Trying to get into Crappie fishing and wondering how you experienced Crappie fishermen hook your minnows when using live bait.

If you vote "Something different" please explain. Thanks!

How do you hook your minnows? single choice
	Through the tail
	Through the top back
	Through both lips
	Through the snout & mouth
	Something different
	I don't use live bait so why did I open this post?
Votes accepted starting: 04/18/19 05:07 PM You must vote before you can view the results of this poll.

I hook them through the lips on a jighead most of the time.

I hook mine through both eyes

I have always hooked them just above the anal fin. I'm calling that other but I guess it could be considered tail.

Through the lips works best for me. Through the back, the minnow can pull off easier. The other ways kill them which may or may not matter.

I hook them through the top of the back under the dorsal. Not from one side to the other but right under the skin along one side from the back toward the front. The point of the Aberdeen is pointing up and to the front.

I do something different. I hook them through the lower front of the eye sockets. The hook will push right through. And if done properly, will not kill your minnow. The minnow is not as active as with a back or tail hooking. But it is harder to pull off because the skull helps keep it on the hook. And being a predator fish, crappie swallow they're pray head first just like bass do. Guess where the hook is when that happens? They also take a casting better, without losing your bait too.

You do need to wait a second longer rather than setting the look right away. Give them just a short chance to run with it. Then set your hook. When I minnow fish for crappie, this is the way I've most often done it for the last 45 years.

Through the eyes, can�t believe that�s not a choice.

This... through the top of the eyes.

Really depends on current, location, jig, bobber or freelining for me. I try different hooking Techniques for different situations.

Well, I only use minnows when fishing standing timber. I double hook them thru the head, then back around thru the tail as I don't want the fish stealing my minnow. I sometimes will use the same minnow on up to 5 crappie. Sometimes it's just parts as they start falling apart after you catch a few. So I really think you guys are over thinking this. Crappie don't care I promise as I've caught thousands this way. When I was growing up, my dad taught me the minnow had to be alive, you had to be using 6lb test on a gold Aberdeen hook and you hook him thru the dorsal fin so he would stay alive and if the minnow was dead throw it away. My barber hooked me up on a trip when I was around 25 and totally changed the way I fish. I like to use a Texas Tooth Pick, see pic below. I also use a small rattle chamber and heat shrink it to the welding rod, drop the bait down in the timber and shake it vigorously and slowly start to raise the bait and boom, Power Fishing 101 for Crappie

I use 65 lb braid so that if I do get hung up I can just pull hard and straighten out the hook, then when I get it back to the boat just get the needle nose pliers out and bend it back. It's amazing how you will get hung up in the timber, but the welding rod on the Texas Tooth Pick keeps them from twisting up in the brush or trees.

I hook my minnows in the lip and my wife hooks hers in the back/tail area. ..... sometimes I have to turn mine around and hook the tail, but usually I have to start hooking hers in the lip for her.

I usually hook through the back unless there is a lot of submerged brush, then I go through the lips to keep the minnow from snagging me up.