Locating Crappies without a Vex

[Walleye #1]

I don't have the $$ yet to buy a vex and I am trying to locate crappies more, and I know a vex or marcum would help greatly, but right now I just don't have one. Any tips on how to go about attacking those crappies without a vex or marcum? Hopefully next winter I will have one by next winter.

Walleye #1

[RHW]

Without electronics you are at a disadvantage, but you can still catch fish without one.
First, scout out known crappie waters, this time of year, it will probably be the deeper holes, but that will change in the next three of four weeks when they start migrating back up into the shallower water as the ice starts to give way. The congregation of panfishermen will give it away.
Start at the bottom and work your way up and down in two foot increments, give each of these increments a few minutes and work it very delibertly and slowly. If nothing, raise your bait up the water column another two feet and start it all over again. When you get a bump, remember where you were at.
Remember, it is just as important to jig your bait downward as it is upwards. My experience is that the greater percentage of bites is on the drop, not the lift.
Once fish are located in a particular range or depth, do not just parachute you bait right down, rather start even a couple feet higher and very slowly and carefully lower it into the zone they are sitting at. They are skittish this time of they year as they have been pounded most likely and are leery of anything that just comes into them fast and furious.
Or, you can reverse the whole process and start just under the ice and work downwards in two foot increments until you reach the bottom. I usually work both, start at the bottom and work my way up. Then start working it all the way down until I locate them. The key here is to work it, work it.
Good luck.

[This message has been edited by RHW (edited 02-13-2004).]