Hooked up: Panfish pros share tricks for sacking up winter slabs
Crappie school is in session, and the professors are ready. Though I'm no expert when it comes to finding and catching crappie, I have shared the boat with a passel of guys who are masters at the art of sacking up wintertime slabs.
One of the most valuable lessons taught by those mentors is that crappie can only be caught where they are found. Papermouths are genetically programmed to drift like leafs in the wind. In fact, about the only thing you can count on when Jack Frost shows his craggy face is that the fish are going to be positioned in a suspended state in deep water, usually in relation to roving pods of shad, brush or structure.
Catching crappie isn't rocket science, but it does help to know a little something about bait choices and the assorted ways to use them to trick the fish into biting.
Here's a crash course on some of the best rigs for catching America's favorite panfish.
* Hook Knocker Rig: Sam Rayburn crappie guru Larry King uses this rig whenever he is soaking live shiners in or around dense brush. It consists of a pair of 1/4-ounce slip sinkers rigged butt to butt above a No. 2 gold Aberdeen crappie hook. Rigged properly, the weights should resemble a small missile with points at both ends.
The dual-weight setup cuts down on broken lines as a result of hang-ups. If the hook snags on a limb, jiggle the line up and down a few times. This causes the top weight to crash repeatedly into the bottom weight, which rests on the eye of the hook. Think of the bottom weight like a nail, the top one like a hammer. The hammer hits the nail which drives the hook free.
* Slip Cork Rig: An old standby, the slip cork is designed to suspend the bait at the desired depth and to aid in detecting strikes. The cork slides up and down the line until it reaches a "bobber stop," which can be adjusted to suspend the bait a few inches or several feet below the surface. You can fashion a bobber stop by tying a piece of rubber band around the main line or purchase one ready made.
The slip cork can be utilized for several applications in combination with live shiners or small jigs. It works well when fishing for spawning crappie around shallow bushes, stumps, logs and cattails, or when targeting fish that are suspended around brush piles, bridge pilings, boat houses and other structure in deeper water. When using a slip cork with live bait, it's a good idea to use a split shot or clam weight to hold the bait down and make the cork stand erect.
A slip cork setup also is effective when casting jigs over stump flats or submerged grassbeds. The cork provides extra casting weight. More importantly, it allows you to stop the jig periodically or alter retrieve speeds while keeping the lure in the strike zone 100 percent of the time.
* Single Minnow Rig: Simple to build yet as deadly as any setup, the single hook minnow rig has probably accounted for more limits of fish than any other crappie rig. It is tailor-made for vertical presentations around standing timber, brush piles, channel breaks and other structure.
The business end of the rig consists of a No. 2 gold Aberdeen or Mr. Crappie Wally Marshall cam-action hook. A single slip sinker or clam shot weight (3/16- or 1/2-ounce) above the hook helps get the bait to the desired depth and keeps it there.
* Casting and Drop Jig Rigs: Crappie have been known to hit all sorts of artificial lures, but small maribou or tube jigs, spinners and Roadrunners (1/32- to 1/8-ounce) are the primary orders of the day when the fish want something moving around boathouses, bridge pilings, stump fields and grass flats. A jig can be equally effective when fished vertically as a drop bait around brush piles, timber, ledges and channel breaks in deep water.
Using lightweight spinning or spincast gear with light line (4- to 8-pound test) will maximize casting distance and enhance the fun of battling fish.
Here a couple of other good jig fishing tips:
No. 1: Toledo Bend fishing guide Stephen Johnston likes to use a small loop knot to attach the jig as opposed to a cinch knot. This will give the bait more freedom of movement, which at times can mean more strikes.
No. 2: Lake Fork fishing guide Andrew Hawkins says he can increase the number of bites he gets on a jig by tipping it with a Berkley Gulp Crappie Niblet. The tiny baits come in a small jar in a variety of colors.
* Tandem Crappie Rig: The tandem crappie rig is designed to fish two baits in unison at suspended depths or on bottom. It can be used with live bait, crappie jigs or a combination of the two.
Eagle Claw makes a ready-made tandem rig that costs about a buck. It has two thin wire hook holders spaced between the line tie and weight clasp. The wires protrude outward about 4 inches, which helps prevent the baits from tangling.
Crappie pro Wally Marshall of Garland is more inclined to build his own tandem crappie rigs. He uses them for tight line trolling with live bait around bottom structure, or when long line trolling with jigs for suspended crappie in open water. It is not uncommon for Marshall to utilize a half dozen or more of his signature series "Super Slide" or "Tightline Special" rods at once when performing a trolling technique known as Spider Rigging.
* Tight Line Trolling Rig (For Brush): Marshall builds a couple of different tight line rigs using 10-pound test Mr. Crappie Hi-Vis line. When fishing around brush, he builds his hook stagings with 4- to 5-inch loop knots spaced 12-15 inches apart. His hook of choice is a No. 2 Mr. Crappie gold or code red. Marshall attaches a 3/4-ounce bell sinker to the bottom of the main line to keep it vertical as he bumps along using the trolling motor. The heavy weight will usually break the hooks free should they connect with brush.
* Tight Line Trolling Rig (Open Water): In open water situations, Marshall secures a 3/4-ounce egg sinker midway between two live bait hooks or jigs. The baits should be spaced evenly about 12 inches above and below the weight. He uses a 1/8-ounce Roadrunner on bottom and a 1/16-ounce Slab Daddy on top for jig fishing applications.
* Long Line Trolling Rig: Marshall uses this rig when slow trolling Slab Daddy jigs in tandem. He prefers a 1/16 ounce jig on bottom and a 1/32-ounce model on top using 4-6 pound test Mr. Crappie Hi-Vis line. Using his custom rod holders and 12- to 14-foot crappie poles, he can trail as many as 20 baits 30-40 feet behind his Z9 Nitro.
Matt Williams' e-mail address is mattwilliams@netdot.com.
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