Favorite Open Water Crappie Lures

[JHansel7]

Okay guys, its getting closer, how about those crappie lures? Just wondering what is everybodys favorites. Besides a simple jig, bobber and minnow. !!!

[Matt Breuer]

Flu Flu!! All I use when bobber fishing is a Flu Flu! I also enjoy casting them with a crappie minnow. Pink with a white head, or blue with a white head are two favorites!

Beetlespins can't be overlooked either. I make my own using various jigs and blades.

[CrappieJohn]

Very easy....small jig/plastic. Plastic under 1.75 inches best. Mine? Culprit Pddletail, junebug/chartreuse tail.

Go back one page in this forum and look at the thread titled "whats in your tackle box". With the exception of two very small plastics mentioned there, they are all in my collection.

[delmuts]

i'm with both tom and matt. i use and have a lot of the small flu flu jigs, but have no problem going to a small plastic either.small paddle tails, a 3/4 in. twin tail. last fall i started using the custom jigs and spins wedgee and shrimpo body on a 1/80 jig. can't wait to try it this spring too. i prefer the small profile baits, but will add a split shot to help get them to depth if needed. i will use a float, free swim , or vertical jig the lures.

[Oldtyme]

Where can we get these Flu Flu's?

I too like the beetlespin style lures. I use a fish-n-spin, same concept, just with a tube style jig & a willow blade spinner instead of the spoon type. I've had great success with both crappie & gills (even a catfish )

My favorite color is a black head & chart tail.

Matt, how do you fish them? I just cast out & let them drop a few feet & slowly slowly reel in, keeping the rod tip high. Are there other, better ways to fish these?

And when you say you make your own... do you just change jig heads? Ex: use a maribou type jig or a plastic bodied one?

[Matt Breuer]

You can buy Flu Flu's here at TackleCity !

If you need a larger selection visit them directly at Custom Jigs and Spins / Flu Flu .

With beetlespin style lures I do just what you said, cast 'em out, let them fall to the desired depth, and start rollin' 'em home!

As for making my own spins, yep, I just buy all my components, and use different style jigs and blades. Sometimes a Flu Flu, sometimes a 1/64 oz. jig and plastic... etc...

[CrappieJohn]

I think what Matt is referring to is a "safety pin" as far as components goes for the spinner. These are readily available at bait/tackle shops and from the usual sources such as Cabelas and Gander. Matt Johnson is another huge user of these handy items. I do occasionally as well.

[JHansel7]

Where can i find these, Paddletails, i checked at Sportsmans Warehouse and didnt see them, who makes them, "Culprit" and what kind of hook do you use them on?

[Oldtyme]

Thanks guys.

I went to the tacklebox & sure enough, I already have some Flu Flus....I bought a card of twelve chartreuse but only used 1 so far. Now that I know they are a favorite of you guys I'm surely going to try them more than I have. You guys catch some impressive fish... (maybe it's a MN thing?)

[CrappieJohn]

Do an internet search for Culprit Baits and you'll find what you need. I fish mine on 1/32 ounce collarless jigs in colors of chartreuse, black and plain un-painted. They can be fished very effectively under a small float and will also dust the fish when cast and retrieved on a free line.

Culprit has a whole line of crappie plastics with the paddletail being my favorite of their baits. When the water warms up after the spawn the Swim Fin Grub is another of their products which boats the fish, but they have to be hitting well for these units to work anywhere near as well as the paddletails.

[Down to Earth]

I really have to second the Culprit Paddletail mentioned by Tom. Also a good variety of tubes. I've also had success with a plastic called "mini mites" (I believe that's the right name. They can be found pretty easily at either Gander or Fleet. I'm going to try the Southern Pro style paddle plastic this year as well. For the water I fish the junebug/chartruese works great. Also a chart sparkle. Last year I fished plastics exclusively. Had a great year and looking forward to this year.

Andy

[eurolarva]

Hello oldtyme. Nice to see another iboater here. I like the 1/64 oz flu flu with a slip bobber and usually a wax worm. I dont know if they have waxworms in your parts. My favorite is a white head with yellow feathers. I dont fish much for Crappies mainly bluegills but I nail them on the flu flu and a ton on beetle spins.

