These are my opinions for what their worth.

Some fish like Crappie, Bass and other sunfish like to hangout near visable cover or bottom structure and others like Sandbass/Stripers roam open water most of the time.

When we fish Timber and brushpiles we are targeting resting fish, not feeding fish. These resting fish go out and chase shad when they are hungry.
They are also like us, place something suddenly in their face and they will sometimes hit it. They are also competitive, if one hits it often starts the others feeding for a bit.

Trying to attract food to the fish is a waste of time. There's thousands of shad around every brushpile or dock all the time. If the Crappie were hungry they would simply eat the shad.

Fish are also curious, put something new suddenly in front of them and they often try it to see what it is. The only thing they have to test it with is their mouth.

By the way, I fished this morning and caught a nice mess of big Crappie. I guess I got the skunk off. Had to quit at 11:00 wind was terrible.

I knew it was only temporary!

Good luck tomorrow, and stay cool!

Glad too see you're back on your game Ernest! Best of luck to you.

Thanks for the info Mr. Paty!

This guy Ernest & I could talk hours every day.....I really like his conversations....
How'd that new TM hold up in that wind?

Earnest..... THANK YOU! THANK YOU! and a hundred times THANK YOU!! I was finally successful in getting some crappie in the boat thanks to your excellent guidance and patience. I was able to locate some brush piles at Waurika Lake in Oklahoma, and despite the wind today managed to go home with a nice mess of crappie and big ones at that. Now I need to work on my hookset as my thump/hook ratio isn't very good but that's on me. Thanks again for a fishing trip to remember.

David Lopez

Way to go David. Don't worry about the missed strikes. We are all having that problem right now. Lots of very light tentative bites. The fish are not really trying to eat the jig, just chasing it away or seeing what it is. Also lots of very small crappie or sunfish around too.

Glad our trip together helped you.

Great post - have fond memories of Lake Waurika and a trip from 30 years when my grand dad took me on a 4 day camping trip and the crappie fishing was unbelievable!! Seems like a lifetime ago and for some reason got away from crappie fishing but just now catching them in my own boat and making great memories with my own boys. Really appreciate all the great posts and all that Ernesrt shares - truly a ledgend!!

Do you think you have hooked a million fish yet Ernest?? Lol

Good stuff! Thanks for sharing.

This is when crappie nibbles come in handy. Those fish will hold the jig for a second or two longer which will increase your hook up ratio.

Reggie

Process of elimination, don't repeat what ain't working.
Not exactly true.
Sometimes your jigging where they're not.
Sometimes them crappies not hungry.
Big bait or small bait.
Structure with cover.
Wind no wind.
?
Tow
Just go see what they are doing.
Fish with a guide.
Stick with what works.
I'm so confused.

Great info Ernest!!!
I've come to believe in the same thought process

Do you spider rig active feeding crappie to see if you can get them to bite, when the skunk is happening at the brushpiles, docks or structure cover.