Recently started crappie fishing and I have been thinking about staying up past my bedtime and trying a little night time crappie fishing on Lake Tyler.
Looking for pointers on how to best fish for crappie at night... Jigs vs Minnows, do they move shallow or stay on the same brush as during the day, do y'all drop lights and other helpful information would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks y'all!

In my night fishing trips i have used minnows. Have usually caught in water 20 + ft deep. Get a green submersible light,some eagle claw hooks,usually in a short time you should see shad around the light, fish the minners at the edge of light circle, andget ready for fun. Good Luck& Be Careful.

This is how we do it

to get your feet wet night fishing, find a boat ramp that has lights that are near the water.. shad will migrate to areas that have light,., if theres a marina near a ramp, you can go anchor up in front of a slip that has lights,. some slips have lights on all night long.
get you some 7 to 10 foot rods and paint the first 2 feet of the rod with bright white spray paint., it makes it alot easier to see if you have a bite at night,,
set up 3 or 4 rods where they can sit stationary in the boat. make sure the rod is sitting horizontally with the water or slightly canted downward toward the water.. do not set the rod diagonally towards the sky.. I dont know why, but you will rarely get a bite on a rod positioned this way. set up your bait with a number 2 eagle claw hook, about 24 inches up the line, tie another hook on the bottom of the line, then pinch a 1/8th oz sinker 0r 1/4 oz right in the middle of the 2 hooks.. this will keep the double rig set up tangle free.
just setting the pole down and deadsticking is fine,, the minnows are moving around plenty.. set the lines at different depths.
use a headlamp with a green or red lens, they dont attact as many mosquitos.
BE PATIENT.., crappie move around the lake in schools at night for the most part.
minnows do alot better than jigs at night, if u use jigs, use something with a swim tail... black, and red, seem to do better at night., studies have been done that show fish see reds better at night.
gold or silver sparkle jigs can be good too, especially if the water is turbid.
if you can get a green light to set in the water next to the boat, or some green chemlights... tie 3 or 4 together, tie a weight to them the sink them a foot or 2 below the water line.. chemlights will last 4 or 5 hours and they are cheap.
you can also hang a few inside the boat so u can see what your doing..

When I was younger my Dad an I used to do this a lot, one thing you will notice as well as the sandbass will move in as well. You will be catching crappie and then all of a sudden, bam, bam you start catching sandies, the crappie will leave for a bit, then the sandies will leave, then the crappie will return.

Night fishing on a lake that has crappie and hybrids can be some of the best times you'll ever have.

Grandson wanted to turn the thumper on to see what came in......have 6 crappie poles out and one loan cat fish pole......good grief! 7 poles got hit and once, people flying, poles flying, lines screaming, people yelling!

Is there a best bite time or does it just vary on when they come through? I plan on setting up a light at our slip right as dusk starts. It's in 24 feet of water or so. Just curious on what to expect.

Some nights the bait and crappie show up quick and some night it takes a while (you should have bait swimming within 30 mins to an hour or it's time to move).

Biggest key, as always, is location. Make sure there are fish in the area, or the general area you'll be fishing. So if you never catch fish off a dock normally, the lights probably won't help much at night either.

But if the fish are there during the day (or at least close by) then the light will help concentrate them at night because all of their food is going to be swimming circles around it.

Good Luck!!

Night fishing for crappie is far from ideal. In the summer the best fishing is during the heat of the day when they’re bunched up on brush piles.

I'm not sure if the OP has live tech or not but if he does scoping at night it's a lot of fun and the payoff is great.... 1 beating the heat 2 no jet fleas nor wake boats and you'll get a good box of fish.....I have a few vids with good results scoping at night if your interested.....

Thank y'all for all the great input! I got a couple of submersible lights in and want to build a box for them to run off my cordless tool batteries. I don't have livescope on my boat, but a buddy of mine does. I will have to drag him out there at night. That video looks good with the scope SK! I also picked up some Bonehead glow jigs to try.

yes it gets quite annoying trying to fish in the traffic.. and theres no doubt in my mind that jet skis, big ski boats, other fisherman running back and forth all day long scatters the fish . they go to the cover and structure to rest and digest, or get some shade from the UV light penetration. as well as to school up in groups with something to relate to like a beacon ... I believe it sets the fish in a roaming, skittish mood. fishing during the week is so much better than weekends or holidays as far as catch rates go.

Thanks for the tips! Went out and set up at the end of our slip's dock, facing the open lake. The water was a little rough and choppy. Had a decent amount of bait circle our light and would see a few larger fish come through and take a run at the bait. Looked to be large bluegills and small white or yellow bass. Only managed one decent white bass at the end of the night, around midnight. Walking back through the marina, saw a slip that had an automatic light. This slip was more protected than the area we set up and was calm. There were a lot of fish around this one. Not much bait thought. Just bass, crappie, bull bluegills, white bass, a gar, and even a drum.

Next time I think we might try setting up in our slip, where it's calmer.

I don’t! I’m skeert of the dark!!

Has anyone ever seen or used one of these? I don`t even remember when I got it or how much it cost but This is my new moon strategic crappie weapon. I`ve used it for years but since the advent of live sonar technology not so much.When the moon hides her face &
there are ABSOLUTELY no other lights in the area i`m fishing.. this thing calls em in!