# Crappie - Save me a Trip!



## RiverDoc (Mar 12, 2010)

Is it too early to fish for these? I'm feeling the itch.


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## Lundfish (Apr 7, 2010)

RiverDoc said:


> Is it too early to fish for these? I'm feeling the itch.


No. If you can find an area where they are they will bite. I would use small jigs or minnows.


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## RiverDoc (Mar 12, 2010)

Lundfish said:


> No. If you can find an area where they are they will bite. I would use small jigs or minnows.


Ok, thank you very much. I've fished for crappie all of a dozen times in my life. Can't take this sitting around and waiting for the river to go down and the the lake ice to melt. 

Tell me, this time of year, are they near the bottom? structure? In the fall I had mixed results using floats, or no float and dropping a minnow on the bottom with a single split shot. Any advice for this time of year? Since you mentioned jigs, I have a bunch of crappie tube jigs that I use for steelhead. Can you recommend 2-3 jigs that you like as well as their colors? Do they see well in muddy water?

I am grateful for your time.


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## Intimidator (Nov 25, 2008)

They'll be in deeper water with vertical structure/cover and will be feeding for the upcoming spawn! Good luck!


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## T-180 (Oct 18, 2005)

Usually within a few feet of bottom , but have seen sunny days in the early season when their backs were almost out of the water, absorbing the sun. Look to deeper water near drop off w/ cover ; the electronics are your best friend right now. They should be tightly schooled so keep moving until you find them. Jig color varies greatly depending on lots of factors, but small minoows are usually the ticket.


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## RiverDoc (Mar 12, 2010)

T-180 said:


> Jig color varies greatly depending on lots of factors, but small minoows are usually the ticket.


T-180, thank you. I'll research the jig colors but can you tell me your favorite top three colors. Thanks again.


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## Shortdrift (Apr 5, 2004)

Your presentation for a crappie should be at the same depth or preferably slightly above them as their eyes are set to look upward. You may on RARE occasios have a crappie case a slow moving bait downward as it comes into it's view from above and the pass within his limited below horizontal vision.
A slip float is a very good way to present your bait as you can easily vary the depth to find the feeding zone and also have a chance at fish shallower than your set depth as the bait slowly falls to your float stop. I always use a stop of highly visible string and leave about 1/2" of excess on each side of the knot. You can easily see a hesitation (bite) in the fall of your bait by watching the knot, If the knot hesitates, gently set the hook.
My favorite colors are Dark Blue with white tail, Blue with chartruse tail and Blue with yellow tail. Now, those are my "go to" starter colors,....But there are times my GT's don't work and that is when you need other selections. You might also want to invest in some Roadrunners in 1/8 and 1/4 ounce and tip them with the tails or minnows hooked through the head as well as around 2" of nightcrawler. RR's can be cast alone of retrieved slowly under the slip float.
Hope some of these suggestions help get you started.


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## nicklesman (Jun 29, 2006)

Don't necessarily count out shallow water I have caught lots of crappies in 5-8 ft in the middle of March and even shallower


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## RiverDoc (Mar 12, 2010)

Shortdrift said:


> Your presentation for a crappie should be at the same depth or preferably slightly above them as their eyes are set to look upward. You may on RARE occasios have a crappie case a slow moving bait downward as it comes into it's view from above and the pass within his limited below horizontal vision.
> A slip float is a very good way to present your bait as you can easily vary the depth to find the feeding zone and also have a chance at fish shallower than your set depth as the bait slowly falls to your float stop. I always use a stop of highly visible string and leave about 1/2" of excess on each side of the knot. You can easily see a hesitation (bite) in the fall of your bait by watching the knot, If the knot hesitates, gently set the hook.
> My favorite colors are Dark Blue with white tail, Blue with chartruse tail and Blue with yellow tail. Now, those are my "go to" starter colors,....But there are times my GT's don't work and that is when you need other selections. You might also want to invest in some Roadrunners in 1/8 and 1/4 ounce and tip them with the tails or minnows hooked through the head as well as around 2" of nightcrawler. RR's can be cast alone of retrieved slowly under the slip float.
> Hope some of these suggestions help get you started.


Thank you, Sir. These are great tips-I appreciate it.


