Got a great crappie bite near dusk using lil forage minnow spoons and perch eyes. Caught a few earlier in the day on plastics alone but with the plastics had a lot of lookers.
Does anyone not tip their spoons with anything. My confidence was really high with the perch eyes and when we ran out the bite died or it was cause we didn’t tip em with anything.
What’s your thoughts vets?
Perch eyes are illegal here in the land of 10,000 laws. I always add something to a spoon usually something smelly like a minnow head. Could probably get away with just a plastic for crappies but the real deal ups your odds for other species. Those pros love to talk about plastics, but they also have a stash of live bait in that suit-they always hedge their bets and I will too(but not with perch eyes!)
I’ve creamed crappies with a naked Swedish pimple in the past but it really depends on the bite. I wouldn’t be afraid to try it but it never hurts to experiment tipping with plastics or other bait. Larger plastics on a jig might be the ticket too so maybe explore a few options to boost your confidence.
I’ve been experimenting with plastics for about 10 years or so and use them 90% of the time for pan fish. I may not catch as many fish some days but they are usually bigger. Crappes in paticular seem to respond well to plastics up to 2″ that have a good tail such as a waxtail or wedge.
I guess the take home message is don’t be afraid of trying something new especially on the days that they are biteing. You may stumble across something that you can use down the line.
Sometimes the bare metal lure provides the right flutter to trigger the bite.
Some spoons have the right planing drop to outside of sonar cone to draw in a fish or two.
Sometimes you have to tip the spoons to change up the flutter or the planing drop.
I almost exclusively use plastics and catch a fair share of panfish, unless when the bite is really tough, I’ll switch to waxies or spikes as it seems that scent can be trigger they need.
Just gotta experiment with what kind of plastics work best for you and give you the confidence you need.
Some days I’ve taken the bait off spoons when they aggressively come up and end up just pecking at it. I think sometimes they want what the spoon looks like and whatever you tip it with just gets in the way. It can make them go from just getting hooked and inhaling it.
I always start out with plain spoons. I’m looking for the most aggressive bite, so I start there and change it up as needed.
Don’t over look having 1″ gulp and a diamond jig. When they aggressively charge a spiral falling bait, hooking a 1″ gulp diagonally a 1/4 of the way back is deadly!!
It’s interesting how I’ll fish a jigging rap or used to fish one-eyes (slab spoons) on the river without bait in open water, but in the winter feel like I have to tip everything. Might be due to the thought that fish are more neutral or negative in the winter. I’ve started to use plastics for crappies, but still tip spoons.
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