The perfect Crappie rig

[Corey Bechtold]

All season long I have my go to lures for crappies. But one that has worked particularly well for me has been the tube and jig combo. It works even better in the fall because you don't have to reach into the cold wet minnow bucket. Warm hands tend to make for a better, more comfortable trip out to your favorite lake or river. The color I have had the best luck with is white. Put it on a small jig and fish it however the fish want it. Move the knot to the top of the jig eye and fish it vertically. Cast it and let it "Swing" back to the boat for suspended crappies. Give it a try and you'll be hooked, and so will the crappies.

[CrappieJohn]

Welcome aboard Corey! You are right about the tube/jig combo for the craps. That is my mainstay for a good part of the year. I fish plastics more than anything, anytime. Even through the ice! There are times though that bait will rule and you have to stay flexible enough to change to it if the fishing dictates it. Again...Welcome!

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

What size jighead and hook do you use? Im fishing a lot in 16-26 ft. of water. Ever tip them with waxies or use sent? What style jighead just the usual tube jig style head? Thanks.

[CrappieJohn]

I prefer to stay as light as possible and use 1/32 ounce heads that will slip into the tube body. If you find fish over open water without any snags, use the lightest possible line and cast the jig/tube without a float allowing it to drop to the depth that the fish are at and then retrieve. If you are finding the fish in wood or weeds, come up a bit in line weight and fish the tube/jig under a float to maintain a specific depth over the craps. Something to mention here about tubes...you do not have to do much with tubes to get the fish to hit them. Oftentimes all you need do is cast it and leave it alone, letting the waves do the work when you are bobber fishing. And if the fish are super finicky over deep, open water, the bobber can help keep a rig just over thier noses without any obvious action and will spur hits. These baits are the true "do nothing" lure.

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

Thanks Crappie Tom Ill try it Fri. and Sat. on Fish Lake.

[Corey Bechtold]

If you are in deeper water don't be scared to upsize your jig to a 1/16 or 1/8. Also if you know how far off the bottom the fish are try a polimar knot leaving a long dropper. Tie or crimp whatever size split shot you want on the dropper, let er down and bango, Crappie!

[CrappieJohn]

Corey...This stunt works great in heavy wood when fishing almost straight down....just use much heavier line. That's one thing that feeding craps don't seem get in a boil over...the heavier line.

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

Great idea guys Ill try that too.

[can it be luck?]

I dont remember the brand name, but there's a rubber, silver, minnow shaped lure. The package would contain around 6-10(?) of these lifelike rubber minnows and a single orange rubber coated jig head. I've done pretty well with these things, has anyone else fished with these jigs/lures ?

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[Corey Bechtold]

I have used some berkley micro power minnows and have had good success with them. The crappies tend to be a bit bigger with these bigger baits.

[CrappieJohn]

CIBL...I have seen these luers on cards of about five or six bodies and maybe a couple heads, but that was a looooong time ago. Maybe it's just that I prefer other plastics and simply don't notice them. They always struck me as being quite life-like and no reason they wouldn't produce and you're the proof. And the powerbait minnow in two inch is another dandy bait. Right now, immediately after the turnover, those larger profiled baits can be deadly on very large crappies-12"+. It's too bad that they have such a short lifespan in the fall when the water temps take a nosedive. Now is when you want to look into the new products that provide an assortment of "micro-plastics", as down sizing will be right around the corner and you will want to be ready for it.

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Sure life happens- why wait....The Crapster....good fishing guys!
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[Corey Bechtold]

CrappieTom, I was wondering what part of the state you fish? I fish mostly west metro lakes and some scattered around the state.

[CrappieJohn]

Corey...Primarily Lake Zumbro and the Mississippi River, pools 4 and 5 and the associated backwaters. We have a cabin in TwoHarbors and I fish Lake Superior for my trout and salmon. I'll fish elsewhere if invited occasionally, but I seldom travel to fish...this area is hard to beat for fishing.

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Sure life happens- why wait....The Crapster....good fishing guys!
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[Corey Bechtold]

Those are great areas for crappies. I have fished pool 4 quite a bit for eyes but haven't taken advantage of the crappies. One time I stumbled on some crappies behind a wing dam. They were all about 11 inches but really tall. Haven't seen them back there since.

[can it be luck?]

