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catch crappie

Old School Crappie Fishing Family Secrets

The crappie has so many different names such calico bass, speckled perch, speckled bass, white perch, pole crappie, strawberry bass, and papermouth depending on what part of the country you live in. Going bait fishing for strawberry bass during the fall can sometimes be a very frustrating time of the year if you do not understand the fall transition period in your area. During the period between late summer and the start of fall the water will start too cool and a common term called lake turnover will start to happen.

If you intend to get serious about fall crappie fishing and intend to be bait fishing for pole crappie in lakes or large reservoirs and you want to continue to catch crappie you need to know the basics of what is called lake turnover. During the summer months lakes with stratify into 3 distinct layers. The surface layer, which is the warmest layer and somewhat oxygenated water, next you ave what is called the thermocline layer which is cool and well oxygenated, and then you have the bottom layer which is the coldest and least oxygenated layer.

During the summer and late fall strawberry bass generally are suspended in the thermocline layer relaxing in the cool well oxygenated water. The key to fall crappie fishing using your bait fishing techniques is to find where the papermouth are located during and after the lake turn over. When the temperature starts to cool this layer in essence starts to sink. It has long been known the colder then after the heavier it gets. The layers below the surface water is warmer and will rise. The three layers of water will continue to mix, rise, and fall until the temperature of the water reaches approximately 39 degrees. When this temperature is reached it is harder to go fall crappie fishing using your bait fishing skills because the three layers and the papermouth could be located at any depth. After lake turn over , the water will stay this way until late spring when the water once again starts to warm.

One key factor I have found with calico bass in the fall is they feel most comfortable when they are close to good food sources. If you can find what food sources they are feeding on you can make your fall crappie fishing using your excellent bait fishing skills for trip more successful.

I have had a great time writing this article we hope you enjoyed our information about Strawberry Bass. Have a great day!

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crappie fishing

Old School Crappie Fishing Family Secrets

If you want to get serious about crappie fishing and you want to catch a lot of crappie on a consistent basis then you need to have excellent crappie fishing rigs. The most common crappie fishing rig you will need to have and you will use it quite often are fishing rigs set of to catch crappie with different crappie jig presentations. You can use crappie jigs with our without live bait but sooner or later there will be a need to use a combination of artificial crappie baits combined with some type of live bait. The most common of these combinations being a crappie jig striped of any plastics combined with a live crappie minnow.

Your next step is to decide on what crappie jig you will want to use. To choose the correct crappie jig with depend on a some key factors that pertain directly to the local waters you intend to fish in. Your crappie fishing rig will change depending on what the local food source is for the crappie population you are targeting and also the season you are fishing in. To put it all together you need to do some research as to what exactly the crappies are eating on a regular basis, then you can make your crappie fishing rig selection based on this information. For example I had of this great farm pond that not many people fish in and that there was talk that this pond was full of crappie. Well the first thing I would do when arriving at the pond Is look very close at the type of bait fish I see swimming the shallows. Ok Its spring time and I notice there are just hundreds of small bluegill fry swimming around , bingo! I am going to try to match my crappie baits to look like the small bluegill fry. Actually if you had a minnow net with you The ideal bait would be to use a small crappie jig with a safety pin spinner tipped with small crappie fry. Well anyway the key here is you need to as they say “match the hatch” to be successful. I Think you will be pleasantly surprised with the results if you can design your crappie fishing rig to “match the hatch” so to speak.

Now to match the hatch takes some practice and trial and error if your first try doesn’t work try something else until you find the right combination.  One very effective way to see if your crappie bait selection is going to be effective is keep trying different presentations until you catch tow or three crappies and then go ahead and clean them , but be careful to open up their gut to see what exactly they are eating. In my example above I did exactly that. I got lucky and hit on the right combination right away and when I caught my first three crappie within minutes I checked to see what they were eating sure enough they were feeding heavy on the small bluegill fry. This technique will work on any crappie waters you intend to fish. Don’t make the mistake and not use this important tip because it can be very powerful information on you next crappie fishing trip to this area.

Please take note that the size and the color are very important when you attempt to match the hatch. If you are going to say fish only artificial jigs you need to match the size and coloration of the hatch. In my example above I chose a jig head that had a color similar to the color of the bluegill fry and the size was a 1/ 32 ounce jig size because the bluegill fry were very small. The safety pin spinner was used because the pound was weedy and the water was a bit discolored so I wanted my crappie fishing rig to have some flash so the crappie could see it, and hear the vibrations.

I have had a great time writing this article we hope you enjoyed our information about Artificial Crappie Baits. Have a great day and the the best of luck to you on your next fishing trip

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crappie fishing basics

Old School Crappie Fishing Family Secrets

Fishing with crappie minnows is the most accepted way of fishing for both black crappie and white crappie throughout the united states. You can take your children out for a fishing outing with just a simple fishing rig such a inexpensive cane pole with small bobber split shot sinker and a hook to catch crappie. Or you can become a skilled crappie angler and target large slab crappie. In both of these examples the use of live bait such as crappie minnows is an important part of crappie fishing. In our article today we will discuss crappie minnow rigging methods.

