When I started fishing at the age of 4 or 5 with my father or grandfather we mostly baited up and whatever was biting was fine with us, many a time we went home with a mixed bag of fish.

Later I almost exclusively targeted bass. And this was true for many years. I could appreciate catching a pan fish, catfish, or some other type of species that took my offering, but there was a focus on bass that brought me the most joy.

No longer having access to the ponds I grew up fishing and being without a boat, I turned to crappie fishing in the area barges. But many of you have a boat to fish from and yet you target crappie. For me, there is something about that thump that gets the blood flowing for me. I think there is also the lack of guilt from keeping a days catch including the larger fish.

And boy do crappie taste good. So what made you decide to fish primarily for crappie?

The THUMP!

Amen Bigskippy. I cant explain it to those who don't fish for crappie, but that thump never fails to give me a thrill.

More action. 20 crappie in a day is a terrible day, 20 bass in one day is a great day. And yeah, the thump is cool too...

The challenge. I fished for Bass for many years and thought Crappie were for old minnow dunkers who didn't know how to really fish. Two real Crappie fishermen took me out and kicked my a$$ with jigs. I found that Crappie were more of a challenge and harder to consistently catch than bass.

And I like the thump.

Though I hardly ever fish with a bobber and have not done as good in the spring since I got my boat, but watching a bobber go under the water during the spawn really got me. I later got hooked on the thump and the different ways to hunt them down.

,
Calvin

The challenge and the finesse needed to catch them. Temperamental finicky fish at times, but that thump feels sooooo good.
Many of us used to fish for bass, white bass, ect but got tired of that and went after crappie. I still chase a few different species at times, but crappie are at the top of the list.

Ever met anybody that got tired of crappie fishing and went back to bass fishing? Only one I know changed his moniker from Barndoor Blake to Black Bass Blake.

When I got my first boat four summers ago, I bought new rods, reels, and tackle so that I could bass fish from a boat. A friend of mine took me crappie fishing in his boat before I had a chance to use my new bass fishing equipment. Felt that thump for the first time and I was hooked. Then one day a few months later while my brother was with me out crappie fishing and it was a little slow, I asked him if he would want to try bass fishing. His response just cemented in me what I guess I already knew. He said that we could fish for bass and if we had a good day, we'd catch maybe five to 10 bass OR we could crappie fish and catch 30-40 fish and catch a more variety of fish. He was right. I regularly catch bass, sand bass, catfish, yellow bass, drum, hybrids, and stripers while catching my fair share of crappie. My friend has taught me a lot about crappie fishing over the past couple of years and I'll never go back to targeting bass. I prefer jigs to minnows (even though I will tip my jigs with minnows on rare occasions) because there is nothing like feeling that "THUMP". It's addictive!

May the THUMP be with you

Dad taught me how to crappie fish back in the early 70's. I started with a Zebco 202 reel on a 3ft fiberglass rod. We only used minnows back in those days. During the spring we would break out our customized cane poles. We would use metal coat hangers to make the reel and guides and assemble it together with black tape. Added some braided line and we use to tear them up at Tawakoni. I fish for catfish and sandies but never been that big on bass fishing. Feeling that thump or watching that cork go under is simply epic.

Reggie

In the 50s my mom and dad would take us kids crappie fishing so that we'd have something to eat that next week. No size, quantity limit then so we generally filled a tow sack and went home. In the 60s I got into bass fishing and thought I was cool being able to (barley) put together a five fish limit. From that I started ocean fishing (80s) and loved it, but unfortunately there isn't an ocean in north central Texas, so got into crappie fishing cause that is an easy fish to catch all the time....right??? Hello, my name is Guy Skinner and I have a thump addiction

I just started Crappie fishing this summer. End of August to be precise. I was getting tired of the same old same old fishing for sandies. And my wife wanted some Crappie to eat. She doesn't care to eat sand bass. So when I just happened on a brush pile at Bardwell, I thought what the heck, I'll try it. I had a rod that was light action with 6' test line on it, as I was trying to make the sand bass fishing more exciting! LOL. Tied on a jig head and BAM!, caught a Crappie. I was hooked, no pun intended. I now fish to feel that THUMP! And my wife is quite happy that she has some Crappie to eat.

speaking of Tawakoni, we went to Tawakoni a lot when i was a kid. We would go to the west side of the lake by a bridge and fish on a barge that was run by Ed and Mary? Am i dreaming about this barge? there was a dance hall on the east side of the bridge that burnt down one year!this had to be the middle to late 60's. i will never forget tying up to a tree and waiting for the thump. always fished with a crappie rig with two minnows and this barge had no electronics. They did sell hamburgers and fry.
back to work!

I liked to roll with the old dogs...learned bad habits from my papa!!!

Papa and I would go crappie fishing on Lavon dunking minnows while fishing timber. It was always a lil boring to me to sit and wait for the tip of your rod to twitch! If ya got it too late, the slabs would take your minnow which I hated! After some years of fishing this way I finally had enough an begin to look at crappie jigging on youtube since everyone we fished with dunked minnows! I saw a guy by the name of Crappie Dale, he was down on Tawakoni at Marina Del Rey! I went down there with my dad and caught some nice big slabs! That was the first time I had ever felt the "THUMP" and have been addicted to it every since! Also, crappie is the best tasting fish in the lake besides fillet'd bluegill IMHO! Honestly, what better meal is there than fried crappie/gills and a ice cold Modelo

I just started fishing for Crappie a few weeks ago, like many of you I came from the wonderful world of Black Bass. I moved here from San Diego where I primarily fished in the bays and offshore, so coming to land locked DFW was a NIGHTMARE. I took up bass fishing and it has been great for the 8 years I have been here but when I finally got that THUMP and didn't try to rip the lips off the Crappie I was addicted! I don't know what it is, I do find it is a lot more challenging for me than bass fishing and maybe that's some of the allure to it. What barges do you fish? I am without boat as well and fish slips right now.

JZ