Tom, those are the ones, comes on a card. I bought a bunch of them quite a few years back. My dad really loves them. I still have a bunch laying around, unless he snatched em up on me! . Good fishing guys!

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[CrappieJohn]

Corey...If you are a pannie man and want some phenominal action, try the dike road from Wabasha to Nelson, the dike at the Pioneer Campground to Alma Dam, or West Newton. Go equipped to fish every way there is to catch these critters- they do like to switch up on a guy. Generally waxies/ jigs, hair jigs in 32nd ounce, plastics, and yes even minnows. The water temps are dropping and they have the feed bag on big-time right now. And the Zumbro will give up some unreal fish this time of year. If you happen to do the West Newton number, take your waldo equipment, launch and run to the channel and dam for those and stop before leaving to get in on your pannies right near the boat ramp. You can touch many bases with one stop there.

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Sure life happens- why wait....The Crapster....good fishing guys!
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[Corey Bechtold]

CrappieTom, unfortunately I don't get down that far. My pool 4 comment should have been more specific. I usually fish from the upper part of Pepin up to the dam. Thanks for the 411. I'll have to get down there if I feel adventurous. Keep slammin' em'.

[Corey Bechtold]

Saturday I was on the Horseshoe chain fishing crappies. I caught lots of average fish on, you guessed it, tube jigs. The fish were on the bottom in 13 to 20 feet of water. They didn't slam the bait or anything they were just there. Later on Sunday I went to Minnetonka. I found good numbers of crappies but poor size(most around 8 inches). Same bait, same depth, same light bites. Interesting that both lakes were so similar. I hope to try some different lakes to see if the bite is consistent.

[CrappieJohn]

Not so much pertaining to seperate bodies of water, but if you stumble across fish at a given depth and particular structure on one part of a lake you can most likely find the same fish (craps, sunnies) in similar areas at different points on the lake. This can eliminate quite a bit of searching when you are looking for other spots to fish if you know the water well enough or have a good map.

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Sure life happens- why wait....The Crapster....good fishing guys!
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[Corey Bechtold]

I'm hoping to get on some other lakes this weekend to see if they want to actually bite. I'm also going to try some new GULP soft plastics on smaller jigs. Also I might have to bring some live bait. Time to experiment.

[Corey Bechtold]

This Sunday I went to an area lake in search of Crappies. I fished with a white tube jig for a while and had ok success. After a while I decided to change things up a bit. I switched to a 3/32nd jighead and put a Berkley micro power minnow on and BINGO, the Crappies loved it. The numbers and size jumped up. A key to getting them to work consistently was to make sure the knot was on the top of the jig eye. The bait held horizontally and the fish responded. The best part was no cold wet hands. I caught about 30 on a single bait. If you see these in your favorite fishing store I suggest picking some up and giving them a try.

[JAK]

Corey, I have to ask, did you try a variety of colors before switching to the power minnow? Did you try a tube in the same color as the power minnow? Did you also experiment with the knot placment on the tubes?

Please don't take this wrong! I am just trying to learn some more. I am really curious if it was in fact the tube, or was it the color, knot placment, and/or time of day? Thanks

[Corey Bechtold]

JAK, I was using a white tube and a white jighead. I always check to make sure the knot is on the top of the eye, believe me, it makes a difference. I had another rod with a pearl white and pink body on a white jighead also. The pink and white tube only caught a couple. What was strange is that I was having a lot of misses with the tube jig and when I switched to the larger power minnow I hardly missed any. The jighead color stayed white, and the minnow bait was a shad color. The lake I was fishing is pretty stained so that is why I stayed with the white jighead, it's a little easier for them to see. I am going to change it up a little more next time out, but I think that the fish are just putting the feed bags on now so color might not make much of a difference.

[JAK]

Corey, did you try going back to the tube while the fish were hitting? I know it is hard to do, but that would tell us if it was the tube or the if the bite was hot at that time? Thanks.

[Corey Bechtold]

Yes I did. They told me what they wanted. I went out earlier this week to find that the lake had turned over. The crappies were scattered everywhere. 2 feet down in 25 feet of water, up shallow on the bottom, everywhere. They were hard to catch, The water was like chocolate milk! I couldn't see my jig 6 inches down. Pretty hard to get them in conditions like that. They should school back up in a week or two (I hope).