Cadence for Jigging Big Crappies

Recently, Adam from Crappie Chronicles landed an almost 18” crappie on a local lake. While I’m not a huge fan of their show, that dude knows how to catch crappies. He reminds me of some of the river rats I know…he’s a crappie rat.

Anyways, he was interviewed (I can’t find the article right now) about how to catch slabs. His first couple points are pretty obvious…fish where big fish are, and; if you know there are big fish don’t chase schools. The big ones are usually loners.

The last thing he mentioned was cadence when jigging. He wouldn’t give up his technique but mentioned you can get lethargic fish to bite based upon the cadence. Only thing he mentioned is it needs to be natural.

What has worked for you guys? Two things have worked for me…a very, very slow and steady lift. Just barely moving the bait up in the water column. Not jigging at all. The second is a slow drop past the fish. In the summer, fish hit jigs on the fall. I’ve found they do in the winter, too.

I’ll also add that this is where FFS really works wonders. You can see how fish react to a bait or movement so much better than with a traditional flasher.

Personally, I think most people over-work their baits/jigs and this pertains to the whole year. And your advice about not fishing schools of small fish is spot on. Those big crappies do not like crowds of small fish around them.

Really the secret method??? I think everyone will have their own method that they will take to the grave. Just to make it sound like it’s a big deal secret. But I think it’s experience as well as experiments to find out what really works.

His technique can’t be that secret. Isn’t it all filmed ? Just watch a few videos and study what he does.

Yesterday we experienced a very finicky bite. I brought out my sister and old man. I caught probably 15 fish to their 1 because they couldn’t figure out the technique to get them to bite. Less is more in those light bite situations. A spring bobber is also very useful even though I didn’t have one.

Bearcat89 wrote:

His technique can’t be that secret. Isn’t it all filmed ? Just watch a few videos and study what he does.

Yesterday we experienced a very finicky bite. I brought out my sister and old man. I caught probably 15 fish to their 1 because they couldn’t figure out the technique to get them to bite. Less is more in those light bite situations. A spring bobber is also very useful even though I didn’t have one.

I am still a crappie rookie, but I watched my buddy when he was outfishing me, he would barely move the jig/spoon at all. I usually try to get them to engage the bait, rise up a little, then just hold it….maybe twitch a tiny bit, but dont raise or lower once the fish is staring at the presentation.

That said, it always comes down to letting the fish tell you what/how they want

DaveB wrote:

That said, it always comes down to letting the fish tell you what/how they want

When fish are sluggish or wary when fishing a vertical bait/lure it oftentimes pays off to go from a vertical to a horizontal bait lure, especially those with a very lithe plastic tail. A decent spring bobber can earn its keep then as well. Instead of an actual lift, drop try simply tapping the rod with a finger to make that plastic’s tail do a subtle dance.

One big mistake I see made often on large pressured crappies is getting too close to the fish. Stay above them. So many guys drop right in their faces and that’s not natural to them. Food generally tries to avoid being eaten. If they’re roaming 1-3ft from bottom I’m generally working my bait 5-8ft off bottom. Make them make the decision to investigate. If you can get them to rise, you’ll have a much better chance of getting bit. It’s sometimes amazing how long a crappie will look at a bait before deciding to rise and eat.

I believe the trick is to make your lure dance without it moving much up and down in the water column. (especially with a jig and minnow head) One of the first things I do with a new bait is tie it on and jig it a couple of inches in the water and see what the jig will do with the line / rod combo I am using. I found this dance is controlled by the tapper of the blank 2” from the tip to ~10” and the way the blanks loads.

grubson wrote:

One big mistake I see made often on large pressured <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>crappies is getting too close to the fish. Stay above them. So many guys drop right in their faces and that’s not natural to them. Food generally tries to avoid being eaten. If they’re roaming 1-3ft from bottom I’m generally working my bait 5-8ft off bottom. Make them make the decision to investigate. If you can get them to rise, you’ll have a much better chance of getting bit. It’s sometimes amazing how long a crappie will look at a bait before deciding to rise and eat.

I’ve found that, like you mentioned, too many people jig too low. We fish a lot of shallow water year round. We were in 6’ this weekend. The crappies would come in 2-3’ off the bottom so I’m jigging at about 4’.

The big fish are almost always suspended. If you are jigging low those fish never see your bait.

Depends on there mood.

