How to crappie fish

[foulhooked]

I am a decent bass fisherman but have to admit I no nothing about crappie fisherman and admire the skill of all the crappie fisherman I read on this site. Will someone please tell me how to fish for crappie on Chickamauga and where to go.

Just a few tips would be great

 

[rsimms]

Lots of methods to crappie fish. My favorite to put fish in the livewell is what's called "long line trolling." Either 1/16th or 1/32nd oz. jigs on either 4 lb. or 6 lb. test. I use 6 rods... 2 6-foot, 2 8-foot, 2 10-foot. 6 rod holders mounted on boat, 2 in rear facing rear, 2 midships facing back at 45 degree angle and 2 to front facing almost 90 degree angle. Start trolling motor, throw out 2 shorter rear facing rods, then 2 midship rods then 2 bow rods. You'll be covering about a 24-foot "swath" with six lures.... all in strike zone non-stop. That's why this method will usually outdo casting. Not as sporting, but for most folks, more productive. I use a GPS to monitor boat speed... you want to troll between 0.6 and 1.0 mph... no faster! 0.8 is usually my prefered speed. I'll typically look for 6-10 feet of water near channel or travel lane. This method doesn't really depend upon find "cover" so to speak. In fact you want to avoid brushpiles. You're looking for suspended fish in pre-spawn mode, just kind of staged up waiting. This method is especially good for youngsters or others who may not be very adept at "casting," or detecting the light strike of crappie. Go to my website: http://www.sceniccityfishing.com/ Click the big box at top with picture of a crappie to watch a video. NOTE: crappie limit has been lowered since that video was produced. Again, that's one method. I'm sure you'll get several other "favorite" methods.

 

[polo-dog]

rsimms, the way I figure, if you go through the good fish 2 and a half times and catch fish on each rod you'll have to stop because you have met your limit. Short trip if you ask me. That's why I like to cast, it takes me a good long while to get my limitemoAngel emoAngel .

 

[rsimms]

polo-dog - 3/10/2007 6:45 AM

rsimms, the way I figure, if you go through the good fish 2 and a half times and catch fish on each rod you'll have to stop because you have met your limit. Short trip if you ask me. That's why I like to cast, it takes me a good long while to get my limitemoAngel emoAngel .

I wish I had that "problem" every day! emoLaugh

 

[Jmax]

Richard, I have seen your web sight before but got to admit never noticed the video. That is downright neat!emoWorthy Makes me want to go again right now. Foulhooked I will give you two more ways to do it and they are similar in place but not in procedure. Polo used a sling shot method in casting yesterday, take a spinning rod and grab you grub and bend back the rod and let it fly. You kind of actually shoot the grub un under the docks. I on the other hand use my lightest bass rod with a bait caster.emoRolleyes I know....don't laugh. I use it similar to a fly rod. I let out about 10 yards or so of line and hold the line in my left hand and the rod in my right and I toss the grub into where I want it to be and release the line all in the same motion. It gets there. Then I just grab the line again between the first eye on the rod and the reel and pull it to me. Just like fly fishing. This method works very well when you are not having to get it too far to where you want to be. Around docks, trees, pilings and structure both of these methods work great. I use a 1/16 oz head and 10 lb line. The lead is bigger than most but with the heavier line it falls slow. I hope this helps.emoThumbsup Jmax

 

[drumking]

I have caught a couple of crappie in my lifetime and there are 2 things that I never do. One is use live bait (minnows) and the other is trolling. Now minnows will catch crappie and people can catch crappie while trolling, but....those techniques are not for me. I just don't like fishing like that.

I'm a fool'em rather than feed'em type fisherman. I'd rather catch 1 crappie that I have cast to than to have every rod jerked down while making a trolling pass and catch 6 or 8 fish all at the same time. Where's the fun in that? Either feeling the crappie take in a plastic grub, tube, minnow, assassin, or watching the line jump a little or tighten up or move off sideways is where the thrill is for me at least.

If I don't catch Crappie while casting to them, then that is ok too. At least I have had time to hone my feel for what the jig is doing, even if it doesn't make contact with a fish. BTW, there are times when you can catch more fish casting to them than while trolling with spider rigs too.

My advise to someone wanting to learn to crappie fish, especially a bass fisherman, is to fish with 1/32 oz jigs, 4 lb test hi vis yellow line, 4'10" to 5.0' ul rod, and fish sloooooooowwwww. When you think that you are fishing too slow, then slow down just a little bit more. There are times as the water warms up when you can speed up a little bit, but all in all, you can't fish too slow for crappie. Crappie like to ease up on a bait, eye ball it for a spell, and then suck it in. You usually don't get the violent strikes that a bass will give you. Many crappie bites are so subtle that unless you are watching your line and have ultra sensitive touch, you would never know that you had a bite.

My theory is that when you feel a crappie thump the jig, he is actually trying to expell it from his mouth and it gets snagged on the lip area. Most of the time when a crappie inhales a jig, you never feel it. You just see the line tighten, or move slightly off to one side or the other or the line will just twitch with no feel communicated up the line to the fisherman. If you set the hook when you see the line tighten up, most of the time the jig is hooked in the back of the throat in the roof of the mouth. My definition of a theory is this: A supposition based upon ignorance of the subject matter. emoBigsmile emoGeezer

 

[foulhooked]

drumking, I used yor method and caught 11, 3 nice keepers around docks on Chick. It was awesome. You are so right. Slooow is better.
thanks for the advise.

 

[drumking]

Glad I could help a little bit.