Targeting Crappie without sonar

[LakerNewb]

I'd like to target crappie in particular this year. Does anybody have any suggestions for tactics? I know a flasher is most ideal but with a wedding this September it isn't in the cards for me right now. Is deep water good? Shallow? Jigging? I usually just fish with tip-ups, but would like to start jigging esp. when I have a whole that has a mess of yellows down below. Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated. Tight lines everybody!  

[AQUAASSASSIN]

Deep in the day, flats at lowlight hours. Start on the bottom and work your way up the column paying attention along the way, not just for a strike but also feeling nothing at all! Jig rod is your friend!

[Nosaj]

Register for your wedding at Cabela's, Bass Pro, Gander Mountain and the lot and put the flasher on top of your list.  Don't forget to let your buddies!  You will get plenty of candle holders and picture frames from everyone else😎

[AQUAASSASSIN]

Register for your wedding at Cabela's, Bass Pro, Gander Mountain and the lot and put the flasher on top of your list.  Don't forget to let your buddies!  You will get plenty of candle holders and picture frames from everyone else😎

I like your style

[LakerNewb]

Register for your wedding at Cabela's, Bass Pro, Gander Mountain and the lot and put the flasher on top of your list.  Don't forget to let your buddies!  You will get plenty of candle holders and picture frames from everyone else😎

HAHAHA the old lady goes hunting with me and used to go fishing when the future BIL and I had a bobhouse but she wasn't too fond of those ideas. I was thinking more of a meat grinder and meat slicer, so processing deer goes faster. I have just have to start hiding a few bucks here and there!

[LakerNewb]

Deep in the day, flats at lowlight hours. Start on the bottom and work your way up the column paying attention along the way, not just for a strike but also feeling nothing at all! Jig rod is your friend!

I'll keep all of that in mind, thanks!

[lowaccord66]

Personally I love sight fishing for them in heavy weeds.  I've found it to be viable in a wide range of conditions.

[Nosaj]

If your buddies don't come through for you, (or even if they do) space out a few tipups while you are jigging.  When you catch one on the tipup start jigging in the hole immediately to catch others from the school.
Congratulations on your engagement!

[800stealth]

Deep in the day, flats at lowlight hours. Start on the bottom and work your way up the column paying attention along the way, not just for a strike but also feeling nothing at all! Jig rod is your friend!

What Frank said... and when you find one, get it off the hook and get your jig back down ASAP... they don't travel alone.

[LakerNewb]

What Frank said... and when you find one, get it off the hook and get your jig back down ASAP... they don't travel alone.

Stealth where abouts in NI are you? Have you ever fished Waterloom pond? Been wanting to try it out.

[dickbaker]

  Fishing with tipups for crappie.  Be sure to get the smallest shiners you can find  and put them on small hooks and set them a few feet off the bottom.  Don't be afraid to eventually bring the shiners right up high only a few feet under the ice.    A flasher is a great help in locating suspended crappie but I have a friend who does great  without one.   
Dick

[LakerNewb]

Fishing with tipups for crappie.  Be sure to get the smallest shiners you can find  and put them on small hooks and set them a few feet off the bottom.  Don't be afraid to eventually bring the shiners right up high only a few feet under the ice.    A flasher is a great help in locating suspended crappie but I have a friend who does great  without one.   
Dick

Dick,

The one time I've seen one pulled through the ice, my future BIL caught a 13" on a large shiner. The pig barely got it down its gullet tail hanging out the mouth and everything!

[800stealth]

Stealth where abouts in NI are you? Have you ever fished Waterloom pond? Been wanting to try it out.

I'm close to the center of town. I haven't fished Waterloom (I know it as Banky) since I got a drivers license and my first boat 25 years ago.. Maybe things have changed over so many years but it never gave me a reason to go back when I was a kid. If you check it out, post up a report and let us know how it went.

[Coffin Dodger]

Deep in the day, flats at lowlight hours. Start on the bottom and work your way up the column paying attention along the way, not just for a strike but also feeling nothing at all! Jig rod is your friend!

Great advice, AA.
Tags are all full, I assume? 
Did ya get the big woody one you were looking for in ME?

Register for your wedding at Cabela's, Bass Pro, Gander Mountain and the lot and put the flasher on top of your list.  Don't forget to let your buddies!  You will get plenty of candle holders and picture frames from everyone else

And great advice from you also, Nosaj. 

Didn't have time to fish just before I got married and the next 20 years. Busy fahmin...
Best man was a WW II vet. He gave me a wagon jack for a wedding present. Said all the rest of the stuff would be for her and I'd have no use for it.

Well, she's gone with all the rest of the stuff.
I'm still using the wagon jack.   

[AQUAASSASSIN]

Great advice, AA.
Tags are all full, I assume? 
Did ya get the big woody one you were looking for in ME?
And great advice from you also, Nosaj. 

