Crappie Fishing?

[412BaitCo]

So I'm dead set on some crappie fishing. I picked out my rod which might be a little short but I think it will do. It's a 5'6 ultralight. (I love fishing Ultralights btw). Per previous info from the guys on here I'm looking at braids. I'm stuck on a 2# diameter 10# and a 4# diameter 15# and I know going to small can have an effect. Any insight from the crappie fishing masters?

P.S I cant wait to shoot and throw some of the 2.5 swimfrys I just ordered!

[BareKnuckleJigs]

I'm no Sacalait Master, by any measure, but me personally, if I were using braid I'd go with the lightest I could get ahold of.  10 lb. if I'm shooting at the heavy cover, but general Sacalait fishin', if "they" make a 6 lb. braid, I'd go that route.  I have a Penn Squall spinning rod with a Penn Battle 5 on it, with a 300 yd. spool of 20 lb. Power Pro.  I thought I did good with a 7 lb. Mangrove Snapper, then thought I did good with a 20 lb. Blackfin Tuna...oh no...while it took me about 45 minutes, I landed a 50 lb. Yellowfin Tuna with that 20 lb. braid and Battle 5...in extreme open water, but I did it.

Braid isn't quite the same as mono or fluoro.  Braid is serious bid'niss.  Even frayed, braid can hold up well.  The mono's are extremely compromised with the smallest nick's or fray's.

Just my $0.02

[wilks19]

I love Crappie fishing and using Ultra lights for them.  I have a 5'6", 5'0", and a 9'0" all used for Crappie fishing.  I use 10lb Fireline in Crystal on these rigs and they work out great.  I love the Fireline, but next year will be going to PowerPro because of the price and easier to get bulk spools.  I have not tried using smaller diameter lines because I have not had problems with the 10lb.  My opinion, go with 10lb.  Reason is, if you get a larger fish by chance, you have the line to bring it in without question.  Good luck and let us know what you decide.

[MicroSpoons]

I would go with the 10 pound. I have used the 4 pound and the diameter is so small the line will come out of the hooks where the eye is formed because its sooooo thin. 10 pound is still 2 pound diameter and like was said, there will be times when you need it. Just dont try and wrapit around your hand to break it off.

[andrewlamberson]

My advice (which I have confirmed with the rod designers at St. Croix rods) is to match the line diameter of the braid...to the mono equivalent printed on the rod. That will maximize the performance of the guides and rod design/flex.

The problem with braid is that event the thinnest of braid is stronger than the rod can handle from a breakage perspective. So if you need to pull a lure from a snag DON"T do it with the rod! Also realize that setting the hook with braid on an ultralight can exceed the rod design. For example if you use a small rubber worm on an ultra light (I do it all the time !) be very careful that you set the hook "ultralight" not "medium heavy" !!!

Since good ole "papermouth" keeps you from setting the hook to hard...you probably won't have issues of breaking rods...but remember how much more effective braid is than mono in setting the hook. It's easy to tear the hook out of a crappie with a "standard" hook set using braid.

Andy

Andy

[412BaitCo]

Thanks so much guys. I'm going to go with the 10 pound 2 pound diameter. I haven't used a braid since spider wire first came out and it was such a mess that I never touched it again. Looks like they have made a ton of improvements over the years so I'm going to give the braid a second chance.

[andrewlamberson]

Yeah...I agree...I can't keep the super small stuff on my finger to cast it!!!!

[Jester]

I used to swear by braid until I went fishing with a friend that used moss green mono. He put 5 fish in the boat fro every one fish that I caught. We were using identical rigs the only thing different was the line. I would never believed that Crappy would react that differently but the proof was in the fish count. We were fishing with corks and minnows when this happened and not pitching jigs so it may not even relevant. Just my ¢.02

Dennis

[ctom]

3 and 4 pound nanofil are great crappie lines too if you are casting jigs. I like 4 pound mono [Berkley xl clear] for the bulk of my crappie fishing and I catch crappies in the 14 to 15 inch range on a regular basis. Now I'm talking black crappies here, the thick ones. The only time I see a need for braid ids when I get vertical on the fish jigging. I like the sensitivity then. Berkley Vanish in 4 pound is as good as braid in my book if you don't have a lot of stuff to rub against, but my dock hopping gets the Nanofil.

[pjmcla]

I agree with Microspoons ---  Go with the 10# braid.  Sensitivity is excellent and small line diameter aids in camouflage to a certain extent.  It is a good choice for spider rigging in the fall / winter in deeper water, esp. if you tie on a 3 ft. flouro, or mono,  leader.   That said; when I "single pole" a jig I use 6 or 8 lb. Fluorocarbon.   Very little stretch, excellent sensitivity, line sinks naturally, and nearly invisible.   For either; a softer, more parabolic rod is needed; esp on soft mouthed fish. 

[Fudd]

I also learned the hard way.  Mono will catch you more fish when fishing jigs.  I use 4# hi vis Sufix.

Thanks,

Scott

[Brent]

I use my icefishing reel, which has floro on it, both in 2 and 4 lb, with invisaswivels, I use the 1 5/8 ice pick year round and also use the 2 sizes of the swim frys. I'm going out tomorrow night, the last time out I think we did about 30-35 crappie a person, the Glow red was the ticket as it out fished the glow green 3-1 and all other color combos at least 5-1.