[walleyeking#8]

I am shocked no one has mentioned tube jigs. I can honestly say 99% of my time fishing crappies and sunfish for that matter is spent using tube jigs. Most walmarts and sporting goods stores carry them. Another thing you might find interesting, is I never use live bait for them during open water fishing. They come in all sorts of colors. My favorite would be red/white. They also catch some monster pike and walleyes as I have found out. I have boated a 37" northern pike and my son caught a 27 1/2" walleye just a year ago. Give them a try if you haven't already. I prefer to use them without a bobber.

[Oldtyme]

Hi Eurolarva... you should visit us down here more often.

I 'sort of' mentioned tube jigs walleyeking. I use them on my spin type lure & I agree. Fish tear 'em up.

I stumbled onto a bunch of baby crappie in shallow water & must of caught 30 fish in an hour. All released due to their size, but it was exciting. I've caught lots of gills also with this tube style. Like I mentioned earlier I like black head & chart tail, but I see a lot of people like lighter colors & plan on adding these to my tube arsenal. And yes, they are readily available & nice & cheap.

Does anyone think we put too much into these lures? I remember reading (or seeing on TV?) a guy that made his own jig heads, wrapped a piece of yarn around the head & was very successful. He said if he snagged he'd just break off because the lures only cost a penny or two.

I guess the old saying goes... the lures are meant to catch fisherman as well as fish

(edit: also, I don't normally tip the hooks on my spin lure, but when I put a waxie (yes, they make waxies over here euro ) I tend to get more gills. I don't tip with a minnow, but I 'feel' a crappie nibble helps on the crappie bite)

[CrappieJohn]

Oldtyme.....You are absolutely correct in your naming of the tube as an excellent bait. I fished them for years. Still do on occasion and do quite well yet with them at times. I don't like to quit snooping into the possiblity that something might be a better bait though. For a long time tubes were simply a given as far as plastics went when I fished crappies and sunfish. After looking and trying many, many other plastics though, I have found several which put the tube to downright shame in all but a few exceptions. Having found those "new " baits and swear on their productivity from "just" at ice out until ice-up, I still look at the new products that come available every year. I don't want to miss something.

Any bait, live or artificial, twister, tube or otherwise can be bettered at some point. I don't mean that tubes have worn out their welcome....I just am stating that other products can and do do better than tubes; however, tubes will once in a while even outfish those hot products.

It is simply too easy to get stuck in a rut with one bait that becomes too comfortable to use. If you are not always looking outside of that comfort zone, you may be missing a whole other realm in the crappie fishing. In December of 2003 I got my mitts on a bunch of Culprit Paddletails. I started to fish those at this time of year in 2004. I was literally fishing between two massive sheets of ice in a small run of open water. The largest fish from this lake last year came at this time and while using the Paddletails. To check the bite to make sure the fish wouldn't hit just anything, tubes, along with a hosst of other plastics, were tried on every outting and not one fish came to the tubes. A couple other plastics showed promise, but nothing was as hot as the paddletails. The water temperature was 43 degrees on the surface and 40 at five feet in that open area. The first fish that came to a tube came when the water got to 47 degrees at six feetand was 54 on the top. That fish came at 4 feet deep over fifteen feet of water.

Different plastics will behave differently in water with different temperature zones too. A paddletail may work like a charm in deeper, cooler water at post-spawn, but a stinger fished two feet shallower over the same water might out-perform the paddy if the temp has changed. Crappies and sunfish are very much temperature driven and one degree of change can mean playing an entirely different game.

And as you too have mentioned, sunfish do fall prey to the tubes. The largest sunfish I have ever taken from the lake I have been referring to have all come off three plastics: paddletails, flicktails, and stingers. In that order.

I carry the tubes now not as my primary fishing tool, but one which I know will produce under certain situations. You may find in the waters near you that the baits I've mentioned don't do well. Geography can change bait preferences greatly even within a small radius of home. This means that you need to be checking and trying tackle to stay abreast of what works best, when and where, and for what. My seminars always contain three pices of advice: Don't get into a rut with bait, be inventive as well as curious, and journal. If you have all your trust today in tubes and simply figure that checking out other plastics will be fruitless, you are probably cheating yourself out of some very good fishing.

