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John N. Felsher's Crappie Fishing Adventures
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Tempting slab
crappies with
spinnerbaits
crappies with
spinnerbaits
Jimmy Houston, a
professional bass
angler from
Cookson, Okla.,
and the long-time
host of the popular
“Jimmy Houston
Outdoors”
television show
admires a large
crappie he caught
on a spinnerbait.
professional bass
angler from
Cookson, Okla.,
and the long-time
host of the popular
“Jimmy Houston
Outdoors”
television show
admires a large
crappie he caught
on a spinnerbait.
Sunlight glinting off the silver spinning blade attracted the attention of a
fish as the lure bounced off a submerged branch. Hiding in the brush, the
fish rose to engulf the morsel with its cavernous mouth.
“That’s a huge crappie,” said Jimmy Houston, a professional bass
angler from Cookson, Okla., and the long-time host of the popular “Jimmy
Houston Outdoors” television show. “It’s about a 2.5-pounder. I’ve caught
quite a few crappies over 2 pounds and some very close to 3 pounds, but
I’ve never quite broken that 3-pound barrier yet.”
The panfish equivalent of catching a 15-pound bass, boating a crappie
exceeding 3 pounds rarely happens, but it does occur. Officially, the black
crappie world record stands at 4.5 pounds, a fish caught in Kerr Lake, Va.,
on March 1, 1981. Fred L. Bright landed the official world record white
crappie, a 5-pound, 3-ounce fish he caught at Enid Dam Lake, Miss., on
July 31, 1957.
Lettie Robertson pulled a 6-pound crappie from the Westwego Canal
near New Orleans in November 1969, but at that time, Louisiana record
keepers did not differentiate between black and white crappies so the exact
species of her monster remains a mystery.
A largemouth bass in the 1- to 3-pound range eats essentially the
same forage as a crappie of similar size. Although a crappie might slurp an
occasional crawfish off the bottom or munch some other creature, crappies
mainly stick to fishy diets. Both bass and crappies feed heavily upon
threadfin shad, shiners, minnows and other small fish. They even eat fry
and fingerlings of each other. Since they feed upon the same forage as
bass, large crappies frequently hit bass lures.
“Really large crappies hit large baits, just like bass,” Houston said. “It
takes a lot to fill them both up. Big crappies hit spinnerbaits, crankbaits or
even large plastic worms. As a crappie gets larger, it eats bigger and
bigger things. With a large bait, anglers might not get quite as many bites,
but they’ll usually catch bigger fish.”
Since both bass and crappies feed heavily upon shad, baits that
simulate wounded shad should attract attention from either species.
Streamlined features coupled with whirling and flashing blades, spinnerbaits
simulate shad. The heads of some spinnerbaits look like fish, complete with
eyes and appropriate paint jobs. In lakes with good populations of large
crappies, bass anglers often catch big crappies on spinnerbaits, but few
people intentionally fish for crappies with spinners -- unless they want to
catch monsters!
Spinnerbaits generally fall into three categories: “in-line” spinners,
“beetle or jighead” spinners and “safety-pin” lures. An in-line spinnerbait
uses a straight wire extending from the head with a blade spinning around
the core wire. A “beetle” spinner resembles a safety-pin spinnerbait, but it
usually consists of a wire harness temporarily attached to a standard lead
jighead tipped with a soft plastic “beetle.”
Most people use “safety-pin” spinnerbaits for bass or crappies. A
safety-pin spinner employs a bent “arm” that suspends one or more blades
over a usually skirt-tipped head. As in bass fishing, spinnerbaits work
exceptionally well when crappies hide in grassy or woody cover. The wire
arm deflects branches, stumps or other hard objects so safety-pin spinners
can slip through tight places that other lures cannot navigate. Big fish tend
to seek thick cover.
“Like bass, really large crappies are going to be in the thickest cover
they can find so I fish for those in the thickest cover that I can find,”
Houston said. “For crappies, I like to work spinnerbaits in thick cover with a
method I call ‘sloppy fishing.’ Let the bait roll through the brush hitting
branches, snags and other things in the way. Let it flutter down through
there banging off lots of stuff. Don’t rip it through the brush tops or slow roll
it like in bass fishing.”
For working baits in thick cover, anglers can also reel their baits
steadily back to the boat or “helicopter” them up and down by briefly
pausing during the retrieves. Some people run baits just over the tops of
submerged grass so that the baits brush the tips of grass blades and
occasionally flutter into the grass.
With any retrieve, maintain contact with the cover as much as
possible. When a spinnerbait bumps into cover, let it fall a few feet. The
blades continue to spin as the bait flutters down. That action mimics a
dying or wounded baitfish. Fish often hit baits on the fall.
