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I want to do some crappie fishing, so I thought it would be good to get your guys input on bait. Do you use crappie minnows, plastics or wax worms?

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Depends on the lake and time of day. Mornings and evenings on the lake I live on a fire tiger jiggin rap does the job. Mid-day a northland forage minnow with a minnow head keeps em biting through out the day.

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I want to do some crappie fishing, so I thought it would be good to get your guys input on bait. Do you use crappie minnows, plastics or wax worms?

All of the above.

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Is it a fair statement to make that crappies suspend more than hangout near the bottom?

Yes, generally speaking.

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I tried Ratsos for the first time lastnight and the crappies hammered it. No waxie or minnow. Caught limit of 9-10"ers, fun fishing

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I tried Ratsos for the first time lastnight and the crappies hammered it. No waxie or minnow. Caught limit of 9-10"ers, fun fishing

"Tip of the month" application; I like it! Good job.

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Do you have a flasher ?

They really help in catching Crappies through the ice and they are an absolute blast to use through the ice. My favorite video game !

A couple things to try...

When the fish appear on the flasher try keeping the bait about three to four feet above them. You may have to rip it or jig it a few times to get their attention but eventually one will come flying up through the crowd to check out the bait. Once this happens keep the jig still or twitch it a bit if they fail to take the bait. If that does not work slowly raise the bait and you will see the fish follow and stop when they reach the edge of their comfort zone. It is amazing how many fish will refuse to go any higher than a certain depth on a given day. I have found if you get them to follow to the edge of their comfort zone and jig it there they will feed or flee.

Every day is differnt and it is quite a game trying to figure out that depth the color and type of lure as well as the presentation. But what a blast it is

Remember when fishing Crappies it seems the active feeders are up high.

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Good point hookey. If they do start to flee downward, don't be afraid to let the jig freefall to the bottom and stir it up a bit. Slowly start your raise back up and sometimes this will trigger the fish.

Another thing I like to do when on fish, is if they're down there, but the activity level slows down, make a drastic change in colors. Bright pink, bright orange, white....something completely different/opposite of what you were using. My favorite go-to color is always black though. Love that color for pannies!

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Here is a great new crappie jig from the Outdoor Pro Store, the Flutter jig.

http://www.outdoorprostore.com/kitsjj.html

I just got some of these tonight from the Outdoor Pro Store, and I will be going after some tight lipped crappies tomorrow night, hopefully these work well! They sure look good to me.

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Hookey... You nailed this on the head! I think I would have written the exact same thing...I have found my three key things this winter to be: 1.) small crappie minnows 2.) re-glow the jig often any time of day 3.) getting the crappies to chase and then leaving the rod still and let them attack! I have found the bigger crappies have been the highest in the water column

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Hookey... You nailed this on the head! I think I would have written the exact same thing...I have found my three key things this winter to be: 1.) small crappie minnows 2.) re-glow the jig often any time of day 3.) getting the crappies to chase and then leaving the rod still and let them attack! I have found the bigger crappies have been the highest in the water column

I agree 100%, but to add to it, if they are hugging the bottom, dont waste your time, even when you pull them up 3 feet off bottom maybe 1% will bite it! Also a spring bobber helps alot as well.

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we have been catchin em on spikes in last couple days,as WANDERINGEYES said springs bobbers are the real deal for those finicky crappies,sunnies

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as WANDERINGEYES said springs bobbers are the real deal for those finicky crappies,sunnies

I will third or fourth or whatever that. My catch rate for jigging spoons and small plastics has increased a ton since using spring bobbers.

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I use "FLUTTER JIGS" exhaustingly all the time.. "SPECS" "GILLS" -n- "PERCH".. Tiny minnow head, Gulp, Waxies.. These little gems get their attention.. Every minute twitch, movement, The flutters flutter..

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I have had really good luck using "eyedroppers" with glow red or white backs. Tipped with a small crappie minnow and kept glowing as much as possible. I used the largest size made which seemed to bring the nice 12" + crappie up for an aggressive bite. As the bite slowed some more jigging seems to do the trick.

Also used the same eyedroppers at LOTW just before New Years and the Walleye hit it with the same aggressive bite.

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Spring bobbers are great, can be a little frustrating when they freeze up reeling in though.

Have a look at what Jason Mitchell Outdoors offers for a spring bobber rod. You won't deal with that you're talking about anymore...

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threw everything at them tonight! waxies, plastic,minnows,ect. the front must of been too strong and fast moving today

1 all the fish had the worse case of lock jaw i have ever experienced! alot of lookers only 2 takers. even made special trip to rfo to try the " tip of the month" in several diff colors and sizes to no avail.

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Thanks otter, I'll look into that very soon as the weather is not warming up any.

You're welcome. Enjoy if and when you make a purchase.

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threw everything at them tonight! waxies, plastic,minnows,ect. the front must of been too strong and fast moving today

1 all the fish had the worse case of lock jaw i have ever experienced! alot of lookers only 2 takers. even made special trip to rfo to try the " tip of the month" in several diff colors and sizes to no avail.

I think this front you talk of may have shortened the length of the bite but by no means did it shut it down! grin

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I agree with PDOGG, I was out last night from 10-1 and had a fairly consistent bite the whole time. Only went 1 for 8 on the bobber though, guess I need to go fishing 101. But did manage to jig some up on waxies. The bobber thing was certainly frustrating. Size was not there. Even had 1 confused sunnie who didn't know he wasn't supposed to bite at 11:30 at night (I did inform him though)

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i have noticed in the past its not uncommon to catch a few sunnies later on fishing for crappies, last year caught one at 1am and it did't have a top lip, caught it by the roof of its mouth! also agree my success rate for hooking finicky crappies has went through the roof using a spring bobber!!

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ya pdogg i hope this new snow evens things out more for me! i can't believe the difference in our numbers yesterday! i did buy soem of the jigs you were using and its game on now! lol thanks again for for holes too! i was going to test mine out the storm was nasty when we left.

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ok , so the front that came in on tuesday was moving pretty slow and i could just barely see it over the trees on shore. by the time we packed up ( around 6:30) the first lighter clouds were just starting to make it over head. now yesterday i looked out of the perm and just a light white cloud bank on top of the trees. 15 minutes later they were covering the sun! keep in mind its still 4 pm. watching the front on the phone it was alot stronger storm than tuesday. obviously. the "power hour" bite was really only about 45 min long. all i had was lookers and they perm right next to me had a decent or average bite. good limit of fish with some smaller ones and some bigger ones. i'm still confused how tight lipped they were.

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