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## Lundfish (Apr 7, 2010)

RiverDoc said:


> Ok, thank you very much. I've fished for crappie all of a dozen times in my life. Can't take this sitting around and waiting for the river to go down and the the lake ice to melt.
> 
> Tell me, this time of year, are they near the bottom? structure? In the fall I had mixed results using floats, or no float and dropping a minnow on the bottom with a single split shot. Any advice for this time of year? Since you mentioned jigs, I have a bunch of crappie tube jigs that I use for steelhead. Can you recommend 2-3 jigs that you like as well as their colors? Do they see well in muddy water?
> 
> I am grateful for your time.


They are going to be at all sorts of depths as some have already said. Typically they are lower where the water is warmer. They will be where water temps are warmer, but they also HATE the sun. Are you fishing in marinas or an open lake or river? Clear water or murky?

For clear water I would "go to" a pink and whit hair jig. Super light. I like to tie two 1/64 or 1/80 about a foot apart. Jig slow from docks. Put a nibble on there too if you like. It seems to help sometimes. Vary your depth a lot. They will be a different depths throughout the day. Try to keep the bait above their eyes. As someone said they may go downward but not likely. They're very lathargic right now because it's so cold.

The colors I prefer are pink, green, orange, white. Anything will work if they can see it. 

Use slip floats if you're casting a distance away. Jigging will be your friend.

I really don't believe in using minnows for crappies. I think it's cheating. If you're starving and want a lot though, use minnows. However, in murky water I don't know that they'll work much better than jigs.

Hope this helps. I'm not a know it all when it comes to crappie, just sharing what I know.


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## T-180 (Oct 18, 2005)

Jig color is dependent on water clarity, etc. so carry several different ones. If I had to chose only 3 they probably would be chartreuse, pink, & green or some combo of those.


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## Wow (May 17, 2010)

I'm sorry if some of this is redundant..........Keep in mind that 2 -3 weeks ago, people were still catching them through the ice. They were vertical jigging everything including the kitchen sink. Now you can be mobile to find them. Stick with contours, shelves, structures and brush. They are easier to spook in open water, so work from some distance. The water is still very cold, so work everything slow. Finesse them. This time of year Crappie are like the walking dead, sluggish but on the lookout for fresh meat. Keep things vertical until the water warms. Tip your jigs with live bait or scented Gulp larval baits. Double up on your rig. Mix and match your colors until you find a successful combo. Try a curlytail. If they turn off, try a new size/color. If you decide to move, you may only have to move 50ft. to find the bite. Use a very long rod and vertically jig or cast a slip float, Start in 10-15 ft. and work your way shallower to find them. If you have a boat, start where you saw all of the shanties this winter. Ask the local bait proprietor. If you make a few trips, youll find a pattern, and on occasion youll have one of those days to brag about. Good Luck! --Tim.........................................................................................................................................


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## buckzye11 (Jul 16, 2009)

Here's 2 good tips I got from my grandpa that put a few more fish in the boat. 1: If there is current of any type(wind blown of a point, creek entrance, rivers) crappie and most other species will have thier head facing the direction of the current, so cast perpendicular to the current to keep the lure(bait) in the fish's stike window or sight longer.
2: Cast parallel with the dropoff. You maintain the target depth you want to be in(as opposed to casting to the shore in shallow and retrieving to deeper water) and again, your lure will be in the zone longer.
I'm not saying i hold true to this every time i fish, but it really does seem to get you more fish, especially on the slow days. Or maybe i'm just a more confident fisherman when doing these things. either way, it's worth a try. Good luck to you!


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## jiggerjohn (Sep 25, 2007)

RiverDoc, Experiment with a few of the 1/32 oz spinner /tube jigs from fish-n-spin.com . A slow steady retreive with an occaisional pause ,playing with various depths should find 'em ! Any of their sparkle tail colors will work fine.


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## GregL (Feb 26, 2011)

They' bittin:
Used a bobber and minnow, caught in Grand Valley (Camp D gravel pit) about 5 feet from shore. Little 8" - 10" bass were hittin too.


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## jkeeney20 (Mar 21, 2006)

Caught around 50 last weekend. All good sized. One day they wanted plain jigs with crappie nibbles in blue/white. Next they wanted yellow/red jigs tipped with minnows. So just keep trying until you find what they want. These fish are picky sometimes. All my fish came from 12-15ft on ledges and brush.


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