Crappie can eat bigger shad than I would have guessed

Had a decent day with the Crappie today, for me that is. I've never come near a limit and am happy as a clam if I get a half dozen. I made a discovery about how big a shad a Crappie will eat. Usually I'm cast netting for catfish bait but the other day I decided to put some smaller ones under a bobber and viola!! Not only will they eat the ones that nearly fit through the 1/2 inch netting, they will eat 2 inch ones too. And I think you catch bigger Crappie that way, could have just been right place right time but I brought home some very fat ones today. You guys have probably known this for years but it was news for me.

...amazing, isn’t it!

Yup. Fishing a river a few years back below a dam, the crappie were stacked in4FOW gorging on gizzard shad, could see striper and walleye in the hole in the bottom, friend snagged a 5” gizzard shad and put it on the hook, immediately caught a 14” Crappie. They’ll eat big baits.

Every year i wil catch at least one on a trot line baited with good size perch, always surprises me

Back when I trotlined, I experienced the same results...that is how I learned some of my crappie holes, before electronics!

BTW, This is TBoxes contention with his 3 inch tadpole profile...he informed me a couple of weeks ago that he has caught 7 inch crappie that have completely engulfed his 3 inch Tadpoles...so, I left my gear in the truck and used his gear...once I learned how to get the right action on the larger baits, I caught some good fish with them. I am still in some disbelief about how those larger bait profiles fit into the crappie world, BUT, next time I get on a deep pile, I am gonna throw a big bait, along with my normal offering at them, and see how that works out...

Crapicat let us no how u do, im curious

Open up a few fish stomachs next time you're cleaning them, of any species. You will learn very very quickly what they are focusing on eating at that time of year. For example in my local pond that has crappie, in the summer and fall I pull out 2-4 inch shad out of them, yes LOTS of 4 inch shad out of 10 inch fish... but in the winter in my pond they only have a couple minnows in them and then a ton of young of the year bluegill and a ton of small crustaceans. Obviously pattern would be different in a lake than a pond but it definitely gives a pattern.

Catch crappie with mayfly larvae in it, next time out fish with larvae shaped plastics on standing timber. Catch a catfish with a bunch of crayfish in it and going bass fishing 3 days later? Throw craw lures. Catch crappie with 1 inch newborn baitfish downsize your lures.......

Eric

I don’t clean the big cats anymore but when i use to every big opp would have a 6”-10” cat in his gut

If the bait fits in their mouth, and they are hungry, they will eat it.
Matching what they are feeding on at the time is good advice.
When fishing off color to muddy water, a larger profile bait is easier for the crappie to detect. I've got quite a few 2.5 and 3" tadpoles from Thermocline.
Nothing wrong with those 1/32 and 1/24 oz jigs, but I very rarely have one tied on. About the only time is July - August for a 1/16 or 1/32.
Most of the hand ties I use are 2-2.5" profiles.

I just caught a 12" and a 9" crappie out of my pond on a 3/4 ounce spinnerbait!

Ken: You are right about that. If they can get it in their mouth they will eat it. I was fishing below PK in the Brazos a few years back and caught some 5-7 inch shad and had a bunch of under size stripers in the 12-14 inch rage eat those. I'd look at their mouth and could not believe that got that shad down.

Guys in allot of southern states troll with Big Crankbaits that don't look like they would fit in a crappies mouth, but they continue to produce fish.

Think about it. A crappie has to leave security to chase down food. If he can get a bigger dinner while out of his protection zone, he'll have to leave it less often to feed.

two of my best spots I figured out by talking to bass fisherman.... usually when a bass fisherman realizes you are a crappie fisherman they will tell you about huge crappie they have caught on big baits like a DD22 or big jig and pig....when I say bass fisherman I mean the ones who know what they are doing and have figured out off shore structure...they don't understand why they catch occasionally catch big crappie, but I do, and I take notes.

So do you tell them where you been catching big bass and invite them over for bass on the half shell?

Um no...I tell them it's Redfish.

Are you surfing the forum while driving?