Crappies

[CrappieMagnet]

Sounds like our ice fishing up here....it really does.

Sickle hooks are getting pretty popular nowadays.Give em' a try.

My buddy Skip will take care of anyone.....wanting to try his jigs.See what he has...if you like em' give them a try.

His website is http://thumpitjigs.com/index.html

Tell him I sent you..please.

[Bird Watcher]

I do love sickle hooks, and I do love sight fishing for crappie. This is my kind of conversation.

2 years ago down on lake Eucha in Ok., we had a couple of weeks of sight fishing for crappie. The lake had been drawn down and weeds were submerged. The crappie moved up into them to spawn. Guys who love fishing the trout parks would love it. You could actually watch multiple crappie suck it in and spit it out before you hooked one.

sickle hooks are the shiznit though, good points made by Sam about the size of their mouth and a wide gap hook. I ran in to the same problem fishing for hybrids in Ok this year. It's hard to find the right weight of jig head with the right size of hook.

This is good. Good Crappie info being laid down here. It's just up to those who want to catch them to pick it up.

Later,

[CrappieMagnet]

Hey Chris....maybe too much slack in your line so you could'nt hook em' when you were sight fishing?

[Bird Watcher]

Hey Chris....maybe too much slack in your line so you could'nt hook em' when you were sight fishing?

I doubt it. We were using a steady jigging retrieve, I just couldn't set the hook fast enough. The crappies reaction time was quicker than mine.

[troutgnat]

Gentlemen,

Here's my two cents worth. I caught onto to "narrow" of a gap on crappie jigs years ago. And I came up with a solution that I have been using for years. First, let me say that I have absolutely nothing against these sickle jigs but are they really needed???

I used to buy a ton of marabou jigs over the counter before I began to tie my own years ago. I flyfish and tie my own flies so it was easy to convert over to tying crappie jigs. I just ignored doing it for so long because I thought it wouldn't be cost effective since you lose so many! But I enjoy it and I can get the variety I want!

Anyway, onto where I was going. The reason many crappie jigs fail with a narrow gap is that they are "OVERTIED"!. Yes, the more material you have on a hook, THE LESS GAP YOU WILL HAVE!!!. Also, you do not need to have material all the way down to the bend of the hook.

Trust me here, next time you tie an olive trout jig put on about half as much material as you did before and see how much more you get bit.

Jigs and lures and most everything else out there is meant to catch men not fish! That's not my quote but it is so true.

If you were too see my box of hand-tied crappie jigs they would look much like the one in the picture with less marabou on the tail.

Here's what to do! Tie your marabou in at the head and secure it down with thread well and wrap it down back to about 1/2 way down the hook shank. This will leave your actual tail extending not far behind the hook. It ends up being about 1/2 the length of what you would see on a normal commercially tied jig. Next tie your chenille in at the head of the tail which should be about the 1/2 way point of the hook shank and wrap it toward the jighead and tie off. Yes, it will look very short but that's O.K.

The idea here is that you have nothing but a little bit of marabou at the bend of the hook (no chenille to hinder gap). So, hook-sets are usually not a problem and if crappie are finiky and biting short, well, you eliminate that problem too!

Sorry to ramble on but if you can't tell I love tying crappie jigs! It also gives me a reason to tie my own color variations. Some of my best color variations are to include: "The 1/2 Nude", "Dirty Laundry" and the "Hairy Nipple".

See how much fun you can have?. You get to name your own colors too!

[CrappieMagnet]

Good info troutgnat...I agree.

I tie my own jigs too.I had to find something to do with my hands once I quit smoking when I got ill almost 4 years ago.

But I tend to make my jigs calftail hair body larger in case the crappies want the larger profile....and if I don't get bit...I can trim the body hair down

with a sharp pair of scissors.Also I don't put a lot of hair past the hook....maybe 1/8 to a 1/4-inch past the hook.

On a side note....most of the companies I prostaff for always make their jig hair longer....and also I think they do because the larger crappies down south tend to

prefer the larger profile baits.

Thump It Jigs are made out of Hemphill Texas.....on Toledo Bend Lake...and the CrappieRocket jigs are out of Hillsboro Missouri.

[troutgnat]

CrappieMagnet,

You are correct. I do have some bulkier jigs that I tie as well. And as you said they are larger for a bigger profile bait and or muddy water for increased visibility. Also, a lot of times if I want more profile sometimes I just tip my jig with a minnow. That's the beauty of tying you can increase your variety for different situations. Funny thing you mentioned the calftail thing I have been doing that for years also. It doesn't have as much movement as marabou but you can accomplish several things. You can get bulk if you need it and it falls alot slower than marabou. Calftail jigs are deadly in the winter! We are two of kind my friend. Where do you get your calftail? I sure wish I could find alot more quantity for the money. The stuff is not cheap and a better color variety would help also!

[NuB2TR]

This is good stuff, guys. Thanks for sharing ! ! !

[Sam]

Chris, troutgnat, CrappieMagnet - Now you guys are getting down to the nitty and the gritty - GOOD information here!

Yes, I'm sure the sickle hooks are great, but they look like a hard black steel hook. I pour and tie crappie jigs on the gold Eagle Claw jig hooks (I think those are the 575 series) because they have a wide gap and for another reason, too. I've taken to using super-braid lines for my crappie fishing, and they'll straighten those hooks out before the line breaks. Then it's easy to bend the hook back into shape, and I have whole trips sometimes fishing brushpiles without a breakoff.

I used FireLine for a few years, and for the last two years I've used 10 lb. PowerPro, which is the diameter of 3 lb. mono. I don't know what the actual breaking strength is, but I know when I get hung up I can drag my boat backwards against the wind with it. It gets those gold hooks UNHUNG.

So far as tail material for tying crappie jigs, I've got another trick. Get a ball of white "Nylon Mason's Twine" from the hardware department at Lowe's. I cut two pieces of that about 5" long then put them side-by-side and fold them in half. I tie those to the head of the hook with the four single ends reaching beyond the tail of the hook. Then cut those ends to length with scissors and frizz out the twine with a comb. The frizzed-out twine has a real live action in the water, like maribou, but being nylon it holds up a lot better. It takes all colors of lure dye real well, and you can make endless good color combinations by dying one string and leaving the other one white before you tie the jig, or by just dipping the tip of the tail in dye.

Unlike maribou, the cost of that nylon twine per jig is just about zero.

[troutgnat]

Sam,

Interesting tid-bit on the nylon I may have to try that. I have done the Power Pro 10# for several years myself and you are exactly correct on the 575 gold aberdeens I have been onto that as well. With the powerpro just keep pulling till they let go and they will. Just be sure to point the rod straight at the snag!, I saw a buddy pull up with the rod only to shatter into pieces! I laughed but he didn't think it was funny.

On a side note: Do you all paint your own jigheads? I have been doing the powder paint thing for many years.