I have about a 5 acre pond, I know that there is crappie in it because every now ant then I catch one by accident when im fishing for bass. I was wanting to know what is the best rig to use to catch them. The water temps are in starting to get in the middle 50's so I figure they are moving shallow, but I have never really fished for crappie and didn't know how to catch them.

Minnows on a slip float work nicely...

I tried to move this topic, and I'm not sure what has happened.

OK, seemed to work.

I believe that you need to first locate the depth at which crappie are suspending. Once you have that figured out, you can slay them with fatheads, worms, maggots, or little jigs.

This is assuming that you are fishing for them early in the year when they are still schooled up.

Aren't they supposed to hang around brush and sunken trees, pre-spawn?

I think Sunil is correct about finding the right depth the Crappie are suspended in. In East Texas lakes we catch some good crappie in February, most of the fish are suspended from
4'to 8' deep in 20' of water, but always suspended over brush piles. In our area the crappie seem to start their mover shallow about the middle of March. My favorite crappie jig is a 1/16 ounce jig head with a black and chartruese curly tailed body.
The water is still cold now, we have more bites trying to keep the jig steady than actually jigging this time of year. To much jigging action in cold water does not work as well for us.

jsand13,

If you went on vacation and I snuck into your pond for the first time and stealing your crappie is what I am after this time of year, I would find some structure in about 4-8' of water and cast a fathead minnow on a number 4 baitholder hook with a split shot about 12" above my bait and a small bobber about 2' above the split shot. If your water is clear and it wasnt windy that day, I would take off my bobber and split shot, and just cast a fathead on the small hook! If your crappies were BIG, I would exchange the fathead for a golden shiner!

Remember, Crappies usually feed up, dont fish below them, near the bottom!

Thanks yall. I will try some of the things that yall metioned. Im just not a big crappie fisherman, all I ever fish for is LMB. other fish just aren't as fun to me.

jsand13, you know if you have white or black crappie, or both?

Fishing at night under a lantern with a slip bobber and fathead minnows is the next most effect method for me behind dynamite.

It is all black crappie. When we first purchased the pond in 1992 my dad loved to eat crappie so he put 50 2-3 crappie in the pond. It is overpopulated with bass so I don't know how many survived. Ive caught a couple by accident but never fished for them.

Makes me wonder how many are in there?

Cecil if you ever want to fish at night, I highly recommend a green monster underwater fishing light. They look amazing and the fish congregate by them after dark. Makes night fishing super fun!

Me too. A small fly often works really well in the same situation too.

A lake I fish often in NW Missouri has an overabundance of white crappie. In the evening, when the dock light comes on and the bugs start falling into the water, the crappie create what looks like boiling water going after them. You'll have a hard time NOT filling your basket.

I need to get a light for my pond...I hope placing structure helps and the fish just aren't biting right now. It's kind of depressing. One small white crappie and one small bass today on shiners. Never thought live bait fishing could be this boring.

Sometimes when live bait fishing is slow (I pretty much only live bait fish), I pull out the Yum Crawfish Scent Spray bottle. I can see the excitement in the shiners' eyes when I pull out the bottle.

Just make sure you are up-wind when you spray that stuff.

I don't think anybody could provide better advice than that posted by N8ly -- except maybe for Cecil's dynamite.



I didn't measure the fish, but the knife is just over 12 inches from the end of the handle to the tip of the blade. No bobber -- just a small fathead. I filled a stringer and cast iron frying pan with these critters.

A couple more tips:

Use gold hooks, for some reason crappie love gold hooks. Also, crappie will always go up and hit a lure, most of the time while it is falling. Rarely will they go down and take one.

Personally of they are biting good I like those 1.5" tube jigs in red/white that Wallyworld sells for about $1 per 20. If you have stained water go with red/chartruse or black/green. If they are slow bitting tip them with a minnow.

Hope this helps.

Donnie

DonJovi,
Gold hooks do work great for crappie, mainly for me because they bend pretty easily allowing me to pull them right out of a snag when fishing heavy cover. Fishing in a 5 acre pond I wouldn't use them because Mr.catfish and Mrs.largemouth often times will straighten the hook.

Catmandoo,
That is an awesome looking crappie! Is that from your pond?

Hard to beat previous advice; but wanted to add that good info at this site too. Crappie.com is where I learned about pondboss.

http://crappie.com/crappie/index.php

Thanks, Ranger - it looks like they've got more BG fishing info there than other websites I've seen before.

Awwwh yes, the crappie bite well in February. They can go crazy in March/April during the spawns, more so around full moons. Jigs with one of those glittery tiny marshmellow power baits works about as well as live bait. Slow up and down action around brush. That's good cause you want to feel where the underwater brush is without getting hung up. If one hits in a certain spot around the brush, try finding another crappie lie, then return to that previous spot in 5-10 min. Pay attention to how many (reel) rounds down they like to hit at. Generally, the spot (a favored fishing hole) has something going for it and other crappie will fill in for the caught crappie. Fillet 'em, pop 'em in the microwave with margarine, lemon-pepper, and or salsa. So good, you forget it might be healthy!

Been there done that especially on lakes where the where the bugs will carry you away with a lantern. Putting the light underwater in those cases works well.

One thing to keep in mine is crappie suspend a lot.

Another crappie microwave recipe is to slather a mixture of mayonaise, mustard, and your favorite seasoning on the fillet, pop it in the microwave for a few minutes and enjoy! about half way through the process add a slice of cheddar and you have the best, fastest, easiest fish sandwich!

I like crappie and bass fillets breaded in corn meal and fried in bacon grease. :P

In my pond, I find that the crappie are schooled up and suspended in two situations:
1) Early in the year (Late March/Early April for my area)

2) In the first year when they are maybe 3-5" long

Outside of these cases, they could be anywhere in my pond.