Crappie minnows as a live bait presentation can be fished in many ways such as under a bobber at a fixed depth, tight line with no weight, just a hook and a minnow, trolled tipped on a crappie jig, casted and retrieved tipped with crappie minnows on spinner baits to name just a few. There are so many ways to catch crappie I could not mention them all. You would think these great tasting table fair would get fished out but that is not true, because these fish populate and grow very quickly. My point is that crappies plain and simple love crappie minnows and it will bite on just about any live bait presentation you put in front of them if you use the right presentation at the right time.

There are some crappie fishing basics you need to understand even for the simplest of live bait fishing used to catch crappie.

#1 Hook selection for crappie fishing.
You want to select a light gauge wire hook with a long shank such as a gold Aberdeen hook. The hook size will depend on the size of the crappie minnows you are using for live bait. For small to medium crappie minnows the hook sizes range would be from a number 4 to a number 1 hook. If you are more experienced and you are going after the elusive slab crappie you will need to use large crappie minnows so your hook selection will increase in size to between a number 1/0 to 2/0 hook.

#2 How to hook crappie minnows.
Now that you have selected your hook size it is time to rig your crappie minnow. You are probably think this is so trivial but rigging a minnow correctly can make the difference between catching crappie or going home empty handed. You want to hook your crappie minnow live bait presentation so it looks as natural to the fishes environment as possible. The most common and excellent way to hook your crappie minnow is by pushing the hook up through the lower lip through the upper lip so the barb of the hook is pointing at you when you are finished. This method works great for fishing under a bobber or while you are drifting or trolling.

I want to thank you for reading my article about crappie jig. We wish you the best of luck on your next fishing trip!

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speckled perchcrappie

Old School Crappie Fishing Family Secrets

The crappie is one of the most popular game fish in North America. and parts of Canada and understanding some basic crappie bait fishing information may help you to catch more crappie. The crappie is called many things and go by names such as calico bass, speckled perch, speckled bass, white perch, pole crappie, strawberry bass, and papermouth throughout the United States.

The main reason calico bass are so popular is their abundance. papermouth are not one of the best fighting fish that are caught while fishing but they are very tasty. Another good reason is because the fishing rigs to catch crappie are reasonably inexpensive. In fact for about 20$ you could be ready to go crappie fishing. Even when you decide to get real serious about crappie fishing you can purchase a really good crappie bait fishing rig for under 200$. Actually the white perch species of fish is a excellent fish to target if you are just learning to fish. Once speckled bass are located they can be caught using a simple crappie fishing rig that has a bobber, split shot, a sinker, a hook and a crappie minnow as bait.

There are two types of papermouth species that you can target when you go bait fishing and they are the white crappie and the black papermouth. Both are found only in North America. Both white and black pole crappie are part of the sunfish family. Both white crappie and black strawberry bass can be caught using the same bait fishing methods. And both white and black papermouth can be found in the same water locations.

White speckled bass prefer stained or muddy waters that have soft substitutes. The black pole crappie is a little bit more particular about the water they live in, and they prefer cool clearer water and they like to habitat close to aquatic vegetation with a firm bottom. Many crappie anglers who go bait fishing for crappie on a regular basis don’t care what species of they catch just so it’s a speckled bass.

I have had a great time writing this article we hope you enjoyed our information about crappie baits. Have a great day and the the best of luck to you on your next fishing trip

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Click Here To See Old School Crappie Fishing Secrets From 12 Backcountry Crappie Masters!

crappie jigging

Old School Crappie Fishing Family Secrets

There are so many different types of crappie fishing rigs that work to catch crappie. Common fishing rigs for crappie include the old fashion cane pole bobber and a hook or a fly rod with a ultralight spin cast or open face reel. Also there are some excellent graphite jig fishing fishing rigs designed specifically to catch crappie. Jigging poles are manufacture in lengths of from 8 to 20ft but longer poles are somewhat awkward to use. A better selection would be a pole in the 10 to 12ft range.

When looking to purchase a good crappie fishing rig there are a few things that you need to consider, You need to make your selection based on the poles power rating and the poles action. When considering a power rating you need to understand that ultralight rods are designed that the ultralight rods are designed for line weights of 1 to 4 pound test line, and lures or jigs 1/64 to 1/16 ounce. These are the 2 different rod types that are commonly used as crappie fishing rigs. Make sure you match the rod power and action to the reel you select.

The next thing you need to consider when selecting your crappie fishing rig is the rod action. Action is the flexibility or stiffness that the rod has. A fast action rod will bend very little in fact if you used one of these rods when crappie fishing you would probably rip the hook right out of its lips. You do not want to select a fast action rod as one of your crappie fishing rigs.

A medium action rod is a common choice for walleye and small catfish. You can use a medium rod for crappie fishing if you are fishing crappie spinner baits but it probably is not a good choice if you intend to do allot of crappie jigging.

