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Just a small question for you guys who slay the crappie. I am used to fishing for them with crappie rigs and live minnows, but all I hear about is how people odn't fish with minnows anymore and only use artificials, but I have no clue what to use and how to use them.
thanks
First off, I'm not one of the guys that slays the crappie.
It's my experience that most people do use minnow and jig combo most of the time but there are times when Mr. Crappie will hit a plain jig and then it's just a matter of tying a jig to the end of your line and running past him at ,or slightly above the depth of the fish.
There are plenty of ways to present the "bait" to the fish but what works for me is long telescopic poles with a pc. of line tied to the end that matches the length of the pole. I thread a float on the line and set it at the depth I want to fish, then a jig and minnow and maybe a split shot 8 in. above the bait.
I set out as many as 12 of these in rod holders with varying depths and jig colors/sizes and use my trolling motor to slowly cover the water where I think the fish might be.
That is just 1 of many ways to get'em and so you guys chip in with some info.
I agree with S H. He doesn't slay the crappie, but he sure gives the yellow perch hell. I really don't know that about the crappie because the few times I've been in the same river with him he has been yellow perch fishing. Now with my BS out of the way, I do agree about using both jigs and minnows and once in a while just minnows. If you will notice, most of the people that use just jigs are fishing lakes and I am convinced that makes a big difference. PanMan fishes Beaverdam resevoir a lot with just artificial baits and does very well doing it. I've been up there a few times and we did well using out standard jig/minnow rigs. Maybe there is a way to fish our local rivers with just jigs and I just don't know how to do it. One exception is beetle spins. I have caught crappie with them while casting to the bank and slowing retrieving.
I use artificial baits because I'm too lazy to buy minnows when I go and it takes effort to keep them alive in the heat of the summer. IBNFSHN is correct about tidal water being tougher when using only artificial bait. My catch rate is pretty low in tidal water because the visibility is usually very low. The visibility has been less than a foot on my recent trips to Morris Creek.
A couple of all around soft plastic lures to use are either a 2" curly tail grub or a 1.5"-2" tube jig on a 1/16 ounce jig head. My color of choice is chartreuse. My second favorite color is chartreuse. My third favorite color is ........ You get the idea. There are times when other colors produce better, but chartruese pretty much always works. I sometimes add a small willow leaf spinner harness if the fish are slow to bite the plain jig. A horizontal presentation of cast and retrieve is a good way to fish cover and long lineing (trolling) works great for suspended crappie in open water. I troll quite often for crappie at Beaverdam and catch 30-70 fish in an evening's worth of fishing in the summer.
1/32 and 1/8 ounce heads can be used to help control depth when casting and retrieving. The jig can be suspended under a float for precise depth control or when fishing very shallow water to keep the jig from getting too deep.
Small crank baits also work well for a change of pace. The only problem I have is keeping all of the green perch off my line. LOL
Don't stop buying minnows just yet. Artificials work yes, but a live minnow still will get a fish's attention. A minnow, small split shot and a slip bobber with a stop are still hard to beat in my opinion, but I've always prefered natural bait to artificials. (Just don't remind me I said this come Striper season and there is nothing but plastics in my boat.)
Try something new but go with what you know and have confidence in. At least if you get shut out you can blame it on the fish!!
Good Fishing.
Mark
I think I will take a little bit of both this weekend, if the weather hasn't messed everything up. still hoping to get out on one of them john boats at lee hall reservior. I am not worried about catching some fish, just want my son to get some pullage. he already has gotten 2 18" stripers so something else would be nice.
thanks for the help guys.
shorefisherman