Trying to figure it out

[Blacklab]

I have a local lake that I can be fishing in 30 minutes.  Trying to learn the Croppie and it’s just making me nuts. Going to give it another try at the crack of dawn tomorrow we’ll see what happens but dang show me some some love once in a while 😂😂😉🥃

[Timberstalker]

Have you tried trolling with a small plug?

[Blacklab]

very little waiting for the water to warm up a little,

[Crunchy]

Yellow and white and red and white crappy jigs tipped with a little bit or worm or maggot.  I usually float them under a bobber about 5 feet below unless the fish are deep then no float.

[BigGoonTuna]

if they're suspended at a reasonable depth, a tube jig under a slip bobber is killer.   tip it with a crappie nibble, and give it a twitch every so often.

[Norman89]

For me in my area jigs tube jigs worms and bobbers crappie nibbles wax worms berkley alive minnow all do well on the numbers game, but the bruisers and pan fryers almost exclusively come with super slow trolling rapala micro raps and that's year round in the shallow lakes

[Blacklab]

Thanks fellas 

[Blacklab]

Well it was another swing an a miss. Caught two trout on a bandit 300😂 Gave them to my neighbor. Won’t be going out till maybe next week. Dana and I went to Merwin yesterday her second time on the new boat. We each caught a kokanee great time.

[Angry Perch]

Well it was another swing an a miss. Caught two trout on a bandit 300😂 Gave them to my neighbor. Won’t be going out till maybe next week. Dana and I went to Merwin yesterday her second time on the new boat. We each caught a kokanee great time.

Funny. I've been trying to get them dialed in on a local lake as well, and have a few Bandit 300's coming this week. Not that they are any different than the bazillion crankbaits I already have (Thanks Skillet!) but buying tackle is half the fun of fishing!

[Kc_Kracker]

usually for crappie i used micro Gitzit jigs under a bobber with a maggot tip, and you gotta twitch them things or crappie ignore it

[Angry Perch]

usually for crappie i used micro Gitzit jigs under a bobber with a maggot tip, and you gotta twitch them things or crappie ignore it

That works great once you find them, but isn't a very effective way of finding them.

[gaddy]

Jigging around structure ? Around O'sullivan and lower lakes we always targeted submerged rock out croppings or next to brush lines extending into the lake that dropped off. New a guy that would toss a small dark fly with a split shot or a small weighted jig along O'sullivan dam and killed them. This time of year, are they staging for the spawn and shallower ? Maybe try along the cat tails next to a sandy bank ? When you find them, document time of year, water temps and patterns etc. so you can nail them next year as well.

[Axle]

Catching crappie is an art. Tipping a jig with a maggot is an awesome art. Locating them and fishing them at the 'right' time is an art that takes years to learn.
It's easy to grow maggots. It stinks but it's worth it!
I just put a few thousand maggots in the fridge this week.
I usually catch thousands of crappie and put a few dozen of them in the freezer. You can only eat so many. No reason to let them go to freezer burn and then throw them out. I've seen this too many times. Same goes with any fish. Don't keep more than you can eat. Freezer shelf life is short.
Have a great time on the lake and enjoy the crappie!

[PolarBear]

Blakemore Roadrunner jigs with some scent or live crickets.  It' too bad we can't use minnows as bait here.  Had over 100 fish days targeting crappie with them in another state.  January-March are awesome times to find them schooled up and hungry.

[Kc_Kracker]

usually for crappie i used micro Gitzit jigs under a bobber with a maggot tip, and you gotta twitch them things or crappie ignore it

That works great once you find them, but isn't a very effective way of finding them.

that should be easy, right now they are spawning and not schooled up, they should be within 20' of the bank everywhere