Crappie fishing tackle Guidelines: Details Here On The Best Bait For Crappie!

!p>Old School Crappie Fishing Family Secrets

If you are a crappie fisherman you probably are always looking for that edge on how to catch crappie. I could give you some elaborate spiel like, ?If you use these guidelines you are guaranteed to catch crappie?but lets face it anyone who is an avid fisherman looks at statements like that as a 搇ot of bull?What I would like to do though is share some common guidelines I use to develop your own list of tips to catch crappie. You see on any given day you can get skunked, even the pros do once in awhile. The trick is to refine your skills to understand what crappie live bait or tackle for crappie fishing to use in different seasons and different fishing situations. To this you need to develop your own personal list of crappie fishing guidelines.
Guideline #1 Visit your local State Department of Natural Resources and your local bait shops to get some valuable fishing information about the crappie population in your area. You need to find out what type of crappie fishing rigs are being used to catch fish. You need to find out the average size of the fish being caught and if any larger crappies are being caught. You need to find out what types of crappie jigs are best, what size and what color. The color doesn抰 mater as much as matching the size and the to the forage fish that crappies are eating, such as crappie minnows. You Can verify very quickly what the fish are eating after you catch a few and check the contents of their stomachs. Based on what you find you can adjust your crappie rigging and crappie baits accordingly.
Guideline #2 The best time to catch crappie in your local area is the spring season. This is a ideal time to get into the sport of crappie fishing if you are a new fisherman. The crappie fish are very active and getting ready for the annual spring spawn, and they will be feeding constantly. Also after the spring spawn they will be feeding through out the remainder of the spring and throughout the summer on the newly hatched forage crappie minnow fry and the adults. The fish will be plentiful around boat docks and submerged logs and trees. During the spawn you will need to fish directly on top of the nest. You will get many crappie strikes if you do this because the crappies are extremely protective when they are on the nest. You can use a variety of different crappie rigging to catch these silvery specks. At this time of year crappie minnow rigs work great because the fish are feeding heavily. If you are a beginner I would recommend using live bait. If you are an experienced fisherman you can use a variety of crappie fishing rigs this time of year. As a rule of the thumb, use larger jig sizes of 1/4oz. to target larger fish. Use 1/64oz to 1/16oz to target smaller fish. Again color is not as important as matching the size and the look to what the crappie are actually eating. To verify that your selection is correct open up a few fish after you catch them and see what is in the fishes stomachs.
Guideline #3 In the summer months your choice of crappie fishing rigging and crappie bait can vary on the size of fish you want to target. As the water temperature warms to 70 degrees Fahrenheit the forage fish such as crappie fishing minnows begin to spawn. And will continue to spawn throughout late spring and well into summer or until the water temperature approaches 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The smaller crappie will feed off the fry while the larger crappie will feed off of the adults. The size of your crappie baits will mater in the summer. For example if you want to catch crappie in the 1lb range you will need to use larger crappie live bait and larger crappie jig sizes. If the fish are feeding on threadfin shad you will need to match the size and look of these forage fish if you want to be successful. A good way to create your imitation is to catch a few shad and use them to make your crappie baits.
Guideline #4 Special fishing situations will need special crappie rigging preparation. There are only two common situations that I will talk about here. The first is how to catch crappie if the water is very muddy or stained. There are some very easy tips to catch crappie you can use here. Crappies have very good eye site and outstanding hearing. If you come across situations where the water is stained and muddy, then you need to dress up your crappie baits to hone in on the crappies good hearing because there line of sight will very limited. Attach some shiny rotating blades to your line just about the hooks. Then attach a line rattle. A crappie will zone in on the noise of the rattle and then it gets close the crappie will see and go after the rotating blade thinking it is a wounded crappie fishing minnow. If the water is extremely clear you will need to use a very small diameter line, fire line is good for this application. You will need to sharpen up your crappie bait imitation skills. You will need to use crappie rigging, and crappie baits in the 1/64oz to 1/32oz sizes.