What are some good techniques when fishing during a slow crappie bite? I was out at a local lake over the weekend and caught and released a 15 incher at about 9am and after that schools were coming in and out all day but they wouldn’t bite. I tried everything I could think of but they would just look and leave.
Fishing them earlier or later. Low light.
In addition to fishing earlier or later to get into a low light period, what were you using for a bait? If you had a vertical jig/plastic tied on when you got the one but failed to hook up after that I think I’d have tried a horizonal jig/plastic and slowed any jigging action down. Down or up sizing the bait size can often make a difference.
I like to drill plenty of holes and keep moving. Some days it seems like all you may get is that first fish or two out of a hole. Then it’s time to move again.
Honestly if you caught a 15 incher, you did something right. Even if it was a poor bite after that.
I’ve never caught a crappie remotely close to that size.
I have noticed this winter that they have been very picky. I have down sized my jigs and plastics. I have also used a lot of pinhead pro spoons in the 1/8 or 1/16 size for them. Don’t ask me why but the vertical spoons are working better than the horizontal plastics for me this year.
Dead stick with a small crappie minnow 2 or 3 ft off the bottom.
x2 on the deadstick. Hard to go too early, hits are solid when its early. Of course look for them hitting ‘up’, rod and jig need to be balanced well to show these hits. Congrats on the 15.
If marking any fish higher up in the water column, target them and set your minnow on a dead stick at that depth. Ignore the fish lower or on the bottom, they are usually the finicky and lethargic ones. I also feel like the shallower you can find crappies, the more aggressive they are. If you find some in 8-12 FOW versus 20-25, they are usually more active. Full crappie minnow on a tungsten jig or a full wax worm on a tungsten jig are my go-to setups when the bite is a little tougher.
If marking any fish higher up in the water column, target them and set your minnow on a dead stick at that depth. Ignore the fish lower or on the bottom, they are usually the finicky and lethargic ones. I also feel like the shallower you can find crappies, the more aggressive they are
Agree with everything you said!
It’s been a very long time in years since I’ve dealth with the lookers and tight lippers.
1/64th oz. or 1/128th oz. jig and little atom skimpies. The most insane dead stick presentation with the lightest of rod taps for the most micro jigging.
A bait hook of size 8 or 10, maybe 12 and the smallest blade of size 00 maybe 000 with a little atom micro nuggies.
If you don’t have patience, last resort is a Daredevle trout weight spoon. Let it flutter passed them and hope to trigger a reaction bite.
Some days it is just plain slow no matter what you do, where you do it and what you do it with.
Saturday I was on a new metro lake targeting eyes afternoon into the evening. Drilled holes in eye spot then went out a little deeper chasing crappies for 30 min. Marked plenty but they absolute lay would not hit anything. Tried small to large, eurolarvae/spikes to crappie minnows… nada. Moved back to walleye spot an hour before dark and marked 6-7 walleyes, but none would commit. All action pretty much stopped 30-15 mins before dark which I thought was a lil odd. Then the snow started flying. Guess that big quick wether change made em feel some kind of way… then again it also snowed a bunch 24 hours or less earlier so who knows.
Deep basin crappies hugging the bottom are not usually in the mood to eat.
Somone mentioned this on another thread and I believe it is relative if not pretty true: Crappies can have a 20-30 minute bite window in the afternoon which is often right around sunset to dusk. I have found dark 30 crappies are very catchable, but the follow and catch rate goes down compared to the frenzy bite just before dark.
I have found minnows vs. grubs is often day to day. Sometimes a tungsten jig and waxie/spike/etc… is fantastic and other days only minnows seem to work.
The other night bobber and minnow seemed to be the best … a few bobbers went down fast and furious and the crappie essentially set the hook. But most the bobber sent down slowly … you could see they took it maybe 2-3 feet. When you tried to set the hook many were misses. They were holding the bait but not really eating it.
Tip Downs, best way to fish Crappies and Perch. Several of my customers.
DQVI56141.jpg
RJUV70081.jpg
BONE09791.jpg
IMG_70521.png
IMG_69431.png
IMG_69411.png
IMG_73721.jpg
Minnow heads can be very good too.
I used to fish with tip downs all the time, they work very well but are kind of a hassle especially if it is below freezing. Would much rather use a Finicky Fooler.
I’ll echo Brittman’s thoughts. I generally find a crappie bite window before dawn to dawn and then again as the sun sets until after dark. Some nights, they keep biting after dark; other nights, not so much, or the schools just don’t stick around. I don’t move much.
Sometimes a minnow is hot, sometimes this jig or that jig is hot, sometimes a spoon, sometimes a Slab rap, sometimes a little of everything I throw gets bit.
I tend to be really successful in those bite windows for crappies so that is when I go.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
