Hey there Crappie guys and gals,

I need help learning more about crappies. I am pretty much a basshole when I fish but lately I have wanted to start catching crappies. I live just a few minutes from Medina Lake west of San Antonio. It is a hill country lake with a bunch of newly flooded brush. I hear the crappie bite is on right now and it would be fun to catch a few. I spent all day yesterday looking for crappie and all I could catch were bass and bluegills. I have limited crappie tackle so when I go to buy some jigs I'd like to have an idea on what to look for.

Yesterday I was throwing a red and white one inch curly tail grub on a 16th oz jig under a slip bobber in around 10-20 of water. I was fishing flooded brush on main lake points and moved back to the secondary points in the coves. The bass and blue gills were just tearing me up and a bunch of fun to catch but I wanted crappies.

The lake is clear with visiblity down to around eight feet. Water temp was 72. So my questions are:

1. Where do crappie typically hang out this time of year?

2. Are there colors of grubs and tubes that work better than others and what colors should I be buying? When I was a kid I use to catch them on Salty Squirming Squirts in red and white. Do those work here?

3: What kind of bobber stops are you guys using? I kept having to adjust my stop after every couple cast to keep it from sliding down the line to far. I am using the plastic kind that you feed the line through the holes.

Thanks for the help.

1.) Some fish move deep and some move into creeks in winter. Cra p shoot on that one depending on your lake.
(Site censored the word cra-p) lol

2.) Picts Below- Since you said "crappies", I presume you're from up north.
think about bigger fish, bigger baits and bigger line. I use 12lb braid
Red & white? Most jigs will work at one time or another.
I mainly like something with blue or shad pattern or Purple Passion

3.) Don't use bobber stops anymore - only vertical jig
I use to use those tiny red plastic kind that weave on to your line.

Also, if you are in clear water, consider braided line with a fluoro or mono leader.

Good luck out there!


I use these jigs.

Raid Davedave's boat for all your gear but don't listen to anything he tells you about catching them. Hope that helps.

Does Medina lake have bridge columns? That is the easiest to start catching crappie while learning how to fish them. It's mainly about finding the depth they are at. Then focus on finding brushpiles in varying depths or make your own.

I like various jigs in different colors so you need to try different ones to see what colors they want on any given day.

The Guadalupe River is loaded with nice Crappie! The river below Canyon Lake has been a mess. Water is muddy to cloudy and the current is very strong. Water is being let out of Canyon for next couple of weeks. Hopefully things settle down and the river clears up. Winter bite is usually very good with fish being found in 15 to 20 feet of water. Fish usually hold close to brush piles and bridge pillars. As for baits any jig with Chartreuse in them usually work good. Chartreuse/pink or Chartreuse/black work the best. Good luck and hope you catch some.

I thought double Dave was a catfish guy for some reason. No bridges on Medina lake but a lot of cliffs and drop offs along with a bunch of flooded brush. There are no many small bass in the lake now and you can catch 50-60 fish in just a few hours. I guess I'll just keep searching for them and get lucky one trip.

I ain't no Yankee! Was I writing crappie in a Yankee accent?

No sir. Not a catfish guy.

I'm pretty new to fishing lakes. Started after I retired in 2011. Caught a few crappie at Ray Roberts and texoma trolling chartreuse crank baits, but fishing bridge pylons is the best. If I were you, I'd start with minnows.

Here's the process.Tie up to a bridge pylon after locating fish on the Pylon with your depth finder. A softball with a nylon rope stringer pulled through it and a long stick with a hook on it come in real handy. Drop a minnow down about a foot over them. If they don't hit it within a minute, drop it all the way to the bottom, then reel up two cranks. Bring the bait up through the crappie one crank every 15 seconds or so. This has worked for me pretty well this fall. Never stay more than 15 minutes at a spot if they do not bite. Once you get good at catching crappie with minnows using this technique, you can try jigs if you want. I've caught crappies on jigs, jig and bobbers and jigs tipped with minnows, but fishing minnows is the easiest. Plus, you never have to worry about the color.

Minnows are the best bait for newbies.

Use minnows deep around brush piles.

Skip the minnows and go with a jig, its all about the thump.

Biscuits, plan a trip up. I can teach you everything I know.


That shouldn't take more than about ten minutes, and then we can go crappie fishing.