Crappie

[ButlerFord45]

 Only if ya share yer "honey hole"!   :-D

[Graybeard]

Wal it ain't exactly a bream but it is a pan fish so I reckon that's close enough. Talk away.

Ya use minners er jigs?

GB

[Frog123]

Both, depends on what they're hittin' and what I have with me at the time.

One time I was fishing at this lake inside a State Park about 10mins from my house. Its a bank fishing only lake so I was on the far side where no one goes. The bank's real steep and I had been wearing 'em out with minnows fishing some sunken tree tops when I accidently kicked over the minnow bucket. Two dozen minnows made an escape into the lake. Less than a minute later it looked like those minnows were trying to jump out of the water and back into the bucket. I quickly cut off the float rig and tied on a 1/8 oz jig head and white Mister/Twister Sassy Shad and went to work. Within 30 mins I had landed my possession of 20 fish and culled several more. I can't wait till Spring. I found an old sunken boat dock in an even thicker section of the Lake. I'll have to have on briar chaps to get to it but I think it's gonna be worth it....... :-D



Frog

[Graybeard]

I always have some jigs in the tackle box but mostly use minnows for bait on crappie. I'll generally fish both under a float.

GB

[flatlander]

The crappie are fun, too! I'm like you, Graybeard. Hard to beat a minnow under a single split shot and the lightest pencil bobber that will float it. In fact, I'm getting ready to try making a special crappie rod from a light fly rod blank with a spinning rod handle assy on it and a ultra light spinning reel. It should gently throw live bait quite a ways. We'll see if it works.

[Graybeard]

That will work fine but really so will a regular fly rod. You can get a 9' or 10' Noodling rod and do it also. If you use a fly rod use a 9' #5 weight blank.

I just use a standard fly rod with a lever activated spin cast reel seating where the fly reel would go. Works great.

GB

[ibfestus]

Last winter my boss and I got onto a bunch of crappie over on KY Lake and decided to filet those suckers at the cleaning station there at the State Park.  We had just begun the job when another fellow came up with a bucket full of fish and started scaling and gutting.  I nudged my boss and we both started laughing... this fellow was trying to clean what we call "skipjacks" or what others would call gizzard shad, a totally inedible trash fish.  I asked the guy "you know of course you can't eat those things?"

He never missed a beat, just kept on working and says to me "My mother-in-law came to visit us and has been here two weeks.  She wanted some fish for supper and by gawd here they are!"  

[ibfestus]

Last winter my boss and I got onto a bunch of crappie over on KY Lake and decided to filet those suckers at the cleaning station there at the State Park.  We had just begun the job when another fellow came up with a bucket full of fish and started scaling and gutting.  I nudged my boss and we both started laughing... this fellow was trying to clean what we call "skipjacks" or what others would call gizzard shad, a totally inedible trash fish.  I asked the guy "you know of course you can't eat those things?"

He never missed a beat, just kept on working and says to me "My mother-in-law came to visit us and has been here two weeks.  She wanted some fish for supper and by gawd here they are!"  

[Frog123]

Thats all kind of wrong, then again I ain' t married :-D

Good story!


Frog

[flatlander]

Hey, Graybeard, good idea! I did some checking with some manufacturers and found a 9'  2 pc. blank rated for 4-8 lb line that was classified as a steelhead blank. I just got it in last week and I'm going to like it a lot. It is a faster action than a light light fly rod, but still gentle enough for the paper mouths on crappie. It is going to get some Fuji guides and a std spinning rod seat (machined aluminum)  & cork. Should be light and sensitive. I'll let you know when I finish building up the rod and get it on the lake. I know the fly rod would have worked just fine, too, but what else am I going to work on after hunting season and before fishing season?