Crappie Fishing Tackle Guidelines: Tips On Selecting The Best Bait For Crappie!

Old School Crappie Fishing Family Secrets

Crappie fishing may seem to be very simple to some folks, but if you want to be a successful and consistent fisherman there are some simple guidelines you can use to make your next crappie fishing trip more enjoyable. Creating your own list of tips to catch crappie important and you constantly refine and add to your list every time you go fishing. Don’t overlook to power of documenting this list it will be very powerful as you become more experienced. Just remember that learning how to fish for crappie can be simple if you follow some simple guidelines. What I want to give to you is a starting point in developing your own guidelines tailored to your own personal fishing techniques.
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’t 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 you will be able to use crappie fishing rigs ranging in size from 1/64oz to 1/4oz depending on the size of fish you plan to target. The majority of the crappie fish’s diet will consist of adult & and recently hatched forage fish fry. You can adjust your crappie minnow rigs based on the size of fish you plan to target. The smaller fish will be feeding on the fry so choose a crappie bait to match the size of the fry. A choice of about 1/64oz would be good here. If you are going after slabs then adjust your crappie rigging accordingly. A bait for crappie selection of 1/8oz to 1/4oz would be a great choice here. As in the other guidelines you can verify your sizes by checking the content of the stomachs of the fish you catch.
Guideline #4 There are special situations where you need to do some additional preparation to learn how to catch crappie. One of the most common special situations you will come across depending on where you are fishing is water clarity. This will be the only special situation we will touch on today. When you are fishing muddy or stained water waters the crappie will have a hard time seeing your crappie baits, and rigging for crappies so you need to hone in on their keen senses here. On your crappie live bait rigs you will need to add some flashy spinner blades and some rattles. The crappie can hear the rattles and see the blade flash as they approach your crappie bait enticing them to strike. In clear water you will need a very small diameter fishing line like fire line, that is near invisible in the water. Your crappie rigging will need to be the smallest you can find that will still get your crappie baits to where the fish are. The crappie’s sight is outstanding in clear water so you need to imitate the forage fish bait well.