Didn't have time to fish just before I got married and the next 20 years. Busy fahmin...
Best man was was a WW II vet. He gave me a wagon jack for a wedding present. Said all the rest of the stuff would be her and I'd have no use for it.

Well, she's gone with all the rest of the stuff.
I'm still using the wagon jack.   

All NH tags filled. Did not fill my Maine tag. Passed around 30 deer waiting for " THE ONE ". Didn't happen. Oh well can't shoot tomorrow's giants today.

[Nosaj]

Well, she's gone with all the rest of the stuff.
I'm still using the wagon jack.   
[/quote]

😉

[Coffin Dodger]

Congrats on NH.
The big Me buck will be waiting for ya next year.

[LakerNewb]

Personally I love sight fishing for them in heavy weeds.  I've found it to be viable in a wide range of conditions.

In spots with clear ice or just a 10" hole and in a shanty so you can see down in there? Sounds like a good time!

[LakerNewb]

I'm close to the center of town. I haven't fished Waterloom (I know it as Banky) since I got a drivers license and my first boat 25 years ago.. Maybe things have changed over so many years but it never gave me a reason to go back when I was a kid. If you check it out, post up a report and let us know how it went.

I will be certain to! I hammered some crappie there and a few bass, I have done decentish from shore but never any really awesome days, I feel like if I could get out there id do better.

[FishGuy603]

Easiest tip: pick a shallow pond with crappie in it. Scour the NH fish and game bathymetry maps and the "where to fish" tab. For warmwater species, start with the southern part of the state (Rockingham, Strafford, and Hillsborough counties) and you are bound to find a gem. If the pond is a single basin, that is ideal, so you can work your way out from the steepest drop off to the center of the basin or the other way around (10-15 ft is ideal in these scenarios). While you are there, set up a tip up (or 5) while you are jigging so that you can cover as much water as possible. If one hole has a lot of flags (and for that matter, hits and drops), start jigging right there since that is more than likely due to a school of perch or crappie. With that said, good luck and tight lines! Bring on the ice! 

[fishermantim]

As for tactics, decide what type of lure you will be using, then decide if you will be using bait and if so, what type, and then figure out where you will be fishing.
When you start out, you should jig through the entire water column, paying attention to the depth where you get hits and keep track of that depth.
I have a flasher but every once in awhile I like to go "old school" and jig blindly using this method.

You will be surprised at the number of species this method can catch. I've gotten crappie, white perch, yellow perch, sunfish, bass, pickerel rainbow  trout and lake trout.

I usually use a small jig (1/16 - 1/32 oz.) with small shiners, smelt and dillies (small night crawlers)

[lowaccord66]

In spots with clear ice or just a 10" hole and in a shanty so you can see down in there? Sounds like a good time!

Hole size and clear ice doesnt matter.  Certain lakes have good water clarity and will allow you to see down through the weeds.  I'll close all the windows on my shanty and that really helps see what is going on down there. 

[dbickom]

"you should jig through the entire water column, paying attention to the depth where you get hits"

By entire water column do you mean from surface of the water to the bottom...Jigging as the jig is going down and vice versa.

[dickbaker]

LakerNewb     Crappie will take a medium sized shiner but they often drop it.   In November I found a local trout pond that had a million tiny (1-2") golden shiners right beside the boat launch.  I trapped a couple hundred and have them stored in my little backyard pond?    Both crappie and blue gill think they are something special.  Few southern bait dealers will carry them at first ice.  They will often try to sell you tommy cod but they aren't nearly as good.   Fishing just two holes I jig one with small tungsten  jig and maggot or wax worm and dead stick the other with a tiny shiner below a Hali Jig.   With a flasher I drill lots of 41/2" holes and keep looking for suspended fish.
We have crappies in the north country but they are few and far between.
Dick

[Coffin Dodger]

FWIW, "southern" crappie love Tommy cod/ Mummichogs. 

[Roccus]

FWIW, "southern" crappie love Tommy cod/ Mummichogs. 

yea they do... so do smelt

[800stealth]

FWIW, "southern" crappie love Tommy cod/ Mummichogs. 

Agreed... I've never seen a Crappie that won't stuff anything alive down its throat.

[dickbaker]

  OK!  I won't disagree with regular southern NH crappie anglers.    But?   When I head south for Crappie in January I will stop at AJ's and pick up a couple dozen of his smallest  golden shiners and being them to the Bellamy where I will also get some Tommy Cods.   We will be fishing tipups and jigging and I'll try to make a fair comparison.  Tommy cods are a lot cheaper so I hope I'm wrong?
Dick

[james]

Tommy cod are  great for crappie because  you can  catch  several  fish  with the same bait because they're  so tough.

A little tip  to make  handling  them easier is to put them in  sawdust before you leave in the am .  Once they get back in the water the sawdust rinses off and they swim  fine.