Suspended crappie

[John_BZ]

What are your favorite tactics to fishing for suspended crappie. I appearently suck at catching suspended fish and could use some tips. Never was a deep water fisherman but would like to give it a shot.

[mnfishman]

A glow jig and a graph.  Small crappie minnows or wax worms.  I usually only fish one hole when I am jigging for crappies just because it takes too much concentration.  Also I will have about 5 rods rigged up at the same time with different sizes/colors of jigs so that I can switch.  

[crappie_attitude]

Use a flasher.  

[ipunch2u]

Ive been having pretty good luck using glow jigs with small minows.  Anyone have any tips on using zip lures for crappies?  Im having no luck using it.

[Fish247]

First of all find the fish, which can be hard enough at times.  A flasher will help you with this ALOT.  When you locate the depth that the fish are at don't put your jig right in the middle of them, Crappies feed up.  Rig up at least two different rods with diferent sized glow jigs.  Tip the jig with a minnow or waxie or even multi-colored spikes.  Vary your jigging technique untill you find what tiggers the most strikes.  That should do it.

Good fishing!

Eric

[danman]

http://www.iceshanty.com/YaBBImages/grin.gif
We have been fishing crappies on the backwaters above croton dam in newaygo county for a couple of weeks now,and,we have been slaying the little monsters.We have found that the fish are feeding a little earlier than usual.From about 4:00p.m.-7:00p.m.We have been getting close to our limit each time we go out.We have been having good luck with glow jigs(chartruse)tipped with rosie colored minnows.The activity during this short window has been awesome.Most of the fish we have been catching are right around the twenty foot mark.An occasional one near the bottom later into the night.Fishing in about 32 feet of water.Good luck .

[waterwolfed]

whats the best bait for crappies..... i only use minnows

[Fat Boy]

Fish247, I couldn't agree with you more!!!  Good tips.

I prefer jiggin with demons or fat boys tipped with maggots, waxies, or minnows.  But one of the best baits that I've used in the past 3 seasons is the Custom Jigs n Spins glow chartreuse small size finesse tail on a 1/80 oz. chartreuse jighead.  I tie 2 or 3 of them in tandem for suspended fish.  This gives you extra weight to load your rod tip and also allows you a chance at catching doubles.  Works on all species but slab crappies love them.  When they are agressive and jumbos try the bigger size, if they are finicky, try the smaller size.

[Fish247]

Thanks Fat Boy!

You too bring up a good point.  Plastics are killer when fish are agressive, and can even be used to get tight lipped fish to bite.  They have become a big part of my arsenal in the past few years.  Duh!  I can't believe I forgot the mention plastics!  

Good fishin!

Eric

[ipunch2u]

Fat boy,  When you say tadem do you kind of set it up like a crappie rig, tied to a three piece of line conected to the main line out of rod.  Hope you can understand what Im asking

[asphalt_kid]

I just tie another jig about a foot above the other making sure the heavier jig is on the bottom. Knot styles depend on the jig that is on top.

[sparkie]

Fat Boy..
I read your post about using jigs in tandem to fish for suspended crappies.
How do you fasten the jigs to the line so that they look natural and if you want to change colors or weight you don't have to cut the line to re rig.
thanks for the help and all ofthe input that you provide to the site.
Good fishin....

[biggjimm1]

I use a small steel clip that is actually designed for fly fishing so you dont shorten your leader every time you tie on a fly. Ive found this works great for ice rigs too, you can change your jigs and never tie a knot! It is so tiny that it is virtually weightless, so it does not effect your jig in any way.And they are made of spring steel so they are very strong too. I have caught some nice big mean smallmouth on my fly rod and never lost a one. Thanks for all the tips I hope this helps somebody out.  Good fishing and stay safe.   Biggjimm

[genz_man]

I like to jiggem up with a size 10 or 12 glow gig in orage or red with maggots. If they do not hit 1 or 2 maggots try 6 to 10 if tou can get them on the hook. It looks like a spider rig dancing under water and have hammered the slabs for me quite frequently

[genz_man]

1 more thing.....to each his own but i have had better luck after dark with 1 jig.......2 to 3 jigs work better for me during the daylight hours. 8)

[bigredonice]

sometimes you dont get lucky, and drill a hole over suspended crappies, and they show up on the electronics,

most of the time you have to jig at random depths until they show up.

i read somewhere on here that you take that depth/2 + 1 is a good rule of thub, and it is. (eg 16 feet deep / 2 + 1 = 9 feet deep) I have found that this is a good rule of thumb.

[fishingking]

The place a was fishing today  well half the holes i drilled had suspended crappie  as soon as i put the electronics down the hole  but thats ussual for the place this place

[crappieloo]

Crushed em last weekend 2 feet down (4 feet from top of ice) jig produced 15 slabs to 1 on tip down with minnow. Went out tonight slabs were 3 to 4 feet down and jigs to minnow catch were 1 to 1


Crappieloo
Wayne Co. N.Y.

[slab_in_8er]

Another good tatic for tight lipped Slabs are micro jigs (1/64 1/80 and up) almost dead sticked...or barely moving..sometimes just the breeze from the hole in my hut does it !...also have had good sucess last year with a newer plastic,...the rattlesnake minnow..with a micro jig hooked right at the head of it...a bit tougher to hook up but many more takes..am in WNY region and have tried at various lakes here..and the rattlesnake sure beats dunkin your hand in that cold water in the minnow bucket !

[Fat Boy]

Fat boy,  When you say tadem do you kind of set it up like a crappie rig, tied to a three piece of line conected to the main line out of rod.  Hope you can understand what Im asking

Fish247, what I usually do is rig one rod with multiple jigs.  There are many ways to do it, but the simplest is to tie your favorite knot but leave the tag end long, an extra foot for each additional jig.  I rig them in line, not a spreader style rig...however, this got me thinking and I'm going to experiment with some variations.  Another rig is the tightline rig. 

Fat Boy..
I read your post about using jigs in tandem to fish for suspended crappies.
How do you fasten the jigs to the line so that they look natural and if you want to change colors or weight you don't have to cut the line to re rig.
thanks for the help and all ofthe input that you provide to the site.
Good fishin....

Sparkie, the tightline rig variation that I've used is to use the no-knot fas snaps in the small size and tie them on and you can change lures that way.  The problem with those is that the only horizontal jig that stays horizontal that I've found is the Genz Worm.  Others tilt, but not really that bad.  So, if you use a snap for the top jig, then I'd say a vertical jig might work better.  But, try different things and let the fish tell you what jigs to put on.  I've rigged ratsos on the bottom and shrimpos on top and done well on both.  Usually, I have more than one rod rigged and ready with my favorites so I can just put one down and fish the other.   They are a pain to rig in low light conditions, so do it during the day or better yet, at home (especially those tight line rigs).

genz man, you just don't like tying lures up in the dark, LOL   Be honest, yer jus' too lazy that's why you stick with that fat boy so much!!!  That's why you don't fish those tandem rigs!

Most important tool for the crappie fisherman is the flasher, without a doubt, next is a good bright lantern.