Like most, I've been successful with minnows. But rarely have consistent results with artificial.

My best luck so far is with a Black Marabou.

Any suggestions?

Colvin,
First off welcome to the forum...
Jig fishing is a different story from using minnows... There's a lot of advise here on the forum, but I might suggest you get Mr. Ernest Paty's video crappie fishing 101.. ( Just go one of his posts and click on the logo for directions to his web site) Very good advise for the novice...
If you have confident in black maribou then that's what you need to fish.. As a jig tyer I always recommend that you find a go to jig (confidence builder)... Then fish it... I like any jig with chartruse, but then again my go to 90% of the time is (PINK/CHARTRUSE/CHARTRUSE)...
Hope this helps some... Good luck and if I can be any assistance in your jig arsenal just drop me a P.M. Thanks again,
Matthew
JIGUM JIGS

Good advice from Jig'um....seems most of us have 'go to' jigs and that is because we have caught a lot of fish with them and have a great deal of confidence in them. Here on CCL my go to is anything with a lot of chartruese and the Pink/Chart/Chart is my favorite. For dock shooting, I go to a slab bandit....you guessed it...chartruese.
I think that if you have a 'go to' jig you feel like you can catch fish anytime it's in the water so you are paying a lot more attention and watching your line more closely. The bite is so light during the summer months that you have to really pay attention every second or you'll miss it.
One other thing, Matt has this ugly jig he ties called 'shorthorn' or something like that. Ugliest thing you ever saw and I wouldn't be caught dead with one on my boat!

A call to Matthew is the best advice I can give you. His jigs are awesome and they catch fish!

1/8 oz. is easiest to fish with....line no heavier than 6lb.
white heads with eyes
charteuse heads with eyes
curly tail bodies ( real real soft)
and those funny fat ringed chubbies with the "hula" tails
chatreuse,white,clear greenwith metal flake ......
i do use pink heads once in while here and there...
10 to 15 bux at walmart ......

Thanks for the advice guys...I appreciate it.

Got a few hits on the chartreuse...hammered them on the pink! Caught 25 the first try

Agree with Matthew on the confidence thing as it's the single most important thing when fishing especially artificial.

Lots of color work and work well, but you have to believe it it!

Good Luck,

Skip

I agree talk to Matthew he seems to always have time or always make time it may be brief time due to him spending countless hours at the vise making quality jigs to put the best jigs in the hands of fishermen he can. Line size can vary depending if you fishing heavy cover or open water.