favorite techniques for catching crappies and other panfish

[swfisher]

what do you use to catch crappies, sunny's and bluegills

[Coach1310]

I am a pretty straight forward slip float/sinker/jig fisherman. I use plastics once in a while, but mostly live bait. I like to troll the shoreline, weedline, whatever piece of structure and locate active fish before really setting up. I occassionally troll or cast and retrieve for crappies. Hope this helps:)

[palisade1kid]

I think I've caught,not many but some of the biggest while trolling weed edges.

Big baits too.

Normally it's a small hair jig under a cork,casting and retrieving.

[fisherman-andy]

In the early Spring when the Crappies are picky I will use minnow with jighead. Gradually switching to a white or chartreuse twister tail w/jighead or red/white sparkle tube w/jighead as the water temps warm to spawn conditions. I like to use a tiny jighead with small hook so that the lure sinks and travels more slowly. This can be negative if there are alot of sunnies around.

Depending on the type of water through out the year I will use a small panfish spinner quickly to locate the shallow Crappies if theres a large area to cover. If the area is weedy I will switch to a flu flu and stealth bobber.

On the river with current I will fish super shallow with a jighead & fathead or fathead and red hook #6 size on a bobber. I will drift the bobber shallow up to down stream. Very deadly technique at dusk. Or I may just turn to jighead and fathead slow bottom bounce retrieve.

I will also include small husky jerks and mini shad raps for open shore water in my arsenal.

[Corey Bechtold]

Bobber fishing with plastics in the spring. As the season progresses I will pitch Power Tubes/Minnows. Free swing the bait till you make contact. After the water temperatures rise and the fish are post spawn I will vertical jig deeper weedlines.

Let us know if you have specific questions we can answer for you. We're here to help.

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

[lotsofish]

Good clean, clear water. Springtime when they are in 1-3 FOW. You can see them swimming around. Drop your jig and plastic and put it right in front of the one you want. Or, cast it out and watch your bait as you reel it in and you can see when the fish take it, because it disappears or changes directions. I use a light jighead, 1/32 oz or sometimes 1/16, usually paired with a white, yellow or chartreuse curly tail plastic, but there are times when it really doesn't matter what you use.

[Kyle Sandberg]

Sometimes to get the really nice fish, I throw a small rap.

I use a size 3 and really helps me weed out the smaller ones. Anyone else used this method before.

[Standard]

Yup, I use a small rapala and usually manage to pick up some nice panfish and crappies. It's really fun on the ultralight, especially since I manage to hook into some decent bass from time to time with it. That, and a good jig/plastic combo are my favorites for panfish.

[fisherman-andy]

Here's another really odd technique I use to catch big slabs and bull gills. I find a secluded privately surrounded lake and ask a residing home or land owner if I could pass their land to do a little bit of C&R fishing. Doesn't always work but when it does it definately worth the trouble...

[cweinkauf]

I always start with a 1/8 white jig with an appropriately sized white powerbait twister tail to find them. I can almost always find them that way. once I've located them I switch to live bait and a bobber which is usually most productive for me. After I find them it's just regular trial and error to figure out what live bait they'll hit.

[Huntin&Fishin]

A little rapala, But in the spring,some people get mad, (I guess rapalas can't catch crappies, so Im fishing for larger fish) When they are using minnows and my rapala is same color and same size.

[Slyster]

I am having good catches using a beetle spin with a little tubes! Casting around weed edges.

[andrew chadwick]

plastics, plastics, and more plastics.

I do alot of experimenting to find which color is the hot ticket.

[1Yogi]

I have become a big fan of Berkley Power Bait Micros, and I do use them frequently.

For a live bait rig I use Little Joe Tru-Spins and a Worm, Leech or Crappie Minnow.

Gypsy Jigs and a Crappie Minnow work well too.

Truth be told I use plastics a lot more since the bait doesn't go south on you.

[lookincalifornia]

i like to use a tube and a power wiggler or gulp maggot.

i used to have good luck with the small rebel minnows. i like the way the twitch on the surface. a little louder than a rap i think.

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Truth be told I use plastics a lot more since the bait doesn't go south on you.

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plus it's easier to put a bag of power bait in your pocket than a dozen minnows