I am new to Grapevine. Been on out a few times but need some good directives on where to start looking for the crappie bite. I am going out Friday afternoon. Can anyone offer some tips. I have some boys that need to catch some fish to keep interested.

God Bless and Good Fishin'
Preacher Man

Preacher: Do you have a boat or are you fishing from the bank?

Have Boat.....For sure

Ok, then I have been fishing the sloughs north or
south side depending largely on the wind direction
and water depths. I caught nothing up shallow tuesday but drum and sandbass so I moved to 12 - 14 ft. water with brush and rocks and started hammering crappie (slabs) at 7 - 10 feet on minnows and jigs fishing straight down and drifting in close enough to the shore to work a bobber with jig and minnow up shallow at the same time. I was definately catching more slabs in the deeper water.
This was right after the cool front passed and the best bite was from 3:00 pm till sundown! I'm
guessing that by friday you will find more crappie up shallow and I would drift along shorelines using bobber and minnow in about 1 -2 ft. until you cover those beds and find the spawners close to the bank. If the weather turns
cool or rainy you may want to try some deeper water near by.
I usually try 2 or 3 spots before I find them
but cover a lot of territory in between. The spawn is definately on at Grapevine and you and those boys should do well if this warm weather holds. The crappie I have been catching are about
50% males with just a little blood in tails indicating they are working the nests! Females have all been about to bust with eggs, so the time
is just starting good!
Good luck and let us know how it turns out.
Thank you for taking those boys fishing!

When you speak of using a bobber with jig, or you talking about something like a roadrunner? Or do you mean something else. In the past I have drifted using roadrunners only... and did well..the bobber idea is new to me. Could you explain that some more.

I use panfish assassins 1/16 oz jig especially
spring green or chartruse/black short stubby body and tail, rigged about 12" below a leader with minnow and pencil type bobber set 18 -24" so that
the whole rig will tell you when it is in about
1 and a half to two feet of water. The water at
that depth will be wher the most crappie beds will
be found. If I can see the minnow swimming then usually the water is too clear and I move on looking for murkier or more stained water. Right now from mid lake on up toward Marshall Creek area
you can find plenty of this type of water. Also
look for stick-ups, stumps, brush piles and any
other structure that might offer a little protection and you will probably find crappie. Many times the biggest crappie I have caught was
on the jig, but the minnow helps to keep the jig
moving naturally so I use both!

That sounds like some good advise. I appreciate you helping me out. We'll see how it works tomorrow.
Thanks Again

Forgive the ignorance, but I just can't picture your rig in my head...maybe I just haven't had enough bean juice this morning. Maybe it's because I've never used a pencil bobber and it's used differently then a std. round bobber?

Thanks for any clarification!!!

Does it go bobber - minnow - jig? Bobber - jig - minnow? I know I'm probably missing something obvious here.

Dan

Dan, I think he's tipping his jig with a minnow.

For my jig and bobber, I use a slip bobber set-up. Very easy to cast because the bobber, jig and/or minnow are all down at the end of your line when you go to cast. Took me a few tries to find the bobber I liked the most. Buy you a pack of stops. I like the ones that are the neon yellow-green thread with beads in the pack. If it's calm, I'll go with the lightest bobber that will float with a jig under it. Otherwise, I like the Thill slip bobbers. They are white and dayglow yellow. Heavy enough to cast into the wind but won't make a huge splash when it lands.

Tie on your slip knot about three feet up. Slide your bobber on below that. I add the bead below the bobber to keep the jig head from sticking up in the bottom of the bobber when casting. Tie on your lure or minnow set-up. Adjust the depth of your slip knot. It can be a foot or ten feet plus. The knot goes up into your reel if you're set deep and still casts fairly well. You can adjust your knot as you're fishing to find the depth the fish want. When you clip the ends of your slip knot (about 1/8-1/4" long), burn the ends with a lighter. Keeps it from fraying and allows you to tighten it up when it gets loose.

Other people have mentioned other bobber stops or slip knot material. It's kinda like the Seinfeld "dento-tape or floss" routine between Jerry and Newman. I tried the others but just don't like them.

Not sure if that's what you meant about clarification. I didn't knwo what a slip bobber set-up was two months ago. I was doing it the old way with a set bobber I would have to adjust. Casting into the wind was a nightmare, and I could just forget about trying to cast up under a tree. The slip bobber allows you to drop that bobber into tight spaces or under branches without having extra line out there to tangle up on things.

I guess I'll have to head over to the store and look at the bobbers to get a clearer picture of the setup. I'm guessing when you say to 'tie on the slip knot', you're talking about part of the bobber.

Thanks! I'll figure it out!! It sounds like a great setup.

Here is a pretty good description of slip bobbers with pictures of the knot - http://www.hloutdoors.com/swami.htm

Good luck,
Greg

Ok...I see now, thanks for the link!!

Is this the kinda slip/stop knot you guys are using??

The "slip knot" is really a "stop knot", as the link depicts. You slide that plastic sleeve up your line, slide the "stop knot" material off and discard, then tighten your "stop knot". Trim "stop knot" and slide on the bobber. The only knot you're tying is the one you normally use to attach your lure.

First time writing. Well all this talk about slip bobbers and crappie fishing drove me to Walmart at lunch. I went to the link you recommended Greg and saw the knot but actually found an easy set up for the stop knot makes life a little easier. I actually took my son who's 10 and his friend to Grapevine at Twin Coves and caught nothing I think the wind had a factor. But thanks for the tips.

Billy

Thank you for the description of your rig ... I plan to give it a try