of knowledge on this board about not only fishing effectively with artificials, but also live bait too.

P.S. Crappiepappy just gave you some real good advice too in his reply IMO.

I've had issues with stores not carrying minnows, and the small amount my traps gather never seem to make it to the lake alive. My wife doesn't like fishing with lures so I tend to let her fish with the live bait we have. I tried keeping minnows in the two small ponds 120 gallon and 75 gallon, but they kept dying. I got that fixed ( to much chlorine kept killing them), but I would rather fish with jigs for crappie but didn't know where to begin.

I was looking on cabelas and bass pro sites for options, I really didn't know where to begin.

I never go wrong with a 1.5 curly tail grub. That's about all I fish now. I like black, personally. I know lots of folks have great luck with the neon colors and stuff like that, but I tend to stick to natural colors like black, pumpkinseed or something dark green. Good luck! Let us know what you decide on. If you're like the rest of us, you'll have a full tacklebox of 1,000 different jigs, lures, crankbaits, etc. soon enough!

One word...

Quote:

---

PINK

---

Weather it be Jig heads or feather tails, Pink works here. Just my 2 cents.