What's your key presentation/lure now?

[mnrstrider]

I've been out quite a bit lately, I'm finding a lot of fish, I've got a lot (tons) of lookers, but very few biters... I've downsized to the smallest hooks and lures I own, without enhancing the odds. I've found a Genz worm to work fair, and I've tried a size 14 hook with a single waxie, I've tried very small flies, I've tried shirmpo's with one to several waxies on them. I've tried any and all combitnations with small minnows. I've jiggied and pulled fish up to look at them, I've dead sticked for long periods of time, I've twitched them ever so slightly. My bobbers are set so they barely float, and I am getting bites and fish every so often, sometimes my LX3 looks like a christmas tree, with fish I was them check out the bait and still I'm not icing much. Help a guy out here, what else can I do or try.

[CrappieJohn]

Try up-sizing now. With the warmer weather and some melting taking place, subtle little signals are beginning to reach the fish saying "eat more". The days are getting noticeably longer too. If you have some water with quiet, northerly shorelines adjecent to some deeper water, you may find that the biters are active shallower now during the daytime hours. This is the time of year when we haven't quite gotten into a true transition period, but the fish will act as though we have. The "small" bait period has probably peaked and waned where you are fishing. I'd begin to get bigger with the baits now. Try a 1/32 jighead you'd use for open water with a 1" power twister and just barely twitch it under a float or even go without the float on a tight ,light line. Try a 1" piece of cheena bait on the jig. Lots of options exist to size up.

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Plastics...making better fishermen without bait! Good Fishing Guys! CrappieTom
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[RHW]

This time of the year, those fish are very finicky from being pounded so much and have seen just about every combination or presentation. With some success, when I mark fish on my Vex, I do not just parachute my jig right down into and among them. Instead, I stop about two feet above them so as not to startle them. Then a very very slow drop. No jigging or twitching, rather a deliberate and slow drop. I lower it and stop about a foot above them, then raise it and start all over again. The aggressive or hungry ones will peel off and come up. When I see one coming up to meet me, I do not stop lowering it, rather maintaining this soft drift downwards. If they want it, they will take it. If not, nothing lost because like so many others, they were just lookers.
Raise up and repeat. The new Chena bait has proven interesting with the above presentation described.

[7 grand kids]

CrappieTom, ok you got me again. What is cheena bait (seal skin?) and where can you get it? I did a little searching and came up empty.

I just want to say I appreciate that you share your knowledge and experience of crappie fishing. The internet can be a bad place but this is one of the good things.

I agree that sizing up is better for late ice. Last Saturday most of the crappies I caught were with medium to large minnows on a red no. 6 tru turn hook, only 1 fish was caught with a euro. For the past two months it has been the exact opposite.

[CrappieJohn]

GLS...we find it in our local bait shop, Hookedonfishing. If you are having a tough time locating it, drop me an e-mail and I'll forward Mike's address for the baitshop and you can contact him. I'm sure he'd mail you some. It is nothing more than a small roll of prepared sealskin. It has to have some odor to it that the fish are attracted to because they will really get after it. I'm not certain how they will take to it in open water, but I intend to try as soon as some opens up. I went outto my usual crappie puddle this morning and it will be a week yet, even with the high water we currently have before I'll be able to do my first shorecasting.

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Plastics...making better fishermen without bait! Good Fishing Guys! CrappieTom
[email protected]

[mnrstrider]

Great! It's the first year I've had the time, gear and money to fish this much, so I'm listening and learning as much as I can, I did go for the jigging spoon a bit the other day for maybe 10 minutes again I had lookers just no takers, and since I had some takers on the small stuff, I just stuck to that. Yup looks like maybe I do need to start upsizing things, I wanted to try out a jigging minnow, but it seems the 4 holes were aweful close together and I didn't want or need any messy tangles.

Thanks for the advice guys, keep it comming
if you have more.

-Nick

[EBass]

Ok I'll add my tid bit of info - This past weekend I went to Lake Sara here in the metro. Sat the lake was packed. The normal spot where the perm was had no fish. We found a spot that was a small shallower basin like 30 feet. And after dusk a few crappies came in. 1 that was close to 13", but not many at all. Only caught 4 outa 5 that I saw. Plus only fished with limited time.

