Crappie friday & sunday!

[jmurr711]

Well after missing out on blackfish Friday due to the wind & my partner banishing me to decorate their apartment for Holiday, my choices were go sit in a bar or find somewhere to fish. I chose the latter & decided to hit a few ponds in deep south NJ for bridesburg barracuda. Looked on the Google maps & set out. 1st 3 ponds I had 1 bite & nothing to show. Found another to investigate & again more cockolla, I saw what looked like a school of yellow perch so put on a small jig n gulp caught some sunfish then found the mother load of sacalait! Was watching them eat the jig in crystal clear water right under my feet as many as ya wanted & even the little guys were chubbers. Glad I decided to stop here for sure!

On SUnday, we forced our hungover butts outside & had an absolute sacalait slaughter. Slabbos & pretty much every cast for 2hrs on every jig & plastic ya wanted didn't matter don't know how many we caught was stupid fun ultralight fishing. Hit union lake on way home & Devon got a yellow perch on 1st cast to win the #specieswar hope this crappie fishing stays like this

[FASTEDDIE29]

Well done Queen! Those are solid Slabs coming out of the dirty souf! Gotta love Crappie fishing! :D

[thmyorke1]

great work and effort hitting the ponds and getting some slaaaaaaaaaaaaaabs

woah WOAH SLAB ALERT!! SLAB ALERT :D

[Mikey topaz]

Nice plan b!! Glad you found em man

[crewchief2]

jmurr, would appreciate any tips you might feel like giving out. No crappie experience to speak off. Hit my local lake yesterday, which is loaded with em, marked tons of fish, but couldnt buy a hit no matter what i did. Must be doing something wrong. Thanks

[bulletbob]

jmurr, would appreciate any tips you might feel like giving out. No crappie experience to speak off. Hit my local lake yesterday, which is loaded with em, marked tons of fish, but couldnt buy a hit no matter what i did. Must be doing something wrong. Thanks

If they were indeed Crappie and would not hit small artificials, try going back with a bucket of small live minnows.. I have seen times when they would not touch jigs, but would instantly hit a live minnow.. Killies are terrific if you can find them as are fatheads.. Anything really, including small shiners. Lower them down to the depth you are reading fish at with a split shot a couple feet from a fine wire hook, or these days a lot of guys use the drop shot rig.. If those fish you are reading are crappies they will surely hit live minnows, so will perch and white perch...

[crewchief2]

If they were indeed Crappie and would not hit small artificials, try going back with a bucket of small live minnows.. I have seen times when they would not touch jigs, but would instantly hit a live minnow.. Killies are terrific if you can find them as are fatheads.. Anything really, including small shiners. Lower them down to the depth you are reading fish at with a split shot a couple feet from a fine wire hook, or these days a lot of guys use the drop shot rig.. If those fish you are reading are crappies they will surely hit live minnows, so will perch and white perch...

Thanks, will definately give that a try, and yes, i know they're crappies. No perch in this lake, and i do catch them through the ice. I was using different jigs, a beetlespin, and also super worms, which do well through the ice too. Will try the minnows, thanks for the tip.

[Chrisper4694]

Thanks, will definately give that a try, and yes, i know they're crappies. No perch in this lake, and i do catch them through the ice. I was using different jigs, a beetlespin, and also super worms, which do well through the ice too. Will try the minnows, thanks for the tip.

just another tip... crappie can be notorious for feeding upwards only at times. if your lure or bait is at their level or not high enough above them certain days they will flat out ignore it no matter what. Idk about down south but in the northern nj lakes this time of the year they often eat those little tiny larva wormy things that hatch out of deep sandy bottoms (not sure what insect they are).

[crewchief2]

just another tip... crappie can be notorious for feeding upwards only at times. if your lure or bait is at their level or not high enough above them certain days they will flat out ignore it no matter what. Idk about down south but in the northern nj lakes this time of the year they often eat those little tiny larva wormy things that hatch out of deep sandy bottoms (not sure what insect they are).

I'm definately up north, and i had the bait everywhere, above, below, in between. just no luck, Gives me incentive to keep trying. Thanks for the tip.

[Chrisper4694]

I'm definately up north, and i had the bait everywhere, above, below, in between. just no luck, Gives me incentive to keep trying. Thanks for the tip.

they can certainly be picky, but i gotta say it's odd to not catch any at all if they're there... if the place has deep water with structure or structure nearby deep water this time of the year that's where i'd fish. it can be tough from shore if that's how you're doing it cause if you have to suspend the lure/bait a few feet above them in 20-30ft of water you'd need a slip bobber. drop shot rig with a long leader to the weight will work too if they are near bottom feeding upward.

[crewchief2]

they can certainly be picky, but i gotta say it's odd to not catch any at all if they're there... if the place has deep water with structure or structure nearby deep water this time of the year that's where i'd fish. it can be tough from shore if that's how you're doing it cause if you have to suspend the lure/bait a few feet above them in 20-30ft of water you'd need a slip bobber. drop shot rig with a long leader to the weight will work too if they are near bottom feeding upward.

Pretty shallow lake with almost no structure to speak of. Max depth is around 12-14 feet. And i do fish from a boat, just lack of experience i guess. Mostly a bass chaser myself. But i will keep trying. Thanks for the tips!! Might just have to wait for the ice, usually do ok then.

[Chrisper4694]

Pretty shallow lake with almost no structure to speak of. Max depth is around 12-14 feet. And i do fish from a boat, just lack of experience i guess. Mostly a bass chaser myself. But i will keep trying. Thanks for the tips!! Might just have to wait for the ice, usually do ok then.

that's strange too honestly, they should be acting very similarly now to when there is ice