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Teach me about crappie please

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noahtn

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Mar 10, 2012
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247
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Franklin
Lifelong largemouth fisherman here. All I hear about is crappie, crappie crappie. So, would someone please enlighten me on where, how etc...to catch these. I have 2 kids who are loving fishing and it sounds like these are something we could catch a bunch of. We don't keep anything, so I'm just looking for quantity over quality for them.
 
Light tackle, cork, bucket of minnows and drive around until you see boats stacked on top of each other and join them. They are simple to catch, finding them is the hardest part and still that's not bad. They school together so where there is one, there are many. If you see them on the depth finder they look like a Christmas tree on down image and a mass on 2D. On the lake look for long points as the winter gets colder. Right now they have been shallow on Douglas... and they go shallow as spring comes. Usually middle of winter I catch them in 15 to 20 foot... right now 5 to 10. In the spring even shallower.

Trolling... you'll have to talk to one of these lazy fishermen. LOL I've done it but it's not for me. I'd rather cast to them and feel the tick when they bite. For kids, it may be easier to troll if you have the right boat... when they are slow it gets them moving and you can cover water and find them... you'll also get an assortment of fish trolling.
 
SilverFox":1vr1izbf said:
Light tackle, cork, bucket of minnows and drive around until you see boats stacked on top of each other and join them. They are simple to catch, finding them is the hardest part and still that's not bad. They school together so where there is one, there are many. If you see them on the depth finder they look like a Christmas tree on down image and a mass on 2D. On the lake look for long points as the winter gets colder. Right now they have been shallow on Douglas... and they go shallow as spring comes. Usually middle of winter I catch them in 15 to 20 foot... right now 5 to 10. In the spring even shallower.

Trolling... you'll have to talk to one of these lazy fishermen. LOL I've done it but it's not for me. I'd rather cast to them and feel the tick when they bite. For kids, it may be easier to troll if you have the right boat... when they are slow it gets them moving and you can cover water and find them... you'll also get an assortment of fish trolling.
Click to expand...

What?? A minner/cork fisherman calling someone lazy? A fisherman that throws a minner out and lets it do all the work? A real single poler with a 10 foot jig pole and a jig would call that lazy! :tu:

I'm not picky. I jig fish in the spring unless they want minners. Then I'll fish minners under a cork. I'll pull cranks in the summer and spider rig minners in the late spring and fall. Whatever works. :smash:
 
LOL... I don't minnow fish but I learned how as a kid and he wants to take kids. I only tight-line for crappie. That's not how you want to start kids. I like the 4lb test and a 1/32 to 1/16 oz jig head on a 7' medium action and a 10 series reel.

The regular crappie guys usually ride right past me when I'm working a school since they figure I'm bass fishing. I crappie fish out my 20 foot bass boat. Every once in a while one will figure me out and they give you the stink eye. It makes it easier to find them since I have side and down scan... and I can move faster and fight the wind better than I could in my aluminum boats.
 
SilverFox":3pf9vgx1 said:
LOL... I don't minnow fish but I learned how as a kid and he wants to take kids. I only tight-line for crappie. That's not how you want to start kids. I like the 4lb test and a 1/32 to 1/16 oz jig head on a 7' medium action and a 10 series reel.

The regular crappie guys usually ride right past me when I'm working a school since they figure I'm bass fishing. I crappie fish out my 20 foot bass boat. Every once in a while one will figure me out and they give you the stink eye. It makes it easier to find them since I have side and down scan... and I can move faster and fight the wind better than I could in my aluminum boats.
Click to expand...
Yea,you should see some of the looks I get crappie fishing out of a 20 foot center console bay boat.
 
All I know about them is Spring time pattern so I'll share what I do. As a kayak angler, I can't cover all the water you can in an outboard. I have a handful of spots that hold fish in the Spring and those will stay tight lipped but really they're not hard to find in Spring. They will go as shallow as just a few feet but before they do that, it's the most fun for me.

8-12' of water, scan around with your electronics and mark brush and/or schools of fish. I'll scan around and throw out marker buoys. Then I'll troll back and forth around those buoys and most of the time I get a hit every time I pass over them. I get bass, whites, yellows, hybrids, gills, and of course plenty of crappie. They tend to often be in schools of similar size so if you get a bunch of 8 inchers, look elsewhere. I troll with double rigged 1/16 oz jigheads with a variety of 2" curly tail grubs. I'll try different colors and pay attention to what works best. I'll tie one on, leave about 2 feet of tag end on the knot and tie another. I cast as far as I can and put the butt of the rod under my leg. One on the left side, one on the right so I've got 4 jigs swimming by. Paddle and watch the rod tips bend.

You WILL lose a lot of lures this way since crappie fishing is light line fishing and you'll get hung and break off. No biggie. Buy the cheapest jigheads you can find and a few 25 count bags of mister twister grubs. White, Pumpkin/Chartreuse, and Black/Chartreuse seem to be the best colors.
 

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