On Sunday we went back and couldn't find a school and the action and the previous spot wasn't good enough for my friend. So we followed the crowd and went on the outer edge of them. There were on a 60 foot hole but we were on the outer edge with suspended fish. I caught 6 crappies and all were small and I had to really work for them.

At the Sat night spot they came in and hit it no problem. I'm thinking that I was picking up the roamers and they haven't seen a lure in a while. But the big suspended school gets pounded on the weekends thus I think were shy and small since the nice ones were taken.

I guess I'm going to try spots with less pressure and hope for the best.

Your thoughts gents

[CrappieJohn]

With our recent weather, you can expect to see some random "roaming" now. If this weather trend continues into the week more, and some substantial ice degradation begins, look for this fish movement to increase greatly....especially in the lower third of the state. And moreso where the water is prone to current. The fish that are moving now will be hungry fish, but if they are simply moving thru, they are moving and not necessarily eating. I'd look for strong lowlight bites right now, with short periods of daytime feeding.As mentioned in another reply, look to come up in bait size a little now. Moving fish want meat when they get to where they are going !

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Plastics...making better fishermen without bait! Good Fishing Guys! CrappieTom
[email protected]

[Crappie Kid]

I have been doing well on fussy Crappies with a small ant glow jig tipped with med sized crappie minnows and 4/1 lb fireline with no other weight and a noodle rod. It sinks very slowly. It takes me 2 minutes to get it down in 30 ft of water. The fish really get turned on by this slow sinking method. The minnow is basically swimming free once down. The firelines low stretch and low or no memory and the noodle rod allows me to see the slightest tap or suck in of the bait. You cant see this type of bite with bobbers or curly mono. I think the heavy lures can scare them sometimes as they are going down too quickly. Just my 2 cents.

[Matt Johnson]

Small 1/16oz spoons packed with maggots has been working well for me lately. Also Ratso's in size 8 have still been a hot jig. I haven't been tipping them lately, the finesse plastic has been working just fine. I've definitely up-sized my presentation as of late, just like Tom said. Those panfish are starting to put on the serious feedbags and you can expect more aggressive fish in the near future as the melt occurs. Time for some hot panfish action!

Good Fishin,
Matt Johnson

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[united jigsticker]

My first thought, just like Tom said...UPSIZE.

Now is the time for them jigging spoons, and man oh man, can the action be fast!

How big is your Crappie jig?

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Good fishing,
UJ
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[CrappieJohn]

CrappieKid...I think you have touched on a based that has gone around several discussions and is very valid...that is, drop speed while using braids. By using the ant-type lure/minnow combo, you are slowing the drop considerably. But by throwing all this down on superbraid is the crowning touch. Regardless of how thin that stuff is, it still holds a lot of air and will remain bouyant unless it is used in an aggresive fashion.The air acts to help slow things greatly. I still think that it is time to take on some size, but it is also time to really get serious about doing things different from what the fish have become accustomed to....ie the sloooooooooow drop. Not all waters will turn onto upsizing at the same time, so your pattern here has evidently put fish in the pan while the lake "wakes up" a bit.

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Plastics...making better fishermen without bait! Good Fishing Guys! CrappieTom
[email protected]

[ChuckN]

I've had similiar observations. Size it up!!! Just this weekend while fishing with my dad we had active and nuetral fish. We did some experimenting, he used a small jig/minnow combo and another bobber set-up. I used my favorite lure, Scenic Tackle's Glow Devil 1/16oz pink glow. His nuetral fish we going right to my lure and nailing it.

We caught 10 crappies in ten minutes after I gave him a rod with the glow devil rig. I even gave him my flasher so he could see what he was doing....I went blind, and still caught them. My dad to this day cannot believe that lure and how well it has produced the times we go after crappies and sunfish.

I also (accidently of course) caught an 8lb and 10lb pike on the same glow devils too. Tip with a minnow head.

You cannot go wrong with these lures!