Ok, lets compile a list of personal #1 rules, must haves', and tricks weve learned throughout out fishing journey. Lets say this will be for ...... newbies to Crappie who are wanting to learn. This is not for me who knows everything there is to know about everything. I dont want your advice, actuall I should charge everyone $5. to read my posts whether its about fishing or building a rocket... But, Ill be nice and give FREE advice.

That being said, lets start.

1) The colder the better.
2) Throw your "old school" bobbers away and use slip bobbers.
3) Buy minnows for night fishing, and jigs for the day time.

I'm ready.

The pop corn is ready.

Hit it.

One I have been told is when Crappie fishing logs work the shady side of the log that crappie will seek the shade. And to that note work every stump or stick in a creek. Now can I have $5.00 I don't have a job. LOL

Working a creek overlook NO hole where you can't see the bottom with ordinary eyes! If you HAVE to get fancy, get some polarized glasses, a la T-Fly!

Jigs work as good or better at night than minnows. Just sayin'!

"The Colder the better" +1!

The colder the weather/water, the smaller the jig!

I fish plastic jigs exclusively! Easier to change colors/styles/etc. Just rip off the old and impale the new! No re-tying, that when the bite is red hot, wastes TOO MUCH time!

No need for PAINTED jig heads/UNPAINTED has produced thousands, if not tens of thousands, of crappie for me over my 58 yrs of life!

Slip corks/cigar bobbers are the way to go.

Light to Lighter line, and ultralight spinning gear. 'Nuff said!

In the winter, "crack of dawn" fishing is just totally unnecessary! Never done it, rarely come home empty handed!

Too early in the morning for me to come up with more, but as my head clears, I WILL BE BACK!

Rudy

Stay on the move.... then stop.

I've fished in places where I knew there were crappie but not been able to catch them. When I move to an area that seemed less "fishy" I started catcching fish. What I'm trying to say is that you might be fishing an area that holds fish, but they might be in a negative mood i.e. not biting. Some fish are biting somewhere, you just have to go find them. You can always come back to the "fishy" spots and try again.

When you do find them, keep on them. Crappie are like bass and bream, once triggered, they tend to stay active till the action stops.

Like Rudy said, this is one of the reasons I like to use artificials, especially jigs and jig/plastic combos. No wasted time fishing out a minnow, baiting the hook, etc... Rip old plastic off and rig new plastic. Cast. Catch about 5-10 more fish. Repeat. Marabou, feather, hair, etc.. jigs are even faster.

Rudy stated above, that unpainted jig heads have produced 10k crappie in over 50 years? wow


Rudy, try using pink. You would be up there with some of us younger guys that have 50k plus..... in under 10 years.

One side note, wear the freakin glasses. 15$

-and another note: Crappie will be in one spot in the creek, and then maybe the next day they are bitting better 50 yards upstream, Im 99% sure, the shad moved upstream. So, we all know why the crappie go up the creeks, to follow the shad due to they will start dying off at 41-42 degrees. Creeks are warmer. If the crappie dont follow the shad, they dont eat. If ur in a aboat with a graph and find some balls of shad under the boat, the crappie are within casting distance somewhere usually. If you dont have a graph, start casting till you find them.

rule #1 in creek fishing for me is an easy one. Travel light. Spend more time working an area than changing jigs in search of the perfect color.

rule #2 is pick up your damn trash.

Ah, I'm a hack compared to you guys but let me share a few things.

Have a net of some sort handy to avoid a sickening heartbreak when that 3 pound crappie shows up and you lose it.

Double or even triple up on jigs or minnows if the bite is slow and you are somewhere stationary and relatively snag free like a dock.

Maybe it is just a confidence thing, but crappie nibbles work for me. Liquid crappie attractant seems to work even better in very murky water, soaking feather jigs.

Nice thread!

Use light wire hooks, open and close the bend a few times with pliers to take the temper out of the metal. Hook will still hold any crappie, but will bend out more easily on a snag and allow you to get your rig back. Otherwise, you're leaving a trail of floating slip corks drifting down the creek and rooting around for another little pink bead...

I use pegged corks if fishing less than 2 feet deep, slips for deeper than that...same reasons as above and quicker to rig.

Mashing the hook barbs flat makes releasing all those dinks unharmed much quicker and easier. Y'know, when they get the jig hook right back there in the top of the mouth and you can see it, but just can't get to it?

Move 'til you find the fish.

Lots of unpainted jig heads in the box, 1/32, 1/16, 1/8 oz. sizes usually do it for me.

Watch your cork! It makes a great depth finder, brush indicator and current locator , and if it suddenly floats higher, looks a little "heavier", slowly moves off to the side, or just sinks, you are in the right spot.

Pick up your trash and other people's litter when you go...it adds up after a while and makes a difference.

FM

Carey and Rudy have caught 'em with the best of them! Sage advice from both.

Definetely agree with the glasses comment. When fishing in the daytime, polarized sunglasses are a must for me. Once you start wearing them, you'll wonder how you went so long without them. Green tones are what I lean on, but I fish mostly clearish water.

I agree with both of yall when it comes to paint on the jigheads. In clear water, Unpainted jigheads without hesitation. In off-colored water, I normally do lean on painted jigheads. Most of the time they are 2-toned jigheads, in really dark water 2-toned jigheads with red hooks.

Don't agree with the crappie being in one spot. Most of the time there are more than one school of shad (or other baitfish, sometimes young of the year bream) in most creeks. Normally the crappie feeding on the shad are schoolies, with older (not always bigger, but that is the norm) crappie holding downstream. Sometimes those bigger fish will get off of the shad bite and start eating other prey. Gutted a lot of crappie that had small bream in them, even some with some strange invertebrates that I couldn't identify. That's one of the reasons I say keep moving. You can always come back to little honey holes, but if you never catch any in those holes or catch any under those shad balls, you'll be kicking yourself for not moving. A lot of folks here are stalking these creeks from the bank, so they probably won't have the tech to find the shad and/or might not know what to look for with or without it. Graphs are great tools though; always seems that I can turn a bad day around quicker when fishing from my boat using my electronics.

Great thread guys; keep it going!

DO NOT DO THIS!!! If you do then I will have to start buying my own slip corks instead of picking them up along the creek in my kayak from places the bankers couldnt reach.

if i bring a stringer i never get a bite. if i forget my stringer i catch some gooduns. yup

The stringer comment is priceless
And How!!!!
That is the truth!

Yep...and if you want to ensure defeat, bring a camera along, too.

FM

based on my experience.. no bite in 30 min with different depth and bait. Move. When i say move, i am talking like 5 to 10 feet. Makes a world of difference sometimes.