Crappies on tip-downs/ tip-ups

[Kevin23]

How long will a crappie hold on to a live minnow? Long enough for me to notice if im inside the shanty peeking out every few minutes?

[Huckster]

I use a 48" spinning rod with 2 lb test balanced on a homemade stand for a tip down set up and it works awesome.  I put a crappie minnow on a #14 treble with a bb sinker a foot above the hooks.  Works great even in 30 feet of water.  The rod has a long sweep as it goes down and I rarely miss a fish. Once they are committed to pull the rod down crappies hold on and seem to hook themselves.  Especially fun on 12" and bigger fish.  I never fish crappies on tip ups so I cant help you there.

[junebug]

I have had success with tip-ups, the flat "propeller" types.  Light line 4lb or less, and a 14 treble hook with a fat head minnow.  I try to get a feel for where in the column they are feeding.  If I can't, I will set the tip-ups at various depths starting at about 5 ft off the bottom, and working up.  The "propeller" types have a heavy/light setting, I use the lightest setting, and there are other tricks that you can use to make it even lighter, such as shaft angle, and which side to set the flag, but you'll have to experiment to understand what I'm talking about.  The most important thing I've learned is not to wait after the flag is tripped.  Crappies do not run with the bait, generally they will trip the flag and drop the bait.  Occasionally, they will take a foot or so of line, but that is rare.  I make sure that I am in close proximity to the tip-ups, so when the flag trips I immediately set the hook.  I have caught some of my biggest with this technique.   I hope this helps you folks out there in crappie land.

[McMish]

I bought some cheap TipUps this last weekend and tried them on a 2 acre pond where i usualy have a lot of sucess in the warmer months

i had very little luck with the tip ups. but ill be honest this was my first trip using them.

I had 2 of them with waxies on baitholders, 2 with minnows on trebles

The Minows almost never flaged and if they did i had nothing

The Waxies flaged a bunch and i had one but my line broke

When i was jigging i got 6 decent crappies and a slew of gills on waxies.

so i was asking the same question last weekend and now i'm thingking tip downs are the way to go.

but again i dont really knwo what i'm doing yet.

[jrmPikeFreak]

i was fishing for pike with pike minnos and a decent sized treble and caught a 14" crappie that weight a 1.5. almost pooped myself when i pulled it in. and it did not run, it stayed right there at the hole.

[fiesty]

they don't usually run...back on Champlain, I'd set 15 "wind-jacks" which are pretty similar to tip-downs in two lines around me...when a fish would hit, and drag the spring down, I'd instantly grab it and bring in the fish...many many times the fish would hit the ice and the bait would fall out of it's mouth...I know that trebles work, but I like a light wire single hook instead...if you can be set up close enough to be in control of all of your lines, when the fish click on, you'll smoke em...have fun...

[JT]

I'm with Junebug,catch some real nice ones on boards.Keep em' close and set that deal so light and take em' quick!

[junebug]

It's all about being stealthy, JT.  "Death from Above"

[JT]

It's all about being stealthy, JT.  "Death from Above"

 8)