[JHansel7]

Okay guys, you sold it to me, im gonna go get some of these, but what jigs do i put them on, maybe someone said but i might have missed it, and how do you fish them, probably cast and retrieve is the most fun i would guess...?

[CrappieJohn]

Pre-spawn and cold water I do a 1/32 "collarless" ballhead jig and fish it under a fixed float to five feet deep. After the spawn, I will fish the float until the fish start going deper or are spread out....then I rig them on a 1/16 collarless jighead and cast/retrieve. Light line is imperative...nothing! over four pound, two being better when cold.

[Matt Johnson]

Fine, I'll bite. I was going to wait another week or so before I start thinking open water (still some of the best ice fishing left to come ), but I just read an article on spring crappies and I got the itch now

I'm with Tom for sure, plastics are the way to go for crappies during open water, no doubt about it. If I'm targeting crappies, I'm tossing plastics of some sort. A lot of options out there and there are so many plastics that produce.

Tom already mentioned Culprit, and I'll have to second that. The Paddle Tail Grub is a phenomenal bait. The Junebug and Speckled Chartruese are two excellent choices and I've done well on both. I also like their Tassel Tail Grub in Ice Blue and John Deere. Great all purpose plastics.

Southern Pro is another one of my favorites. A huge variety to pick from and man do they work wonders on crappies and gills. The Panfish Stinger is a hot bait. I like them in Pearl, Red/White and Chartruese/White. They also have a large assortment of tubes in an endless amount of colors that work well too. My tackle box is crammed full of Southern Pro plastics.

And of course, you have the Flu-flu like Matt mentioned. Another top choice for several conditions.

Berkley also makes some outstanding panfish plastics. The Power Nymphs are great! I've done real well on those and I plan on tossing those this spring again as well. Ask Corey and you'll hear about how productive the 2-inch Power Minnow's are Corey caught several 14-15 inch crappies on those baits last year.

You also can't forget about the Beetle Spins and Betts Spins. These tiny spinner baits can be deadly on crappies and gills. I usually have a stack of those in my arsenal as well.

A lot of choices to choose from and we're lucky to have so many options. Plastics are definitely my preferred way to target pannies during open water, and with a little bit of confidence you'll soon be heading out on the water without livebait if you're not already

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[delmuts]

hansel. as far as jigs sizes; any where from a 1/80 to 1/4. i have a tendancy to run the smaller jigs due to profile early in the year.i may add a split shot just above the jig for more weight but keeping the small profile. some times your plastic size will determine what jig you use ( some of the plastics i use will split with any thing bigger than a #10 hook) . also if you want a faster fall or the need to stay in contact with the lure.( like on windy days) or need a little heavier head to control the plastic then the 1/32 or 1/16 mite be better. i would suggest you buy a few jigs in the 1/32,1/16 and maybe 1/8 for a start. my $.02 del

[CrappieJohn]

I just got home from fishing and today was another frst for me....I got 2 sunfish and one crappie (all nice fish) using the paddletails under the ice. Jigged vertically, the fish that hit did so with a vengence...just pounded on the plastic at the hit. I posted in the Roch forum and am trying to get some pics posted as well .

[JHansel7]

Should i tip them with something? Perhaps a whole minnow?

[CrappieJohn]

I don't tip them with anything....you don't need to.

[Down to Earth]

I'm sure Tom will confirm this, but when fishing the paddletail you do not need to tip it with anything. The action of the tail is all you need.

[Oldtyme]

Thanks guys for sharing your info on these lures.

Since I'm patiently waiting for ice to melt, I planned on ordering everything I've read about on this page but didn't have.

If you can point me to a forum sponsor that carries above lures I'd be happy to buy from them.

Back on topic... I have more confidence when I tip my plastics. If I'm fishing gills I'll use a waxworm, crappie I use a crappie nibble. Maybe one day that will all change, but for now, I believe it helps.

edit: woah, freudian slip with nibble

[CrappieJohn]

Old Tyme....drop me an e-mail for an address. Just click on the TSJigs in my signature.