# Crappienow april issue is out



## chaunc (Apr 11, 2004)

check it out. www.crappienow.com


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## Intimidator (Nov 25, 2008)

Hasn't been a discussion about Crappie for awhile....Crappie fishing to me is a Passion, an artform, I enjoy it being difficult, I have my own opinions which are not very well liked, but alot of people are afraid to talk about extreme Crappie fishing...I am not!
If you fish for Crappie in extreme ways I want to share ideas with someone that can broaden my fishing...I'm tired of hearing and reading about all the old boring ways to Crappie fish. You CAN Crappie fish like you BASS fish!

I fish for Crappie using BIG swimbaits...100% of the time and all year long (I do Not Ice fish)! IMHO I consider live bait, bobbers, small stuff for beginners or kids...long poles, trolling, spider rigging, etc, are boring and not challenging to me!
I fish with a purpose, I know my lake, I know crappie, where they should be when, and when they feed best...I can make my 3 inch to 4.8 inch swimbaits do what is needed to get strikes and fill freezers...I can fish shallow, deep, cover, structure, wood, from shore, from boat, in wind, no wind, cloudy, rainy, or sunny, etc....and I cast the bait to them and can control it, under a dock, stump, tree, etc, and I don't lose alot of baits....this is how I make Crappie fishing fun and Challenging! Disagree or agree, speak your mind, and we all will learn!


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## Crazy4Smallmouth (Apr 13, 2004)

I agree with Intimidator. We both fish the same lake and fish the same way. When I tell someone that I like to fish for crappie, they immediately start assuming that I am spider rigging, long pole flipping into cover, slip bobber fishing with live minnows, etc. However, when I tell them how I fish they are surprised. Then when I tell them how many I catch they call me a liar. Then we go fishing together and they become believers. Their old honey holes become history and they become hooked on CJ. I'm not saying that there isn't a time and place for the tried and true methods, but I am saying lets talk about some new techniques as well.


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## buckzye11 (Jul 16, 2009)

While some of the lures being used are new and very effective, the methods have remained the same for a long time. When we didnt have the swimbaits of today, there were twisters and sassy shads filling the void, befroe plastics i relly dont know what they did when casting, but i assume marabou jigs and wet flies were used when casting. Were they effective as swimbaits i don't know, but it seems as though the fish then still had to be hungry and ready to eat any offering as much as they do todays plastics.
All that said, i enjoy catching them on swimbaits very much! And some days when they wont touch a straight tail shad body, they will inhale a 3' swimbait... but many days prove to be just the opposite, when a 1" shad body kills them.
I think Crappie fishing is more about location then anything else, as proven that cast moved 10 foot from the previous cast can put you on a motherload of fish, when 10 foot to the right or left can result in nothing at all.After that its getting into the details of what they want most for the given day... since this happens, i believe the most effective tool for Crappie fishing is a decent sonar unit.
But for me too the most appealling part about fishing for Crappie is putting the puzzle together... then, when every thing is tuned, it's fish every cast... making me want to head out there right now!


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## Snyd (May 5, 2004)

Thanks chaunc - I always love reading these. Always learn something different when I do.


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## Intimidator (Nov 25, 2008)

buckzye11 said:


> While some of the lures being used are new and very effective, the methods have remained the same for a long time. When we didnt have the swimbaits of today, there were twisters and sassy shads filling the void, befroe plastics i relly dont know what they did when casting, but i assume marabou jigs and wet flies were used when casting. Were they effective as swimbaits i don't know, but it seems as though the fish then still had to be hungry and ready to eat any offering as much as they do todays plastics.
> All that said, i enjoy catching them on swimbaits very much! And some days when they wont touch a straight tail shad body, they will inhale a 3' swimbait... but many days prove to be just the opposite, when a 1" shad body kills them.
> I think Crappie fishing is more about location then anything else, as proven that cast moved 10 foot from the previous cast can put you on a motherload of fish, when 10 foot to the right or left can result in nothing at all.After that its getting into the details of what they want most for the given day... since this happens, i believe the most effective tool for Crappie fishing is a decent sonar unit.
> But for me too the most appealling part about fishing for Crappie is putting the puzzle together... then, when every thing is tuned, it's fish every cast... making me want to head out there right now!


I don't think I've ever had a day where I dropped down in size, like you said, location is the key. Besides the normal dawn/dusk feeding time they will eat if you present the bait as injured or dying....and there is nothing that compares to a Crappie that is gonna eat a big 3-4 inch swimmer. Seriously, they act like bass and just hammer a swimbait...they are not fooling around and they don't want that big chunk of food getting away.

Last year I fooled around with my unbelieving boys and Crappie fished with a 4.8 inch swimbait just to see what would happen...I slow rolled it and added the action of death and Crappies of all sizes just smashed it...heck they tore up more 4.8 inchers than the Bass did...sometimes they would smack it and not get the hook until the retrieve stopped and they would come back to finish it off!
With a big bait they don't have time to smell it, taste it, play with it, or take their sweet ol' time....here is a huge meal that they have to decide on in a split second, and they can't afford to pass up a meal like that!
Crappie can be particular, they can eat zooplankton, small bugs, etc to survive....same with small lures, they can pick and choose, and take there time to eat or not eat....but they get overwhelmed when a easy Big meal is dying nearby!
All of this came about when I started finding big shad in the bellies of Crappie...now I can go out and fish for Walleye, Bass, or Crappie, by only varying my location!


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