Frustrated Crappie fisherman

[MonteSS]

I mainly bass fish but was marking Sooo many crappie yesterday in 15-25 fow. 65* water and wind was blowing towards the dam at one end of the lake. Couple guys on the dam were killing Bluegills on worms and a bobber shallow. I was about 100' from shore.

Tried certically jigging with different plastics and rigs. 1/8-3/16 jighead with 1.75 swimbait. 1.75 fluke, plastic cricket, 1.5 curly tail grub. Also tried a dropshot with 1/4 oz sinker.Fish were just stacked from slightly off the bottom to about 15'. Wind made it a little tough to get the light bait vertical to where I wanted it. Couple nibbles but no hookups.

I switched to a tiny Kastmaster spoon and was able to get a few. They were very small at about 6".

I have 8# braid on my ultra lite. It is 1# diameter and like thread. Is this causing fish to not bite? Next time I will try some 6# flouro leader.

As a bass fisherman I am not a huge fan of color differences. I know you crappie guys swear by its important.

Thanks...Bill

[BareKnuckleJigs]

If that water was anything but muddy, use a mono or fluorocarbon leader.  I'm a fan of long leaders, 24" upto as much as 48", to get the bait away from braid or terminal tackle.  Offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, leaders 5'-8' are common when fishing Snapper, to get the bait away from the sinker and/or swivel.

Unless You're fishing in cover (grass, wood), fish see that braid going to that bait and know it's not natural so they're much more likely to turn away.  Of course, You have to factor-in everything...was it a short time passed those fish's feeding so they weren't hungry?  What was the moon doing the night before?  Did they feed the night before, plus You were fishing the morning after a bright/near-full/full moon?  Clear water?  Did a front just hit?  1st and foremost, use a mono/fluoro leader, IMO, 24"-36" long.

[ctom]

Monte if you were feeling slight ticks on the line and reacting to them you need to slow the strike down. Braids move vibrations so well that if you are hitting right as you feel a hit the fish hasn't had a chance to get the bait in its chops....remember, braid=no stretch so your instant hit is pulling everything away immediately. Monos have stretch and by the time you feel a hit thru the stretch in the line the fish has the bait in its mouth.

The only braid I use for crappies is 832 green and I only use it in dirty water conditions. I do use Nanofil 3 pound in the white even in fairly clear water with no ill effects, but most all of my crappie rods carry 4 pound XL clear.

Color can be so critical that changes need to be made hour to hour sometimes, but if your water has some stain to it I'd try a purple bait with a chartreuse tail. A bluegill body and chartreuse tail can be deadly too. Just speaking from personal experience here.

Another thing you may have tried would have been down-sizing dramatically. Or up-sizing...3" baits or more.

I take note of the depth where I am catching those smaller crappies and focus my fishing higher up first, then lower by 4 feet if higher isn't working. Active [feeding] crappies can tend to layer with the smallest fish forced down deeper and away from where larger crappies are feeding higher up. Or they get forced higher up if the big fish are feeding deep. There are times when crappies can be located but they simply are not interested in cooperating with an angler and nothing we do will work. That's just crappies. If you can tear yourself away from plastics, try 1" and 2" Gulp minnows on 1/16 and 1/32 heads....there are times when Gulp is THE bait no matter what else you try to feed them.

You don't mention weather. Has it been stable? Any fronts come thru in the last 12 hours or so? As Gary mentioned, how about moon phase? A full moon can have crappies feeding all night and feeding only in tiny windows during the day time.

65 degree water may have the crappies fixed on minnows yet. I generally like water temps in the very low 50"s and into the 40's for great plastic bites in the fall. I just went thru this within the last two weeks where we had a great fall bite going in 49 degree water but nice days and warm weather ran the water temps back up near 60 and things fell apart more and more as water temps went up.

Finally, remember that you are fishing crappies....easily the most fussy fish in North America's waters. 

[MonteSS]

Thanks guys.

Weather has ben decent. 65-70 air and water temp 65 but dropping slowly since night temps are in the 40's.

Water in this lake is fairly staind peas soup since they fertilize it.

I think the wind made it most difficult to stay on target and present the bait.

This lake has alot of panfish but not known for big fish. Although the bass get big which makes sense with all the food.

My home lake has small bass but big Crappie and sunfish. I regularly catch Bluegill, Redear, and Longear on bass cranks. Crappie are very big but very hard to find