Your favorite presentation for crappies?

[My_Key]

With the season for northern and walleye closing on inland waters this weekend, I'm wondering what some of you like to use to ice crappies.

I got on a school of decent fish last night when fishing eyes, and couldn't get a bite when jigging under the flasher. All the crappies I caught were taken on hook/minnow/bobber.

SO, what's your favorite presentation when you KNOW they are present?

[My_Key]

3 hours and nearly 50 views and no replies?

Maybe I should have just stated that I was clueless to catching crappies. I bet I would have had at least 10 replies berating me, and telling me that it was so easy.

Well, I guess I'll just have to stop in at the store on my way to the lake, and pick up a few new jigs and give it a whirl again tonight.

[robert aldrich]

SCUD BUG#8482; "Bro's Bug Collection" and BRO’S BUG COLLECTION with a wax worm.

[Duffman]

If they're not on the bite, they're not on the bite. If the crappies are on the prowl, I don't even deal with live bait, I'll trim a 2" power minnow down to one inch and pair it with a proper jighead.

But if they're finicky as all get out, I'd suggest some waxies or eurolarve on a small glowjig, and a lightweight springbobber. And also be prepared to do some line watching, it's amazing how quick a crappie will engulf and spit out an offering.

[Jim Almquist]

One line would have a minnow on a plain hook and the other would have a Rat Finky or a Demon in a glow/pink or a glow/green with a euro/waxie and start from there and refine according to whats working.

[amateurfishing]

I caught 2 9" nice ones this am on slug bug with minnow, seems like all anything likes on my local lake is "slug bug" with minnow

[RiverFish]

When the crappies are going I usually will fish with 2 tip-downs and minnow/jig/hook and jig with slug bug or Genz bug and some plastic.

I seem to get my larger crappies on the live bait. Don't know why.

But I get more fish jigging.

[mskyfshntchr]

I will run 2 lines. Line 1 is deadsticked with a minnow and a glo demon. I will use a bare hook if the fish have been finicky. This line is often set above the school 4-5 feet. On the lake I normally fish the water clarity is around 12'. The bigger fish seem to climb and eat the meat.

Line 2 will be a diamond jig with spikes or waxies. Colors vary, but I use a lot of greens/chartruese/glo colors. Get the bait into the fish and try a variety of jigging motions to get them to commit. Slowly rise your bait up and try to seperate a fish from the school. Often times they commit when raising.

If the fish are constantly hitting the deadstick but not your jigging rod- slow down or stop jigging as aggressively. Just get your bait down there and hold it.

One thing that is a MUST is a spring bobber!!

Good luck at icing some late ice slabs!

[My_Key]

Thanks for the advice. I've tried small Demon jigs, Bro's Hexi-flies, Bro's Larvae Grub, Scud Bugs, Genz worms, small Forage Minnow spoons and Lindy Fat Boys. All tipped with waxies. I was markng fish up and down the water column again tonight and couldn't buy a bite. I was using a spring bobber, but didn't ever see evidence of a bite. About the only thing I should have tried and didn't was crappie minnows. I had a fathead down, but maybe it was bigger than they were looking for. I even went as far as trying a plain old hook with a waxie. Size 8 I think, the waxie covered the whole hook.

[Jeremy airjer W]

Purple nuclear ants tipped with purple squigies. If that doesn't work a gold frosty tipped with a black micro nuggie. If that doesn't work its a black jig with a white gulp alive micro twister.

[whitebassman]

depending on the lake. i've marked lots of fish with little takers, and upon putting the camera down, discovered the marks are mostly bluegills, with the crappie mixed in. so beware not all your marks are likely crappies. and when they don't bite they don't!

best times are dawn and dusk, i've always stuck to the crappie minnow, but just picked up some 1" gulp alive minnows and glow minnow heads, so will try that if minnows don't produce. 9-10" is pretty common where I'm at.

[RiverFish]

One other thing to look at is your line. Look for negative bites. Your bobber will either lay down or you will see your line go just slightly slack.

Crappies will hit and swim up towards the ice.

[Zelmsdawg]

I've almost always had more luck when I keep stuff moving, even the deadstick. Crappies are easy if you can get them to chase up out of the school, they'll hit 95% of the time.

I personally like using gulp of a minnow head when jigging only because when I use a full minnow I get a little impatient and my bite to hook ratio suffers.

