Hit Ray Roberts yesterday morning and much to my surprise the crappie were very awake and very hungry. Our first and favorite pile yielded 5 keepers, a bunch of 9.5" and more trash fish(bass) than we cared to count. Our second pile yielded only one keeper and as with the first pile lots of shorts and trash. Our third however we scored big keeping us steadily entertained till sunset with 15 keepers most around 12" and more shorts and trash. We did catch the pictured crappie with the stripe. Any info on this odd little character? Also no matter how fast and hard they were hitting we had no luck on the plastics. They'd bump it but never take them regardless of color, configuration, etc. Any advice on how to get the hook set on them with plastics?

Nice job!

I go small and SLOW to get bites on plastics when they seem to not want them.
Most of the fish I've caught lately, I haven't posted the last 3 trips, were caught as I SLOWLY raised the jig up past them.
You'd have to watch me to see that I'm raising the jig, that's how slow I'm lifting it.
I've come to believe that they just can't stand a bait to move away very slowly!
Get a small 1 1/2 to 2 inch bait in a color they like there and give this a try.
Once you think your moving it slowly, slow down 300% more

The striped crappie is a Magnolia, otherwise known as a Mohawk. I've been told it is a cross between a Black & White crappie.
We catch them quite often here on Fork and the surrounding waters

That's awesome. Well done!

Not sure how you rig your drop shot. The normal drop shot is a hook or jig tied directly to the line and weight below. That type set up keeps the jig from getting fully in the crappie's mouth when the fish tries to inhale the bait. The line hits the crappie's mouth and keeps the bait from going in. Crappie bite easily sometimes and don't inhale like a bass would. Therefore they don't get the jig all the way in and the jig is easily spit back out. Try a 2-3" leader on the jig on your drop shot and see if that improves your hook up ratio. The leader makes detecting a bite much more difficult. That's why I don't like drop shot for crappie. The bite can be very light at times as several posts have indicated in the past month or so.

Filing this away in the gray matter. Thanks Mr. Gaby.

Nice haul. Good job.

Ah heck,don't let Mr Box fool ya,talking about mohawks....that's one of them thar fishes that Wally Marshall or Ernest Paty put a black permanent marker to,LOL! that's the story I've heard and i'm sticking to it....good luck w/the the drop shot....keep up the good work!

You are right on Ken, I too wondered what drop shot and crappie fishing was all about and why I read this post.
Ronnie is pretty much right on about Ernest naming the fish a 'mohawk'...just not sure about the magic marker though.........just saying Ronnie........

That's a GREAT bit of wisdom Ken!
When rigging a tandem rig, I always use a leader so that it stands out. I'll do the same the next time I rig a drop shot for Belinda

I was told that the Mohawk crappie is in the black crappie family.

good job !!

Thanks for the help fellas. I use an in line #1 swivel hook. Sometimes I put a willow blade between 2 clear beads above it. Idk if it helps but def don't think it hurts anything. I started doing it because I kept catching a ton of 9.5" fish so figured if I could increase the size of my bait maybe the larger fish would get interested in my menu and I have started pulling some slabs finally. May be dumb in the end but hey puts fillets in the frying pan so I keep em on there.

One of the best write ups on drop shot is the one at In-Fisherman. I think some times we forget what we are trying to do. Just look up in-fisherman and go to drop shot, just another view but some times it helps. Beside I knew a guy one time from Oklahoma that caught a crappie. Good fishing