Crappies everywhere, but....

[Walleye_GFA]

Finding crappies everywhere we go, but they are all small... weve been hitting the weedlines in about 5 to 12 feet of water... all of them are 8 or 9 "... this includes about 4 different lakes...

What can I do to turn up the heat on some larger ones... weve tried a lil deeper, but bam the northerns cut us off...

Were going to give Waconia a try today, weve got some nice ones out of there last year this time...

Anyway ideas would be appreciated !!!!

Wally

[CrappieJohn]

W,eye...I'm assuming the notherns are hammerhandles. One thing you could try is to go up a size or two in head weight, but still use the same bait/plastic...would be tough to do this with maribou unless you tie your own. The idea here is to get down fast and then do the finesse stuff once it's down with larger fish. If you are doing live-bait, try plastis or feather jigs...but it is doubtful that that will change a northern's mind and may actually make things worse with the brighter colors. Ithink northerns tend to like expanse beds of weeds and strong light. Try fishing early and/or late in the day where ther are shadows. Also try to locate small pockets of deep-water weeds(10-40 ft. circle) that are somewhat more isolated from the big beds.And fish these deep. One of the tough parts about crappie fishing where there are pike is that the pike can really be a pain in the rump. Hope these ideas help.

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Sure life happens- why wait....The Crapster....good fishing guys!

[Walleye_GFA]

Thaks heading out to Waconia now and will try... yup they were small northerns... Ive been using 1/16th oz jigheads with white twister tail or pink, with crappie juice...

Makes sense to use larger head to get past the small ones... Im sure my boys will stay the same, the whole quantity rather than quality thing... lol

Thanks !!!!

Wally

[united jigsticker]

Like Tom says, try earleir or later, same spots, cast your jig...Watch those 8-12 foot depths. The bigger Crappies will suspend at their own depth.

The other night, small Crappies were down 4 feet over 9 feet and the bigger Crappies were down 7 feet.

A heavier jig can help get by the smaller more agressive fish, however I like to cast to them rather then hover them, so the smaller jig with slower presentation was almost a must.

Good luck

UJ