A couple weeks ago I was able to get out after some Crappies with my Dad and I accidentally left the camera at home. After getting an invite again from my Dad, the FIRST thing I grabbed was the camera. I’m glad I did too. We got into some fantastic Crappie action.
Once again, the hot bait was a minnow on a plain gold hook rigged about 3-4ft below a small bobber. Like Bret said in his report form pool 8, you had to let the fish take the bobber down for at least a 2 second count.
Although we didn’t catch as many fish as before, we did catch quite a few bigger fish. All most alll of the Crappies we kept were over 10".
When we fish panfish, my Dad likes to use cane poles rigged like I explained earlier. He had the hot hand with those cane poles when it came to nice sized Perch. Here’s a pic of my Dad with 2 of the Perch he caught.
For the afternoon, we fished a lot of snags. The sloughs we fished are loaded with laydowns and such. Honestly, you can fish 2-3 snags and not catch a fish, then hit the 4th spot and fill the boat. Stay diligent and fish them all. We try not to stay too long. A lot of good fishing time can be wasted hoping to get a bite. We caught fish within the first few minutes on all that snags that produced for us.
Lastly, when anyone plans on fishing for Crappies, plan on paying attention to the little things. For instance, my Dad had his cane poles rigged with a small wire hook with a dark color. I had a small wire hook with a gold finish. That gold finish hook outfished the darker one 4-1. A couple times, we would switch spots in the boat because that gold hook was on fire and my Dad’s darker hook couldn’t get a nibble. It’s little things like hook color that can make or break a day.
Nice fish and great report Tom.
to catch 
The crappies have been a
Nice report Blue
Looks like I may have to try and get out there and find some crappies today
Nice looking crappies. They look very fat and round!
I love that in crappies.
JWB
Those Crappies are INCREDIBLY thick!
AmWatson & I got out to check some other spots tonight. It was an awesome bite!!! 
Wats with a nice Crappie.
Pics really don’t do these fish justice.
Nice Slabs Tom!
Was out on pool 7 this morning because of yours and Bret’s reports.Most snags were unproductive,but the good ones were givin up some nice slabs.Used minnows and a road runner when you could cast.Keep the reports comin!
After reading Bret and Blue’s reports, I too wanted to try for some crappies.Blue kept telling me how thick these fish were and he was not exagerrating one bit. These river crappies are super thick and put up a great fight on light tackle. We were out a couple hours and went through a bunch of minnows. Blue was the crappie master today
Thanks for the invite and the schooling once again Blue 
Thanks for the report and pics Blue. Nice crappies. Theres something about spring and fall that when you hear talk of crappies a guy can’t help but get excited. They claim that crappies are the #1 fish that people fish for and your reports shows why. Its plain o’l FUN.
Thanks, Bill
Nice report Tom.
I’m with you for the color of hook etc. I was out yesterday and Sat. Caught a nice mess of crappies each day. And you do go through a bunch of minnows for sure.
Excellent Tom. I hear you about the gold hook. I use (almost exclusively), Betts jigs with gold hooks.
Has anyone else tried the Gitzit Little Tough Guys? They work very well.
Those rigged on slip bobber make the overall profile so small, they can be easily slipped into and out of any snag.
Tight line them on a 9ft wally marshal long pole.
I’ve been using them for a few years. Some of my early reports as a FS member featured those. I found that they work better when the river is “clean.” I always get them confused, but the “minnow” and “shad” are the two I have. One is thinner than the other, but can’t remember which is which.
The river is very clear up here. I think that’s why they work so well. The ones I’ve been using have the pink belly one them. A couple jiggles of the bobber and those Crappies go wild!!
First time I’ve ever seen that lure.
It’s a very good looking crappie lure.
Makes me wonder if they would work in the tea stained waters of Lake Wisconsin.
JWB
Awesome report Blue. Those are fine looking crappies.
Question, What kind of details can you share that distinquish a good snag from a bad one other than putting in the time and effort? How are these snags in relation to the current? Depth? Back channels, main channels, etc…
I have always been meaning to try that up this way…but just cannot seem to find the time usually.