Crappie Fishing, any tips

mbjannusch

mbjannusch

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Apr 1, 2010
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I was invited to go on a trip in April to Tiptonville Tn. There's a lake there called Little Foot and is known for the huge Crappie. I'm a Bass fisherman and have only caught Crappie accidentally. I have a ton of Crappie plastics and hooks but I understand they are particular. Any helpful hints will help me catch fish and also show the Crappie King that invited me, that he's not to only one who can slay the mighty Pan fish...
 
I fish crappie in texas mainly from the bank but have done boats, march is also spawning time here and they come real shallow to lay eggs, easy to slay em from the banks In as little as a foot of water, I've used white and chartreuse roadrunners, jigs and minnows, I always brought all three because their preferences change daily it seems, from a boat you're gonna be looking for heavy cover and brush which is their main habitat so bring something snag free, if one bait isn't working change bait and depths. Good luck awesome eating, beautiful, finicky fish at times oh and from my experience use light line they don't slam bait like bass do I've caught em multiple times just watching the line swimming sideways and feeling nothing. Set the hook light due to paper thin skin at the sides of the mouth.
 
We used to sink old Christmas trees around the lake and GPS honestly it never failed to draw crappie.
 
I've caught a ton of Crappie. Best time to catch them is when they are spawning. That's late spring in Pennsylvania. Live minnows were always the best bait for me. Fish along the shore where there is deadfall in the water. Good eating!
 
Little foot lake is only about 8' to 10' at the deepest and the lake is a flooded Cyprus forest, so the lake is covered in dead fall and tree stumps. The first week in April should be in the later end of the spawning season. Thanks for the feed back, I'll post some pictures of the catch, well before we eat them...
 
Keep trying different depths until you find them. If they are in spawn you will have a blast.
 
I go crappie fishing all the time. I have a Kayak, I normally just sit a couple of feet off the bank facing shore and toss a white jig into the roots of trees on the bank or drop the jig between dead trees in the water. Good luck!
 
jaymack9100 said:
I've caught a ton of Crappie. Best time to catch them is when they are spawning. That's late spring in Pennsylvania. Live minnows were always the best bait for me. Fish along the shore where there is deadfall in the water. Good eating!
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This man knows what he's talking about. Almost all my crappie fishing has been done boat trollling with multiple lines in the water. If I were pole fishing, live minnows is the only way I'd go. Best of luck, nothing like a crappie fish fry!
 
My recommendation for fishing crappie, from the bank or in a boat, is a jib below a slip float. We always used the thill floats, adjust the bead until you find the right depth, and you can jig in place.

Sometimes when the little suckers aren't biting, you can't catch anything when you're casting and immediately pulling it away from them. With the float/jig method, you can keep it in their face that much longer and the tiny thill floats provide little resistance and great strike indication!
 
Crappie are easy to catch. Almost any small jig will work . Little blade baits like a Bass pro cicada works well for me in deep water. A small Beetle spin works well when searching in shallow water. If the fish are biting good jigs are just as good or better than live bait. I never use minnows.
 
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small jigs off a flyfishing strike indicator has always worked for me. If there is little structure, anchored boats, docks and swimming platforms alway draw them too.

I have had good fun flyfishing for them with an 8ft 4 weight set up with leech and minnow patterns, small poppers/grey wulffs are fun topwater.
 
Light lines, slip bobbers, small ice jigs in white or glow paint. You can tip them with wax worms or the artificial wax worms if they are in the mood to bite. A slow retrieve that barely ripples the float will get bites better than leaving it still. Overcast the area where they are spawning or holding in deeper water. Look for warmed up bays on early spawn days. Fillet, fry, eat...... then go fishing again.
 
Brad "the butcher";11938053 said:
small poppers/grey wulffs are fun topwater.
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I have never caught crappie that way. A good friend of mine catches them on a fly rod with dry flies. I bet it would work well during a Mayfly hatch.
 
Well I have a few different set up's, I have an 18' fiber glass dip stick ( modern day cane pole), a 9' Crappie rod(shamano Crappie Master) with a spinning reel (Pflugger) w/ 4# moss green P-line, and a ultra light Shamano rod and reel w/4# clear P-line. I have probably 50 different small jigs, and 1/16oz jig heads, slip bobbers. I have allot of gear but rarely go Crappie fishing. I spend most of my time Bass fishing or out on the Ocean. Seems California is only good for certain types of fish. There are Crappie but they are hard to find.
 
I got my first flyrod at 12 and learned on a local crappie lake (Whonnock) our dad used to take us to, it had rainbows and cutthroat as well. We had only moved from the prairies to B.C that year and were more familiar with panfish technique. The 2lb cuttie I caught sealed the trout/salmon deal with me as kid, prairie fish don't jump and run like that.

I really used to slay the crappie with a flyrod as a teen, used to kick out to weedpads and floating docks on a airmattress before the old man took pity and bought me a cheap 7ft inflatable(poor mans belly boat)
 
I've always caught a lot of crappie in the spring while they were spawning along brush piles, beaver damns, boat docks or any kind of structure they can hide in. I've had most luck with a small minnow with a bobber a few feet up from the minnow.
 
Off topic, but take some good binoculars. Reelfoot has a native bald eagle population, as well as a migrating population, and they're fun to watch.
 
Oh, Reelfoot. Ive been there.If your buddy is using spiderrigs , then just do what he says.
 
When I was growing up, the old-timers would call them "Slabs" because of the beautiful pieces you can carve off these beasties. Good luck!

TedP
 
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