Hey were all guilty of it. Sometimes apparently I think I must have simply EARNED some bites from monster Crappies and get a bit sloppy in my presentation.
Case in point!! Was snapped off on a big “donk” a couple days ago where my mono lead was tied to some braid. Heck we are nearing the end of the season and I was slightly frustrated that big donk HAD THE NERVE to overpower my equipment. SO……..I decide I’m good enough to coax those finicky crappies to bite without a mono lead and furthermore with 10/2 powerpro. THAT my friends would be a big NO!! LOL!! After watching fish after fish give me the “I DON’T THINK SO” I had to re-evaluate my game plan. Now I don’t get shorted ice time each season and like to think I have a knack to getting those Donks to snack, but we all need a little focus on our game at times.
Yesterday I re-spooled…..YES at the end of the season my Thorne Bros. “Quiver Stick” with 3lb mono. Keep in mind we fight big whitefish daily fishing for crappies, so 2lb is a challenge. All of the sudden……..I’m a Crappie Wizard again!! So don’t for a second think line diameter can be overcome when fish are a bit leary. Bring your A game all season long baby!!!
Sidenote on Flasher use; Crappies will typically be found holding at a certain depth range per your body of water fished. Where I’m currently fishing these Crappies are entering the “RED ZONE” between 4-9 feet off the bottom. Be very careful to adjust your movable zoom on your Marcum so you can sit towards to top of this 9 foot zone the fish are coming to. Crappies of course in the feeding mode will look upwards for food. IF…….You are forced to “Pass Through” these fish to get topside I assure you this will cost you many many fish if they aren’t in a suicide bite mode. In this case I would adjust my zoom to cover 5-11 feet off the bottom and would have my presentation quivering at 9 feet. This allows me 2 feet of rise still in my zoom and hopefully very few times I need to pass through a mark to get on top. Some fine tuning throughout the day based on where those fish are found in the water column can make the difference between catching and watching. 
