Crappies-Absolute Rules No! Absolute Controls, Absolutely!!

[Rick]

There are no absolute rules to crappie fishing. There are some general things we can do to up our odds to find and catch when crappie fishing.

Matt Johnson fishing and catching crappies with plastics only is a very good example of what can work in the right conditions AND be very successful given those conditions. Those conditions occur very often in cold water periods.

There are a couple of absolute controls in any fishing situation and they are ones you will always want to pay attention to.

1. The depth you are fishing. Every fish has a strike zone or area where they will strike a bait. If you are out of that zone you won't get the strike. That zone or the size of of it will change when conditions change. Be willing to look for this zone. Do not overlook this as often we get it correct and think we have it down all the time.

2. The speed and action of your presentation. Along with depth the speed and action will be the main deciding factors on if you get a strike.

In the winter often times we tend to be too agressive in our jigging techniques. Especially if you are using just plastics. A very subtle quiver motion or at times even trying to hold your hand still with your normal hand shake while slowly raising the bait is what it takes to trigger a crappie bite when using plastics.

Other times it may be the bigger faster motions a heavier jig helps you maintain with precision to attract crappie.

Because we often times are so good at getting strike zone depth correct and so poor at controlling the speed and action of our baits that it's often helpful to call in an aid. A struggling crappie minnow hooked in the tail on a Go Devil can be just the ticket.

The Go Devil jigged attracts them in and the struggling minnow triggers the strike.

Crappie caught with Go Devil and Crappie Minnow

Crappies are lazy feeders. They want to get as much food in them as easily as possible. Many times a crappie minnow struggling on a bigger bait is just the ticket for that lazy dominant crappie in the school.

Most of the ice fishing season that easy meal will be small bugs and they will be keying on them. For example daphnia, a small crustacean, starts to rise and feed as the light comes out.

The crappies key on the small crustaceans and other bugs or minnows that key on them at first light as they start rising out of their hiding places to feed predominantly on algae.

It's a prime feeding period that is affected dramatically by the light conditions.

Often times this can be the very best time to go to a plastics only approach such as a Custom Jigs and Spins Ratso.

The key is to be versatile and do not be stuck on one approach and change to whatever is working best.

I got stuck on an approach that was working for me with the Custom Jigs and Spins Jigging Demon.

It worked great taking many crappies in the 11"-13" range prior to today. Today it was ok but not AS good.

Paul listened to me and you can see what happenned to him :

The point is be prepared and when you find a pattern that works use it to full advantage. When it stops working, experiment.

Remember, the key to your experiment must have the bases of depth, speed and action covered first. The lures are just aids in helping you accomplish that.

I did not mention location because that I'm assuming most of you who are or want to be good anglers and will spend a great deal of time learning or the others will be following the good anglers to find them. If you're a good angler it goes with the territory.

Remember too, more often than not the good angler will be catching more fish and they will also be releasing more fish.

Have fun and do not take the controls talked about here lightly.

[Rick]

Today the best bite was more finesse and higher in the water column. These crappies were chasing bugs and small crustacean's and taking advantage of a slightly larger meal when the mood struck.

The strike zone window was a little larger but the action had to be finesse.

Went out this morning and caught a number of 10" crappies on a Custom Jigs and Spins Ratso - NO LIVE BAIT.

JUST PLASTICS

Very slight jigging motion triggered them to bite VERY softly.

Then caught a couple nicer ones on Custom's Jigging Demon tipped with a small minnow when the sun finally broke through the haze, letting the minnow do all of the attracting.

Here is a 11.5" Crappie caught this morning.

There is still some good ice fishing going on. No crowds. Had the lake all to myself this morning.