Crappie Hardware

[Metalhead]

My wife (God bless her) got me a new tackle system for valentine. The soft side with individual boxes. It's great, very flexable. I want to gear up to Crappie now. What are the main staples I should have. I have very limited ( I havn't fished for crappie much before) Crappie supplies. Also is there rule of thum on colors. I will probably spend most of my time on Table Rock. From what I've been reading in this forum Long Creek seems to be the place to start.

[Phil Lilley]

For me - jigs and soft plastic swimming baits (swimming minnows), lead heads, floats.

Jigs - varied colors and sizes. Bright colored heads seem to be good at times. I do well using pink, chartruese, gray, purple marabous with bright red, chartruese heads. I throw 1/8th to 1/16th oz depending on wind and depth of water. I use 1/32 to 1/80th if using a float.

Soft Plastic - swimming minnows, 2.5 inch are my favorite. Colors in order - smoke, chartruese, purple, lt blue, motor oil, white. Head color- same as above but I usually use a plain lead head. Size - 1/8 to 1/16th oz.

I use 4 lb line exclusively. Prefer a fly rod over spin.

If you're looking to buy swimming minnows (the original ones), I carry them on my online store at

http://lilleystacklestore.com

They are very hard to find, especially in all the sizes and colors.

[diamond dave]

Phil,

This may be a stupid question, but if you're using a fly rod with the jigs

do you move the jigs at all or just let them sit. As for as the swimming

minnows go, I assume your stripping those in pretty slow?

[Metalhead]

For me - jigs and soft plastic swimming baits (swimming minnows), lead heads, floats.

Jigs - varied colors and sizes. Bright colored heads seem to be good at times. I do well using pink, chartruese, gray, purple marabous with bright red, chartruese heads. I throw 1/8th to 1/16th oz depending on wind and depth of water. I use 1/32 to 1/80th if using a float.

Soft Plastic - swimming minnows, 2.5 inch are my favorite. Colors in order - smoke, chartruese, purple, lt blue, motor oil, white. Head color- same as above but I usually use a plain lead head. Size - 1/8 to 1/16th oz.

I use 4 lb line exclusively. Prefer a fly rod over spin.

Having all the right hardware is good, but what is a technique for locating crappie. Is there a preferable surface water temp / depth, to begin hunting. Do you use a paticular bait to locate them with.

[Phil Lilley]

I'm not an crappie expert so anyone correct me...

I use a swimming bait and work the banks and trees at different depths and structure till I find a pattern. It's as simple as that.

[Sam]

I'm no expert (whatever that is), but crappie fishing is my favorite - I do a lot of it. I'm not a minnow fisherman, I like to use jigs and keep moving.

To locate crappie, look in the likely places - and that usually involves flooded trees or brushpiles. I like to work down the outside edge of a line of flooded trees, or right through the middle of them. Crappie show up real well on a scope, but they're a narrow fish so sometimes they just show as a bunch of dots.

One important thing to remember about crappie - they won't go DOWN for a lure. They'll only feed on something that is at their level or slightly above - so pay attention to the depth of those "dots" on your scope.

Crappie like a very slow presentation, though a little bit of action such as an irregular retrieve or the wiggling tail of a swimming minnow is a plus. Often, a crappie strike will be just a slight tap - so you have to be ready with a quick, but not hard, hookset.

I do a lot of slow-trolling (5 speed trolling motor on #2 speed) with swimming minnows and a 1/8 oz. jig head to locate crappie. That way I can cover a lot of water and watch the scope. Once crappies are located, I'll stop and cast to them or maybe just troll back and forth over a productive stretch of water. Sometimes you can locate a good brushpile, stop and cast to it, and take a whole limit of crappies off that one spot.