Up here in the ice box we see a lot of different foods that crappies lean on when the water temps take a hike. Small perch can be a great food for them as can be young-of-the-year shad fry and other rough fish fry. One of the least expected foods is sunfish fry...young-of-the-year about 3/4" in length. Part od the equation falls on how the sunfish family has such a strong pecking order that dictates where the large fish are as opposed to where the small fish are. In the cold water, the largest fish are in the deepest part of the available water column except while actively feeding. And when feeding the largest, strongest fish are where the food is at its easiest to get. All of this means that the small fish get pushed out to the edhes and peripheral areas where they become easy prey themselves. Out of the safety of the horde, these little fish are easy targets for active crappies. One of my pet bait colors is sunfish for that very reason.
Seen here on the left is a regular clear plastic sunfish color I like that has just a mere smidge of blue hi lite and plenty of copper, green, blue and purple glitter in .015 size....all colors found on a sunfish, in the Small Fry offered here at Caney. The size of these baits is also right in line with the size crappies like and will top out about where the Paddletail shown, also a Caney creation, comes into play. Sunfish larger than what the paddletail portrays are not going to be easy marks for even large crappies.
The two baits found at center and on the right are a twist to the sunfish color. In the clear plastic I have added three drops of turquoise colorant and maybe 1/8 tsp of turquoise hi lite. In much clearer water or where the sunfish base has brighter colored fish, I think the latter will stand out as a winner for a color. The color on the left is a super utility color and the last few years have shown it to be a rock solid summer color when rains get sparce and our waters tend to get clear. Even in water that takes on a greenish tinge, the clear sunfish bait has been a dandy.
The two colors on the right of the picture show how just a hair of color and some hi lite can change the base color a lot. This was a batch using 6 ounces of plastic. It just shows how a little can go a long way.
