LedHed
Sponsor
Crappie are in the shallows starting to spawn. Structure is rock, sticks, & brush.
How would you fish for them?
How would you fish for them?
Crappie question
- Thread starter LedHed
- Start date
Radtexan
Moderator
Thats the time of year my 12'ers come out..
Vertical fishing either from the boat,shore or my favorite, Wading ,when they are on the banks...Still 4-5 weeks away out here..
Vertical fishing either from the boat,shore or my favorite, Wading ,when they are on the banks...Still 4-5 weeks away out here..
eyecrosser
New member
Wade slowly along the banks dipping or put a roadrunner style jig under a bobber about 18" or so and slowly retreive and twitch it back to you. Good luck.
Pup
Active member
I'll assume gin clear water conditions in Lake Perris. If not, forget about this...maybe? 
Fish a 1/16-oz. or 1/32-oz.Falls Bait Co. Jig-N-Minnow orange-headed/gray-bodied jig slowly with a do-nuthin' retrieve or twitch with 2 to 3-second pauses beneath a pencil float. I prefer a jig and its body to measure 1.5 inches in length or a little less.
Braided/fused line would sure be handy for optimal casting distance (with and without float) and feel. However, 2-lb. mono/copolymers may work very well for this depending on their diameter. Crappie often put "pressure" on the line during a do-nuthin' retrieve, rather than hit the bait hard, in my experience. So, feel is important to me if I'm looking to take some fish home.
Take your pick, bank or boat.
Fish a 1/16-oz. or 1/32-oz.
Braided/fused line would sure be handy for optimal casting distance (with and without float) and feel. However, 2-lb. mono/copolymers may work very well for this depending on their diameter. Crappie often put "pressure" on the line during a do-nuthin' retrieve, rather than hit the bait hard, in my experience. So, feel is important to me if I'm looking to take some fish home.
Take your pick, bank or boat.
Ron Don
Future Sponsor
Some people cast and retrieve spinners during the spawn with good results. I pretty much stick to vertical jigging though. Keep in mind you can find the females stacked up in staging areas usually on flats out from the spawning areas.
LOL,
Went to small local lake mostly to stretch my legs a bit, Rod in hand and box o jigs in pocket just in case.
Lake is frozen still. walked to dam and could hear water running but dam is completely ice covered. Walked to spillway, there was about a 3' wide area where water was cascading up and over the ice in the spillway. Clear water about 400 yards down stream except that is private property so even though it was 61 degrees, ice is still there,
Went to small local lake mostly to stretch my legs a bit, Rod in hand and box o jigs in pocket just in case.
Lake is frozen still. walked to dam and could hear water running but dam is completely ice covered. Walked to spillway, there was about a 3' wide area where water was cascading up and over the ice in the spillway. Clear water about 400 yards down stream except that is private property so even though it was 61 degrees, ice is still there,
quivira kid
New member
Jig 12-18" below a 5/8" pear bobber here! Normally 1/32 or 1/16. Or use a 10ft pole and dip the brush.
JUNGLEJIM1
Well-known member
Sonny, time to head back to the backwater we fished last year. Your chub spinners will work, boolies and jigs. You need to tie a few bigger jigs with #6 and #4 hooks. Perfect time for those 2-3 lbers that are out there.
CrappieHappy
Moderator
Vertical jig what I can reach, jig n bobber for other structure/ areas I target
Jig Man
Active member
If you can reach em with the long pole, go for it. If not, then slow drag a cork and jig. Main thing, don't press em. The females will be staging on the first break or close to it.
LedHed
Sponsor
Thnx for the input - gonna try some on Monday.
JJ - that back lagoon is Grand Central Station with the bass guys. Want to try over at the boat launch and throw some of the Boolie knockoffs at them
JJ - that back lagoon is Grand Central Station with the bass guys. Want to try over at the boat launch and throw some of the Boolie knockoffs at them
Lost Pole
New member
Long pole, stealth like if you can, from a boat. That way you can hit the females first. Guessing every place is different. I caught over 30 fish in two hours after work tonight in less than 6" of water. I kept 12 to keep momma happy and even those are suspect. I suspect from your reports of the deep waters, that's there's some docks present...would be hitting them first, pitching n dragging. If the fish think your driving through the nest, they'll bite, much diff than bass.