Sometimes they don’t want and you have to let it soak, then sometimes you dance it and sometimes they want to chase it up.

Just depends on the fish.

We target the big fish with big baits. #5 jigging raps are one of our go to baits. Along with a #5 Berkley Finisher. Usually we don’t tip them with any bait but sometimes we will tip the bottom treble with a crappie nibble to the them to commit. Caught numerous 12″-14″ fish this weekend with this exact tactic.

Jeff Schomaker wrote:

We target the big fish with big baits. #5 jigging raps are one of our go to baits. Along with a #5 Berkley Finisher. Usually we don’t tip them with any bait but sometimes we will tip the bottom treble with a crappie nibble to the them to commit. Caught numerous 12″-14″ fish this weekend with this exact tactic.

I like to start with larger baits but seems like as we get later into the winter the fish are more lethargic and we have to downsize. This weekend it was a 4mm tungsten with just a single waxie.

Some of the smaller backwaters we fish are shallow and I think by late winter the oxygen levels are pretty low.

Bearcat89 wrote:

His technique can’t be that secret. Isn’t it all filmed ? Just watch a few videos and study what he does.

Yesterday we experienced a very finicky bite. I brought out my sister and old man. I caught probably 15 fish to their 1 because they couldn’t figure out the technique to get them to bite. Less is more in those light bite situations. A spring bobber is also very useful even though I didn’t have one.

Rodwork wrote:

I believe the trick is to make your lure dance without it moving much up and down in the water column. (especially with a jig and minnow head) One of the first things I do with a new bait is tie it on and jig it a couple of inches in the water and see what the jig will do with the line / rod combo I am using. I found this dance is controlled by the tapper of the blank 2” from the tip to ~10” and the way the blanks loads.

I agree with both of these statements. I don’t think his secret sauce is his jigging cadence. Rod lure and line all make a big difference in the way a bait will work.
Fish were still aggressive last night but when they are just staring I have found a tiny bounce with a soft tip works and other times it’s a simple tap of the rod handle. Other times it’s the slightest shake. Then their are times nothing works.

A long time ago InFisherman had a segment on ice fishing for crappies. Doug Stange claimed he figured out the only cadence that would catch crappies. Something like jig-jig-pause-jig-pause-pause-jig. It was hilarious.

Which adam? If its griff then I agree on him knowing what hes doing. When the bite is slow I cycle through weird colors. Normally one starts to work.

Youbetcha wrote:

Which adam? If its griff then I agree on him knowing what hes doing. When the bite is slow I cycle through weird colors. Normally one starts to work.

Yeah…I forgot there was another Adam on the show.

I haven’t watched it in a couple seasons…they were starting to sound like John Gillespie too much.

Very true. I cant watch it anymore.

Jeff Schomaker wrote:

We target the big fish with big baits. #5 jigging raps are one of our go to baits. Along with a #5 Berkley Finisher.

Sorry for the brief off-topic question…

Jeff, that Finisher is heavy and sinks like a rock in open water. Surprised you and others like it for ice fishing. Does it sit vertical? Horizontal?? What am I missing by not fishing it on ice?

It sits kind of at a 45* angle but I don’t let it still. It really darts around like a jigging rap but certain days it gets bit better. Very nice 1-2 punch. We had very high pressure the last two weekends and we hammered them.

Back when I was writing reports/articles for IDO, I included a few things I do when run/gun on crappies. One thing I’ve learned in 40+ years of icefishing is BIG crappies usually feed like a neutral or negative mood most of the time. Having baits or cadences that trigger negative fish is what makes the difference. One of my all time favorite combinations is a 1″ gulp hooked diagonally (about 45degrees or so) across the front top instead of the “traditional” in through the nose approach. Gives it a very natural spiral as it falls. Works awesome!!!

Go up to very top of page on right side
Click on search
When the site search pops up , add Randy Wieland Panfish
link will come up with an old report – scroll down and see the pic of the gulp

I tried about 10 times to add the link and/or add the pic again PITA

Use Tip Downs with minnows, easiest and best way to catch Crappies and Big Perch.

Randy Wieland wrote:

One of my all time favorite combinations is a 1″ gulp hooked diagonally (about 45degrees or so) across the front top instead of the “traditional” in through the nose approach. Gives it a very natural spiral as it falls. Works awesome!!!

Is this the pic you want?