?? for Crappie Tom or anyone else

I usually fish for spawning crappies on the lakes but would like to find them on the river, too. The lakes are easy because I can sight fish. But where would I look this time of year through the spawn? Do they hang in their winter spots for a while?

It has been my experience that the crappies are going to be close to where they will spawn right after ice-out. They will likely have some deeper water to drop into when the weather turns nasty, but may also be very shallow on those early warm days. Submerged wood is a very important factor in finding crappies in any numbers. I usually fish with a small jig – either hair or small plastic – on most days, but always take minnows because there are days that the crappies will not hit anything but meat. You can also try tipping the jigs with waxworms. I also suspend my offerings below a bobber so I can keep my offering at the proper depth as well as avoid the snags. The Mississippi backwaters are great places to catch crappies in the spring!

Good Fishing,
Mike

Thanks, guys. You must have beaucoup years of river experience.

I fish some tidal rivers in MD for Crappies, and would like to know if you folks use blade baits, or spoons for them?
I also have good success with a simple jig that has a chenille body & round rubber legs & tail.

I use a variety of lures, but seldom use bait, just prefer not to bother with it. I sometimes get skunked, but don’t worry a lot about it, I can usually find something to catch, even if it’s small ones. The waters are fairly shallow, and when the tide is moving the fish have to move too, but they don’t go far. We don’t have much ice, so the conditions are similar all year except for water temps & clarity.

Another lure I like is a spoon with a dressed trailer hook, and use it throughout the year. It’s nothing more than a willow blade with a hook soldered to it, and a slightly smaller trailer hook dressed with marabou, or pearl flashabou. I cast it or jig it.

I’m mostly jigging around pads & wood, brushy overhangs an along riprap edges. I use an ultra light rod for casting, and an old 8 ft fiberglass fly rod & spinning reel for jigging. The fly rod just gives me more reach, and I don’t use it for much else anyway.

Do you folks use anything like these lures, and if so what kind of success do you have?

The reason I’m asking, a friend of mine in IL sent the jig to me, I tie them for him since he don’t tie, and he’s caught several Crappies over 2 lbs, and even some over 3 lbs on that type jig, but he doesn’t seem to have much luck with the spoons. He likes an all black 1/32 oz jig with fl green rubber legs & tail. I do well with the same color, and also all chartreuse, or all white.

Any thoughts?

Here’s pictures of the jigs & spoons I use.

Hello BigJim I like the looks of your jigs a lot.I tie up all of my one walleye jigs and try and make most of my bass fishing lure.Haven’t got into making plastics yet.For my crappies I use just store bought tube jigs.They are cheap and a lot of colors but I might have to try tying some of your colors.My fav. color in plastic tubes for craps is glitter head (silver) white tail and I dip the nose of the tube in hot pink spik-it,seems to work well for me!! Good luck this year. Steve

Steve, thanks! That jig I use is just so simple, but it works great! Those type rubber legs have always worked well for me on flies, so I guess it makes sense on a jig.

I don’t make my own plastics either, or never got into making crankbaits. I’ve been tying flies for about 37 years, and making other tackle for a little less time. I don’t use small panfish tubes much, but do use the larger bass sizes. Most of the time, when I use plastics for panfish, it’s a 1″ to 3″ curltail grub in several colors, Chartreuse, white, & black seem to work most days, but I also like clear with silver, pearl or gold glitter, smoke, pink, salt & pepper, or green pumpkin.

Here’s a picture of a 3 lb monster Crappie that my friend John Casey caught on one of those jigs. He’s the guy I mentioned that had sent it to me in my first post, and he catches some real monsters on them. I don’t know who came up with the idea but it really does work fine.

If you do any kind of tying then they’re real easy to make.

WOW!!! Now that what I call a Crappie. That baby is huge. Thanks for sharing the pic.
Thanks, Bill

Bill, glad to share it! It kinda gives a whole new meaning to the term “panfish”!

The fellow in the picture is John Casey from Illinois. He has sent me other pictures of big Crappies, but this one is the largest I’ve ever seen. He caught it on a 1/32 oz jig, but he uses a size 10 hook!

Here’s a link to some other fish pictures that have been sent to me. There is even a pic taken a few years ago of one of my sons,(Brian Hester) with his first ever Smallmouth. Really makes a dad proud!

Fish Pics