The slow action rod is your best choice as crappie fishing rig. The slow action rod will bend through out the entire length of the rod and they are perfect for the old paper mouth crappie.

I have had a great time writing this article we hope you enjoyed our information about crappie spinner baits. Have a great day!

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Click Here To See Old School Crappie Fishing Secrets From 12 Backcountry Crappie Masters!

catch crappie

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Bait fish are a very important part of crappie fishing. In fact crappie minnows make up more then 50% of all crappie baits. Technically, minnows are members of the cyprindae family, the largest fish family in north America. Some of the 200 species in the U.S such as the grass carp and gold fish which grow very large. The majority of the of crappie bait fish such as shiner minnows, daces and chubs seldom grow to over 4 inches in length. The species that most anglers use as crappie bait fish are golden shiner minnows and fathead minnows.

All crappie baits are not created equal. The crappie baitfish that are considered very hardy fathead minnows, mudminnows, and goldfish. Crappie baits that are considered moderately hardy are young bluegills, creek chubs, hornyhead chubs, southern red belly dace, blacknose dace, and blunt nose minnows. Somewhat hardy crappie bait fish include golden shiners,common shiners,red shiners, and banded kill fish. Fragile crappie bait fish include emerald shiners, small gizzard shad,threadfin shad, and spottail shiners. The best type of bucket to use for your crappie bait is a styrofoam is a much better insulator so therefore tends to keep your baitfish water cooler. The ideal temperature to keep your crappie baitfish is between 55 to 65 degrees.

Two typical crappie fish rigs that are commonly used with a cigar float crappie rig, and pencil slip bobber crappie rig. The cigar float is set at a fixed depth while the pencil slip bobber crappie rig is set to certain depth using a bobber stop, both are commonly used to catch crappie.

Two make a cigar float crappie rig or a pencil shaped slip bobber rig is very simple, and both are commonly used with crappie bait fish as live bait. To make the slip bobber crappie rig tie a number 12 to number 4 long shanked crappie hook on your fishing line. next slide your cigar on the line the depth you want to fish and put the stop in place. next put a small spit shot on the line about 3 to 4 inches above the hook. To Make a pencil shaped slip bobber crappie rig to be use with crappie bait fist slide your bobber stop up the line at the depth you want to fish for crappie. next slide the pencil shaped slip bobber up the line. next tie a number 12 to number 4 long shanked crappie hook on your line,and last put a small spit shot sinker on your line just above the hook about 3 to 4 inches.

Well that concludes my article about Spottail Shiners. We wish you the best of luck on your next fishing trip!

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crappie minnows

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Our article today is going to focus on some crappie live bait selections that are often over looked as crappie baits. Any combination of these crappie live baits can fill your crappie basket so read on for details. Most crappie fisherman never use these crappie baits because they probably never need too 80% of the time if they are fishing with crappie minnows such as fathead minnows. So why bother with these other types of live bait selections for crappies? Well there are times that crappies turn off of the standard crappie live bait selections and you need to try something different or go home empty handed. We will talk about two of the most common alternate crappie baits that work quite well.

Bluegill fry make an excellent live bait selection especially if you want to target crappies in ponds where the young fry that crappie feed on are from bluegill or sunfish hatch.  I would recommend you check with your local department of natural resources because in some states using these fry as bait may be illegal. The best size fry to use to catch crappie are 1″ to 2″ in length. You can use a minnow Seine, cast net or minnow trap to catch these fry. You won’t find them at any bait shop. Actual bluegill and sunfish fry make up a big percentage of the crappies natural food source. Make sure when you fish bluegill fry you stay just a little bit farther away from the cover then if you were fishing standard crappie minnows. Bluegill or sunfish fry will tangle very easily in any standing cover. It will take a bit of practice because the bluegill fry may feel exactly like a actual crappie bite to you. So you will need to be able to figure out the difference quickly. But to be honest most of the crappie bits you will get using this live bait will be hard strikes.

One of the most under used crappie baits are small threadfin or small gizzard shad especally if you want to catch a creelful of crappie! The shad actually makes up from 50 to 90 percent of the crappies food source in some locations where there are large populations of shad. Amazingly shad is not often picked as a crappie fishing live bait selection. Probably the main reason is they are hard to keep alive in your bait bucket. But if you can catch them fresh and use them right away you will be surprise how many crappie will hit this bait and hit it hard! The two types of shad that are populated throughout the united states are the threadfin shad and the gizzard shad. You can use either of these shad in the 2 to 3 inch size range to catch crappie. The smaller size fish make excellent a excellent live bait selection. The best way to catch fresh shad is to use cast net. Go to areas such as bridges, power plants piers and rip rap where shad tend to school. The best way to keep shad alive is to use a bait container that floats in the water and has freshwater moving in and out of it. If you use a bait container on your boat it needs to be aerated. these fish like I said will die easily. You can hook shad through the lips or just below the dorsal fin. Shad work great where the water is very stained and traditional crappie minnows are not cutting it.

I have had a great time writing this article we hope you enjoyed our information about bluegill fry. Have a great day!

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