We normally use 1.5 and 2 inch crappie tubes under slip bobbers. We prefer black and chartreuse they seem to work best for us. Most of the time we catch crappie in the creeks fairly shallow, I have never had much luck on the main river.
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I'm looking for some advice on what types of jigheads and trailers work best for crappie in the Ohio River tributaries. Up until this point my father and I have only used a 2/0 gold hook with a minnow and then a bobber 2-3 feet above that. Granted it is with good success, but the availability of minnows goes down every year it seems. A lot of people seem to be transitioning to crappie jigs, but so far we haven't had much luck. I'd greatly appreciate it if anybody could provide some insight on this presentation!
TK
We normally use 1.5 and 2 inch crappie tubes under slip bobbers. We prefer black and chartreuse they seem to work best for us. Most of the time we catch crappie in the creeks fairly shallow, I have never had much luck on the main river.
I believe tim farmer has a video on crappie fishing on the river. Look it up on YouTube. If it's not him I know there's a good video on it. I'd like to try to crappie fish the river myself.
I've gone away from minnows almost entirely. BG baby shad and tootie fruity jigs from strike king have worked well for me. I like the bobby garland jig heads because of the larger hookI'm looking for some advice on what types of jigheads and trailers work best for crappie in the Ohio River tributaries. Up until this point my father and I have only used a 2/0 gold hook with a minnow and then a bobber 2-3 feet above that. Granted it is with good success, but the availability of minnows goes down every year it seems. A lot of people seem to be transitioning to crappie jigs, but so far we haven't had much luck. I'd greatly appreciate it if anybody could provide some insight on this presentation!
TK
Thanks for the replies! Minnows will always be king until I start having some success with jigs. I've looked into jigheads and a couple of the different trailers from Bobby Garland. A lot of crappie masters tournaments are won with those. They are a little more pricey than usual for crappie, but I planned on picking some up the next time I was at BPS or somewhere. Is there or preference on color?
roadrunner liked this post
You sure you weren't using a #2 Aberdeen hook ?? I don't even use a 2/0 hook for plastics when I'm Bass fishing ... LOL !!
Personally speaking ... I use a 1/32 or 1/16oz ball head jig head (unpainted) ... both with a #2 Aberdeen hook & a Y-guard or the fiber brush style weedguard. I have them custom made by P&S Custom Tackle (Vicco, KY). My plastics of choice has changed over the years ... going from BPS Squirmin Squirt hollow tubes to CrappiePro solid body tubes to Bass Assassin Panfish Assassin Tiny Shad to custom poured plastic minnow shaped bodies. They've all caught fish. I prefer to cast jigs for Crappie, so a weedless jighead & plastic trailer is what I use ... so I can get my jig down into/around/over the cover and still expect to get it back 95% of the time.
I don't use floats when casting jigs, and I don't do much vertical jigging. But ... either one of them can/does work. My preferred way of fishing jigs/plastics is to cast and slowly swim the bait back, with a retrieve speed that keeps a slight bow in the line from the rod tip to the water's surface. ANY movement in the line, that I didn't cause (or the wind) ... and I set the hook, hard & fast.
Color preferences are personal choices ... but I like greens & blues with chartreuse tails, solid chartreuse, and solid pink. The Crappie seem to like them, too !! LOL !! I've caught Crappie on a lot of different colors & combinations of colors, but those 4 have been my most productive over the years. I've used those colors on different bodies of water in 3 states, and they've worked in all cases.
... pappy
Tyme2fish, riverrat12 liked this post
#2 Aberdeen gold hook. HAHA thanks for the correction and also the advice! A lot of the crappie fishing we do is trolling from stumps to treetops and repeat. (you know the strategy) I would assume this is more of vertical jigging presentation but I could be wrong. Plastic canepoles are commonly used with the occasional rod and reel trips when needed. I've used the squirmin squirts without much luck, but going to have to try some different ones for sure.
I love minnow fishing too but as you said, they are such a pain because you never know when you can get them. I recently started using Lake Fork Baby Shad and have been doing really well with them just vertical jigging. The Bobby Garland Baby Shad are almost the same bait but the Lake Fork have a Garlic scent added. Not sure if that makes a difference at all, but I seem to do really well with these. I think I have said goodbye to the hollow-body tubes for now. The other artificial I love to use, particularly in the spring and warmer months is the Charlie Brewer Slider. You can google that and buy from the site. You can fish these weedless and the crappie really seem to love the action and color Junebug Chartreuse.
riverrat12 liked this post
Maribou for cold water under a bobber. Just for grins tie on a maribou jig and try to hold it in the water so the tail doesn't move.
I like black/chartreuse for cloudy water. I like black/cahrtreuse for muddy water. I like black/chartreuse for clear water.
Stopped in today at Cabelas and picked up a pack of Bobby Garland Baby Shad and Slab Slay'r. Also bought some chartreuse and pink jig heads. Rigged a few up when I got home and got me even more excited to hit the creeks once this ice melts! The Charlie Brewer Sliders that you were talking about were in stock and plan on getting a pack or two of those sometime. Thanks everyone for the replies and hopefully the advice will pay off this spring.I love minnow fishing too but as you said, they are such a pain because you never know when you can get them. I recently started using Lake Fork Baby Shad and have been doing really well with them just vertical jigging. The Bobby Garland Baby Shad are almost the same bait but the Lake Fork have a Garlic scent added. Not sure if that makes a difference at all, but I seem to do really well with these. I think I have said goodbye to the hollow-body tubes for now. The other artificial I love to use, particularly in the spring and warmer months is the Charlie Brewer Slider. You can google that and buy from the site. You can fish these weedless and the crappie really seem to love the action and color Junebug Chartreuse.
I would also suggest quality slip floats. I really like the thill pro series with the brass insert. They're a little pricey, buy you can almost always get them back. I don't do a lot of casting in the creeks. I generally flip or make short accurate casts. I use a b&m 8ft double tap rod. Flip it right next to a stump and fish it out a little, then repeat. I like to cover water, and try not to linger on one spot. Water color in those creeks let u get away with that.
Stopped in today at Cabelas and picked up a pack of Bobby Garland Baby Shad and Slab Slay'r. Also bought some chartreuse and pink jig heads. Rigged a few up when I got home and got me even more excited to hit the creeks once this ice melts! The Charlie Brewer Sliders that you were talking about were in stock and plan on getting a pack or two of those sometime. Thanks everyone for the replies and hopefully the advice will pay off this spring.