jrbsr

Any one catching Crappies ?
What jigs, and color/colors are they biting on, and how deep are they?
Where are you at, state, and town.
There are no bait shops close so I don't have live monnows.
Thank You.

flags

Yep. I went out to my local lake in Athens TX yesterday. Got into some nice black crappie.


Took the majority of them on Bobby Garland Babby Shad in BlueGrass but got a couple on Bobby Garland Monkey Milk with a pink jighead. All total I took about 20 fish that ran between 10-14 inches. Kept 7 for supper. Most the fish came from around boat houses but they weren't schooled up. I'd get 1 or 2 fish from each house and that would be it. Probably a week or two early for the major action here.

Champlain Islander

I have been getting them through the ice while fishing for gills and sunnies. I use small rockers and #10 demons tipped with a couple maggots. Ice season just ended for me yesterday so I'll be fishing out of the boat as soon as all the ice is gone. I hammered them last fall out of the boat and used chartreuse jigs in 1/32 and 1/8 oz depending on depth and fished with Bobby Garland baby shad in most of the colors they have. The albino shad, pearl and electric chicken always worked for me but I found properly presented they all work well. I cast let sink then retrieve and vertical jig depending on where they are along structure. We have a 25 fish limit on fish that are more than 8 inches long. My limits last fall normally ran 18 to 20 pounds and occasionally were 22 plus. All my crappie here on northern Lake Champlain are black crappie and if I fish on the south end of the lake where the water is warmer and stained white crappie are quite prevalent. Crappie are my favorite fish and Gods way of making a warm water fish as pretty as a trout. Nice catch flags. Our fish up here can run up to 16 inches plus but I normally don't get them much over 14" where I fish.
JRBSR you really don't need minnows although they do work well. I use nothing but rubber fished either under a bobber or on a jig depending on time of year and they always bite well.

jrbsr

What color crappie jigs would be good for green stained water ?

Champlain Islander

I normally use chartreuse but have found plain unpainted work well in the fall. I use the unpainted all spring on perch and ran out of the chartreuse jigs and started with the unpainted with the bobby garland and the fish liked them too. The fish really are attracted to the rubber not the jig. Crappie are eating machines so anything that looks like food properly fished will usually work. people around here were all under the impression that only minnows work but I showed them otherwise. They go through a cup of minnows and spend 10 bucks and I buy an 18 pack of bobby garland for 3 bucks and change and they last a couple weeks. If you rig them right one bait will normally last for a dozen or more fish. I have had days when I limited with one or two baits. Normally I go through 3 to 5 on a trip counting the ones I hang up on bottom. Crappie love the color pink so a pink jig or one of the pink colors on the rubber will work. When I fish early season before the spawn I often use a bobber with 1 1/2" tubes in either red and white or pink and white on 1/32 oz jigs.

jrbsr

I forgot to add I am fishing in green stained water.

Thank You

Oldtimr

When I used to chase crappies in the spring I cleaned up on them using chartreuse split tail grubs on a 32nd oz oz jig, the color of the jig head didn't matter, I used mostly white jig heads.

Champlain Islander

Get a small boat OT. Nothing quite as satisfying as a good day on the water.

Oldtimr

I had small boats and large boats, a 15 ft patrol boat, a 13 ft duck boat Barnegat Bay sneak Box, a 34 foot Marine Trader trawler and a 38 ft Wellcraft Californian aft cabin MY. Being a Navy man at 17, I loved being on the water, whether for fishing or cruising or just for the fun of it.

Champlain Islander

I can fish almost all year and the small amount of time I don't is hunting season. Living on an island means I have water all around me all the time. Being retired allows me to go out almost every day weather permitting. The definition of retired means fishing.