If it is clear water, my guess would be to either look in deeper water or tight tight to the sticks/brush. One clear lake up here has cattails growing out into about 5 FOW and you can sight fish for the crappie right in the reeds. They spawn just to the sides of them as well, but get spooked easily. Ones up in the reeds must feel safer and can get a little closer to them. Have a lot of rock structure on my home lakes and the places that have any wood or brush really hold the crappie very often.
For early spring and spawn, most of the time will throw smaller (lighter) jigs or anything that will fall slow. If they just watch it sink past their nose then have to go to a small float and keep it right in their face.
.....how i do it (poorly mind you) on my home waters anyway.
For early spring and spawn, most of the time will throw smaller (lighter) jigs or anything that will fall slow. If they just watch it sink past their nose then have to go to a small float and keep it right in their face.
.....how i do it (poorly mind you) on my home waters anyway.
StumpHunter
Active member
Now is a great time to use a fly rod and a 1/100 oz jig working the bank or any structure. The crappie are just starting to get into the spawning around here. I have filled the box on a few trips and hope to go Friday after the storms move through. A 1/32 and a 1/16 jig under a float works very well also.
papaperch
Active member
Crappies , actually spawn deeper than what is commonly believed. Depending on clarity , depth of weedline and bottom composition all factor in to depth selected at any particular lake. Normally anywhere from 8-14 foot of water
What a lot of people mistake for a spawn is when crappies pile in the shallows feeding on bugs. Their instincts tell them that minnows are in short supply because the minnow eggs are just hatching. So on the first few warm days bugs start to hatch especially in protected bays on the northwest side of lake. I have caught crappie so shallow their back fins were visible above the water surface.
One lake here in northeast Ohio , Mosquito Lake, on the northern end was infamous for this. Using chest waders I would stand in belly button deep water and fish in water 10 -24 inches deep. On a cold day you would get skunked on days warm enough to get an insect hatch it bordered on insanity. A friend of mine used to call it " rabbit hunting " as we got deep into the willow brush lining the shore. I used to limit myself to no more than 50. Almost any kind of small jig worked color did not seem to matter. Would not have been hard at all to catch 200+ on the right day. The time of year was usually late March to mid-April. The crappie don't spawn here until at least mid-May.
On these occasions afternoon trips were vastly superior to morning trips. Needed the heat to generate the insect hatch. I had an old beat up fiberglass fly rod that i converted to a spinning rod. It was 9 foot and I would drag the jig head right up to the tip to poke it into the brush so as not to hang it on the thick brush.
Another thing we had to do was use chain stringers for our fish. Rope stringers were better but the fishes tendency to flop on the surface with rope stringers. Drew way too much attention from boat fishermen. Some of them thought it was perfectly ok to park their boat almost on top of you. Can't tell you how many ran aground trying to get as close as we were to the brush.
What a lot of people mistake for a spawn is when crappies pile in the shallows feeding on bugs. Their instincts tell them that minnows are in short supply because the minnow eggs are just hatching. So on the first few warm days bugs start to hatch especially in protected bays on the northwest side of lake. I have caught crappie so shallow their back fins were visible above the water surface.
One lake here in northeast Ohio , Mosquito Lake, on the northern end was infamous for this. Using chest waders I would stand in belly button deep water and fish in water 10 -24 inches deep. On a cold day you would get skunked on days warm enough to get an insect hatch it bordered on insanity. A friend of mine used to call it " rabbit hunting " as we got deep into the willow brush lining the shore. I used to limit myself to no more than 50. Almost any kind of small jig worked color did not seem to matter. Would not have been hard at all to catch 200+ on the right day. The time of year was usually late March to mid-April. The crappie don't spawn here until at least mid-May.
On these occasions afternoon trips were vastly superior to morning trips. Needed the heat to generate the insect hatch. I had an old beat up fiberglass fly rod that i converted to a spinning rod. It was 9 foot and I would drag the jig head right up to the tip to poke it into the brush so as not to hang it on the thick brush.
Another thing we had to do was use chain stringers for our fish. Rope stringers were better but the fishes tendency to flop on the surface with rope stringers. Drew way too much attention from boat fishermen. Some of them thought it was perfectly ok to park their boat almost on top of you. Can't tell you how many ran aground trying to get as close as we were to the brush.