Just so I'm clear, in no way do I think I'm a expert but I do enjoy the feeling of accomplishment while fooling these fish into hitting my jigs.....

I am not proud, I will eat some fish tacos from crappie caught on a jig or minnow. They taste the same to me! They bite minnows better for me on Roberts in the hot summer. Some days I catch more keepers with jigs but I am going ready to fish either when I crappie fish.

I would love for you to come up here in September with jigs and I will use minnows. I bet I know who will have more fish at the end of the trip. I watch your videos a lot and those black crappie tend to be more aggressive than the whites we have around here. Today for example. I fished 20 spots and at least 10 of them had 100 fish on them. I put 5 on ice. I tried it all, feather jigs, small, big, 10 different colors, holding it still, pitching it, raising it up but they just did not want to hit. I didn�t have minnows but I would have bet they would have helped.

Make that 50 to 2.

Minnows are just a pain to deal with. I'm to a point I like a durable jig that will last for many fish, I'm not gonna mess with a minnow every single hit. I do fine with a jig, so no need for minnows. but is sure helps when you got a lot of spots to fish, because I go from spot to spot, a few drops and no hit, I move on.

Justin...spend some time on the water and look at the size of most of the baitfish in the water. Find some protected coves to search in the early morning. Round about now you should prolly see a LOT of small 1/32 size shad schools in a lot of the coves and smaller minnows as well. Fish are lazy this time of year when it comes to bait because there is so much of it but will feed heavily at different times. Matching the hatch with the real thing will help you catch more or Imitate the shad/minnows size and color as close as you can to improve your catch. Love my CRaZy Angler jigs this time of year in the Tennessee Shad color around structure with some Pro-Cure Crappie/Panfish gel or minnow gel.

It's all about the challenge with me and from what I've experienced jigs used with the right confidence, action, scent and in the right area will out fish minnas by several.....
It may take more moving around but from my experience I do several times better with jigs....
A fish in the boat is a fish in the boat regardless of technique..... jigs put more in the boat for me....

Well alright then..... That's the thing, move, move and move and you'll find the active fish....... Putting the time in to find structure or put structure out is well worth it....+ moving will cool you off a bit in this hot weather.....

Not sure if minnows are better or not but I have not bought a minnow in 40 years and not going to start now.
I am all about the challenge fo catching them with a jig.

The last 6 weeks I have been fishing 12 times and limited out with either 50-75 fish every time with exception to last Tuesday evening due to the high winds, I had to stay in one protected area and we only ended up with 53 keepers between three people all on jigs.

Would minnows make them bite better, I don't know, but it takes us usually 3 hours to catch a 2 man limit sometimes a little faster.

How long does it take to catch a 2 man limit with minnows the last few weeks?

I'm new at crappie fishing. Just started fishing again at the end of last year after about 40 years. We only get to fish once a week and I am finding out that I am not very good at this. We catch fish every time we go out, but not in huge numbers.

We don't have any brush piles marked and are fishing standing timber. Doing better now with minnows. Earlier in the year, we were only using jigs. The last two times out the wind has been so bad it moved us to protected coves where the water was not deep enough and most of what we caught were throw backs. We only managed 15 keepers on the last outing.

Wayne

I use minnows in the hot part of the summer. I think they just simply get bit better. Don't get me wrong, jigs can and do still work well, but I just have more confidence with minnows in the summer. Make sure to use a good minnow bucket with an aerator so that you can keep as many alive as possible.

I would use minnows if I didn�t catch what I wanted with a jig. Jigs are just more fun, and a lot easier. Minnows are just a pain, what would really annoy me about minnows is catching a bunch of dinks. Also have to stop at bait shops and get minnows, then there is a long line, and guy getting minnows is slow as Christmas. And then there is the cost, what do you do, buy 50 minnows? How much do minnows cost?

For me, it depends on what my fishing goal is for the day. If I am fishing for sport, I like the accomplishment of figuring out what is working that day with jigs, whether it is changing size, color, and profile, or just moving around a lot to find active fish. Even which line I am using seems to matter sometimes. If I am taking folks out that want to catch or if I am just wanting to fill the cooler I will bring minnows. For me, there are days where minnows just work better. I also enjoy "old-man" fishing sometimes, where I sit back in my seat, relax and wait for a pole to bend. Last weekend on Lavon, 4 of us had about 10 keepers using jigs over about 3-1/2 hours. I had everyone start "tipping" the jigs with minnows and we put in another 25 over the next hour and a half.