Questioni live in havana fl. and i am 71yrs old and still cant frigure out how to catch crappie. can you help-? how to locake, bait to use. i fish lake talquin in tallahassee fj.
AnswerBurhl; You don't live very far from me, I live on lake Seminole just West of Bainbridge, Georgia. I used to have a house on Lake Talquin before I moved to Georgia. While I never fished a lot for crappie on lake Talquin I know there are lots of big ones in there.
Being 7 years old I suppose you either have to fish from shore or with an adult with a boat. If you fish from the bank it is largely a matter of being in a place where you can get to the crappie. If there is a dock that is a good place. Often people with docks put old Christmas trees in the water to make cover for crappie. Crappie like to hang around brush piles.
Probably the best way for you to catch crappie is to use a long pole like a brim buster or crappie buster. Use light line no more than 8lb monofiliment line. Use a line just about the same length as your pole. Any more and you can't handle the line well. Use a small bobber made of Styrofoam about 3 inches long. Use a bobber that you can slide up or down your line easily but that will not slip on its own. Tie on a #2 gold hook and put a split shot about 6 inches above the hook. Use live minnows for bait. To keep minnows lively I take plastic bottles from 12 ounce soft drinks and fill them about 3/4 full of water, put the tops back on and freeze them. Then when I go fishing I put a couple of these ice bottles in the water with the minnows. This will keep them lively for several hours. I can then wipe the bottles off and drink the water if I get thirsty. Hook the minnow through the back just behind the top fin but be sure not to go too deep and hit the backbone or it will die. Crappie seldom will bite a dead minnow.
Start by setting your bobber about a foot shallower than the water where you will be fishing and toss the minnow in. If you don't get a bite in two or three minutes pull the bait out and try a few feet away. If you try several places try moving your bobber down a foot or foot and a half and try again. Keep trying different places wherever you can reach . If you still don't get any bites try moving your bobber a couple more feet down or so your minnow is only two feet or so below the surface. If none of this works see if you can find another place to fish and start again near the bottom. Except in the spawning time crappie may be quite deep but if you can fish only from shore you will be limited as to how deep you can fish.
If you can learn to use a spinning outfit this will greatly increase your range. In other words you can cast out much further from shore or a dock and reach more spots but the basic tactic is the same. Start fishing near the bottom and gradually move your bobber so you fish shallower. Sometimes crappie are deep but sometimes they come really shallow. If you can get a spinning outfit I suggest that you start out and learn to use an open face reel. I have never seen one of those closed face reels that work very well. Learn to use the spinning reel correctly and you will have a good tool for the rest of your life. I do not think seven years old is too young to learn to use such a reel. Also get a long rod. Don't let someone trick you into getting a "kid's " outfit. They are worthless. Save up your money and get a reel that costs at least $20 and a 7 foot rod that costs at least $10. Until you can get one like this use whatever you can get your hands on.
The only difference when fishing from a boat is that you can move around on the lake and fish many more spots.
After a little practice with your spinning outfit you may want to try some artificial lures. One of the best on lake Talquin is the
little spinnerbait with a little plastic tail. There are several brands. Ask at the local tackle shop what the local crappie fishermen have had the best luck with. Cast these out and slowly reel them back just over the top of brush piles or around logs and stumps of which Lake Talduin has many. Hang on because these little spinners also attract big bass occasionally.
Good luck and I hope this has been of some help. If you still need help give me a call and I may be able to come down and take you out on Lake Talquin in my boat sometime. That is assuming your parents approve of course.
You didn't mention catfish in your question but you did in the title so I will spend a moment on catfish. Catfish in general will bite just about anything they can smell. Often the smellier the bait the more they bite. I still like worms for them though. I just put on a #1 sproat hook on a line with a small weight and toss it in the water and wait for whiskers to bite. This may not be the best way to catch catfish but to me it is the way I like to do it. Look for a place where there is just a little current or a place where the water gets deep near shore and fish there. You can use a pole and line or rod and reel (your spinning outfit from crappie fishing will work fine.) Just cast some bait, chicken livers, worms, cheese bait you buy at the tackle store or walmart (you will need a special treble hook with a little spring on the shaft to hold the cheesebait) or you can make your own by sneaking some cheese from your mom's refrigerator and letting it get ripe far from home I hope.
Grasshoppers, dead minnows, cut up fish, crawfish, shrimp and many other things make good catfish bait. Watch the spines on these fish as they are sharp and many have a mild poison which is very painful if they stick you.
Of course the best way to do any of the things I mentioned is to find some person older than you who knows something about fishing and get them to teach you personally. I wish I could do it myself but I am getting old and can't travel too far too often. Still give me a call if your parents approve and I will do what I can.
I am
Jack L. Gaither (jackfromSeminole)
Phone 229-861-2366
e-mail
[email protected]
