What bait do I use?

Small, lightweight jigs is the reply. Keep in mind that in the cold water, the crappie are shifting slower, and they aren’t going to chase a lure quite significantly. So use light jigs and fish them slow. Use a one/8 or lighter jig on a light-weight or medium-light rod, and if you noted any fish on your depth finder, drop the jig just above them and be prepared for a strike. Transfer the jig slowly and gradually up and down, or use incredibly light twitches. You will not get the aggressive strikes like you do in the spring and summer, generally you will only feel a slight tug or even just a little pressure.

This is exactly where the light tackle arrives in. Light-fat rods and 4 to 6 pound test line will permit you to experience these delicate strikes. If you know the crappie are there, and your jigs are just not working, look at incorporating a crappie nibble or if you can, tip it with a tiny minnow. That will occasionally entice a strike from finicky fish. In some cases you can use a bobber to hold your jig in placement, but commonly this time of 12 months the crappie are as well deep for bobber-fishing to be sensible.

Marabou and feather-form jigs can be extremely helpful for winter season crappie, as very well as “umbrella” variety jigs. The slower fee-of-drop seems to be the trick with these. No matter what kind of jig you choose, just try to remember to fish it incredibly slow.

On a crystal clear, sunny day use light colored jigs, and on cloudy days you can go with a darker shade, but I prefer a white, yellow, light green or chartreuse color. The exact rule applies to drinking water clarity, in apparent h2o use rather light colors or even distinct with some sparkle. In stained drinking water, use a darker green or chartreuse. There are so several unique shade versions nowadays it can be mind-boggling hoping to select the “perfect” color. With colors like “bayou booger”, “firecracker”, “woodpecker” and “electric chicken”, all people nowadays looks to have a distinct favorite. The way I do it is consider a very few distinct color mixtures at initially, fishing with three or 4 separate rods, and when I look to be catching extra crappie on a specific shade, stick with that shade.

When ice fishing for crappie, fish above the deeper brush piles you uncovered in the spring, summer or fall. The crappie will be holding tight to this cover. Their lower metabolic rate in the cold water usually means they won’t venture away from it when foraging for foods. This also means that they will often readily inhale a jig when they see it, not passing up an opportunity for a morsel of nutrition. The trick the following is, if you catch a number of crappie and then the bite stops, move and drill a further hole over yet another brush pile.

In the dead of winter months, in February for example, you might uncover that the crappie have moved to even deeper water, and are staged along the edges of the deeper channels. In these locations, they will often suspend just a foot or two off of the bottom. When they are this deep, I have had terrific good results employing a bottom rig. Tie on a barrel swivel at the stop of your line. Then tie on a 3 foot part of line with a bass casting sinker or a cannonball sinker on the other end of the swivel. Often a three/4 ounce sinker will do, but if there is more current you will have to use a heavier one particular. Then tie on a one or 2 foot segment of line on the swivel with a hook and minnow at the conclude, or a jig tipped with a minnow or crappie nibble.

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