What To Use To Catch Crappie

Knowing how to fish for crappie may seem uncomplicated only if you break down the unlike techniques and strategies, it gets pretty complex. We've broken down the almost popular crappie techniques to help you kickoff fishing similar a pro. If you detect a brush pile or submerged log and drop an anchor. Cast out a minnow set below a bobber and start hauling in crappie. Crappie fishing used to exist that easy, simply crappie tournaments have acquired competitive anglers to develop new tactics to catch crappie. Although minnows still grab smashing numbers of crappie, the panfish are also susceptible to biting an assortment of artificial lures ranging from soft plastics to crankbaits.

A cane pole with some line attached was the only gear needed to catch crappie back in the practiced sometime days, just at present crappie anglers can cull ultralight spinning outfits, 9- to 10-human foot jig poles or 14- to 16-pes trolling rods for their favorite crappie tactic. Crappie anglers likewise have multiple choices of lines to endeavor ranging from two-pound examination monofilament or fluorocarbon for fishing in clear water for pressured crappie to 20- or 30-pound braid for fishing in standing timber.

Hither's a look at some of the top tactics and the gear to use for catching crappie throughout the year.

Classic Bobber And Minnow Crappie Rig

This is probably one of the easiest and most productive ways to catch crappie any fourth dimension of the twelvemonth.

When fishing shallow in the spring, use a fixed bobber set a pes or 2 anxiety higher up a minnow attached to a number 1 or two Aberdeen hook. Y'all can either nowadays the minnow without a weight to let the bait swim around freely or add a bb split shot to keep the minnow at a certain depth and preventing it from swimming around too much and hanging up your rig in the cover.

When fishing brush piles or standing timber in deeper water, use a slip bobber and set it at the depth you lot find crappie suspended in the embrace. Utilize a couple of large bb split shots or some i/viii- or 1/iv-ounce pinch-on sinkers to drop your minnow to the desired depth.

A longer rod ranging from 7 feet for casting or 10 to 12 anxiety for flipping to the embrace works best for the bobber and minnow setup.

How To Jig Fish For Crappie

Casting and vertically presenting jigs to crappie are my favorite techniques for catching crappie on my home waters of Lake of the Ozarks.

For the more aggressive fish hanging around brush piles, I like to cast past the target and call up a 1/xvi-ounce jig adorned with some type of soft plastic body over the elevation of the brush pile. If this presentation fails to trigger a strike I position my boat over the brush, drop my jig direct downward into the comprehend and allow information technology sit in the strike zone until a crappie bites information technology.

My gear for this type of jig fishing consists of a 6 one/ii-foot medium activity rod and spinning reel filled with 4- or six-pound fluorocarbon line.

Shooting/Skipping Jigs

When crappie tuck up nether docks or overhanging tree limbs, delivering a jig in a fashion like to shooting a bow and arrow will place your bait in those hard-to-reach areas.

The keys to this tactic are using a half dozen one/2- to seven-pes rod with a limber tip for loading up a jig to propel and 4- to 6-pound line that swirls freely off of a spinning reel as the jig shoots towards the target. A 1/16-ounce jig works best for shooting considering it skips well when it hits the water; a 1/8-ounce jig tends to plow when information technology hits the water while a i/32-ounce jig isn't heavy enough to pull the line off the reel and reach the target.

Shoot a jig by opening the bond of the spinning reel and hooking the line with your index finger. Next, catch the curve of the jigs hook and pull on the jig to arc the rod tip. Make sure to aim your rod slightly downward and and so release the line from your index finger to shoot the jig to the target.

Spider Rigging

This tactic allows you to troll jigs or minnows with multiple 14- to 16-inch rods off the front end of your boat. Rod holders designed to concord multiple long poles are a necessity for spider rigging.

The standard setup for spider rigging consists of two jigs or two minnows on number 1 or 2 Aberdeen hooks tied at various lengths in a higher place a heavy sinker (1/2 to 1 ounce depending on depth and air current or current).

How To Fish For Crappie With Crankbaits

This is an effective way to catch large crappie suspended in open up h2o. After finding schools of crappie with your electronics, select a 2-inch medium-diving crankbait to troll through the schooling fish. Select four- to vi-pound fluorocarbon line to brand the crankbait dive to 10 to 12 feet.

You can either apply rod holders to troll multiple crankbaits or yous can agree a rod for trolling a single crankbait.