Zelmsdawg

[FYGR8]

slow rise

[DuckBlind]

Bobber. Small demon w/ a green head, glow... crappie minnow.

[Fowlmouth]

I like to keep it old school. Plain red hook, slip bobber and small crappie minnow. Has always worked for me.

[Crappiechopper]

If they're not on the bite, they're not on the bite. If the crappies are on the prowl, I don't even deal with live bait, I'll trim a 2" power minnow down to one inch and pair it with a proper jighead.

But if they're finicky as all get out, I'd suggest some waxies or eurolarve on a small glowjig, and a lightweight springbobber. And also be prepared to do some line watching, it's amazing how quick a crappie will engulf and spit out an offering.

Exactly what I would have posted! In addition I find that crappies tend to bite best at first and last light, and on some lakes, well into the evening.

With spring bobbers you will be able to detect the lift when fish come from below (most likely) and bite. Sometimes they bite so light that if you're spring bobber moves set the hook. Also if you're marking several fish and can't get a particular one to bite, move on to the next one.

[walleye365]

i like to have a bobber and minnow/plastic and with the other rod dropshot with guplp 1in minnow or minnow head the dropshot has been deadly the last couple years.

[My_Key]

I was fishing well after sunset, out in the basin of the lake. Were there gills present? I'm not sure, but I pulled 6 bucket worthy crappies up and a few smaller ones, all on hook/minnow/bobber. I'm trying to better my jigging presentation. Although I talked to a fellow fisherman who was out there last night, and he couldn't get a bite either. So I guess it's possible they just weren't biting. One thing I know for sure, they weren't interested in anything I was throwing at them.

[FBMH]

Here in WI, we can have 3 lines and i take advantage of that. On the outside holes, ill put two deadsticks down and jig in the middle hole. On the bobbers, i will put a slip bobber and plain hook with a minnow. Usually works best. But if you can find a certain color to be best (sometimes pink or red) then find a small jig and put that on your bobbers. In the middle hole, i will jig either a BRO BUG jig or anything with rattle. When the pies are biting, the best thing i could ever have down is the smallest size of the buckshot or forage minnow. This is nice because the rattle the big jigs put off will attract fish and if they are not biting aggresively, then most likely you will watch your bobber fall down below the ice, which is not a bad thing . However, always have something from the BROBUG collection down. They are top notch and will catch you more and bigger fish! Good luck!

[TruthWalleyes]

I use a small jig and crappie minnow under a venom float, and jig with a larger size moxie minnow...Keeps the little crappies away, but has put some bigums on the ice this year too...Tipped with a minnow head, sometimes i'll gob a bunch of waxies on the moxie also.

[Slabasaurus]

If I am hunting for size, I'll put on a small buckshot spoon or a rattlin flier, tipped with a crappie minnow.

But my go to rig is a plain red hook and crappie minnow. I hook the minnow just behind the dorsal. I think the red hook might make the minnow look like it's bleedin, but who knows

[atguucauuucucau]

Recently ran into a case of tight lip. The fish sat and looked....and looked....and looked. My friend took a small jiggin rap, and tied 4-5in of light mono to the loop holding the treble and then tied a fly hook (~size 16) to the other end so it would hang just below the rap. He tipped the drop down hook with a small chunk of waxworm and the fish hit immediately. They would come in to investigate the rap and then settle on the small chunk of waxie. Worth a try sometime when the bite is hesitant.

[GlassEyeangler]

keep in mind that presentation isn't everything! sometimes crappies are just not in the mood.

i would say....move to another spot! if you are like me and convinced your flasher is showing crappies, and if you had the right presentation they would bite - ie, being stubborn enought to figure out the bite...he he - then, i would suggest a wide variety of live/dead bait. i've had lots of success presenting something they don't very often. here are some things that have worked for me...

mousies (sp?), frozen (thawed) popcorn shrimp, little pieces of nightcrawler, freezed dried crickets, etc. next year i'm going to catch a few crawdads and freeze them, break off the tail once thawed and try that. it never ceases to amaze me what crappies will bite on!!

[anton67]

I've filled many a bucket with a #20 Glo-perch forage minnow jig from Northland Tackle with #8 hook. Only use the minnow head through the lips; a full minnow doesn't seem to work as well.