Slim “willow-leaf” blades cut through grassy cover better than other blade
types. Rounded “Colorado” blades make more commotion when wobbling
through the water, thus attracting more attention in dingy or muddy
conditions. An “Oklahoma” or “Indiana” blade offers a compromise between
the two extremes, better for all-around situations. Many anglers use a
willow-leaf and a Colorado in tandem to take advantage of the attributes of
both at the same time.
As some of the oldest and most effective lures on the market, spinners
hold an honored place among anglers. While bass anglers may catch
particularly large crappies on 3/8- to 3/4-ounce spinnerbaits, anglers
specifically targeting crappies might stick to smaller temptations. Anglers
wishing for more bites should probably throw 1/32- to 1/8-ounce
spinnerbaits. For specifically targeting crappies in the 2- to 3-pound range,
anglers might use 1/8- to 1/4-ounce baits.
fish as the lure bounced off a submerged branch. Hiding in the brush, the
fish rose to engulf the morsel with its cavernous mouth.
“That’s a huge crappie,” said Jimmy Houston, a professional bass
angler from Cookson, Okla., and the long-time host of the popular “Jimmy
Houston Outdoors” television show. “It’s about a 2.5-pounder. I’ve caught
quite a few crappies over 2 pounds and some very close to 3 pounds, but
I’ve never quite broken that 3-pound barrier yet.”
The panfish equivalent of catching a 15-pound bass, boating a crappie
exceeding 3 pounds rarely happens, but it does occur. Officially, the black
crappie world record stands at 4.5 pounds, a fish caught in Kerr Lake, Va.,
on March 1, 1981. Fred L. Bright landed the official world record white
crappie, a 5-pound, 3-ounce fish he caught at Enid Dam Lake, Miss., on
July 31, 1957.
Lettie Robertson pulled a 6-pound crappie from the Westwego Canal
near New Orleans in November 1969, but at that time, Louisiana record
keepers did not differentiate between black and white crappies so the exact
species of her monster remains a mystery.
A largemouth bass in the 1- to 3-pound range eats essentially the
same forage as a crappie of similar size. Although a crappie might slurp an
occasional crawfish off the bottom or munch some other creature, crappies
mainly stick to fishy diets. Both bass and crappies feed heavily upon
threadfin shad, shiners, minnows and other small fish. They even eat fry
and fingerlings of each other. Since they feed upon the same forage as
bass, large crappies frequently hit bass lures.
“Really large crappies hit large baits, just like bass,” Houston said. “It
takes a lot to fill them both up. Big crappies hit spinnerbaits, crankbaits or
even large plastic worms. As a crappie gets larger, it eats bigger and
bigger things. With a large bait, anglers might not get quite as many bites,
but they’ll usually catch bigger fish.”
Since both bass and crappies feed heavily upon shad, baits that
simulate wounded shad should attract attention from either species.
Streamlined features coupled with whirling and flashing blades, spinnerbaits
simulate shad. The heads of some spinnerbaits look like fish, complete with
eyes and appropriate paint jobs. In lakes with good populations of large
crappies, bass anglers often catch big crappies on spinnerbaits, but few
people intentionally fish for crappies with spinners -- unless they want to
catch monsters!
Spinnerbaits generally fall into three categories: “in-line” spinners,
“beetle or jighead” spinners and “safety-pin” lures. An in-line spinnerbait
uses a straight wire extending from the head with a blade spinning around
the core wire. A “beetle” spinner resembles a safety-pin spinnerbait, but it
usually consists of a wire harness temporarily attached to a standard lead
jighead tipped with a soft plastic “beetle.”
Most people use “safety-pin” spinnerbaits for bass or crappies. A
safety-pin spinner employs a bent “arm” that suspends one or more blades
over a usually skirt-tipped head. As in bass fishing, spinnerbaits work
exceptionally well when crappies hide in grassy or woody cover. The wire
arm deflects branches, stumps or other hard objects so safety-pin spinners
can slip through tight places that other lures cannot navigate. Big fish tend
to seek thick cover.
“Like bass, really large crappies are going to be in the thickest cover
they can find so I fish for those in the thickest cover that I can find,”
Houston said. “For crappies, I like to work spinnerbaits in thick cover with a
method I call ‘sloppy fishing.’ Let the bait roll through the brush hitting
branches, snags and other things in the way. Let it flutter down through
there banging off lots of stuff. Don’t rip it through the brush tops or slow roll
it like in bass fishing.”
For working baits in thick cover, anglers can also reel their baits
steadily back to the boat or “helicopter” them up and down by briefly
pausing during the retrieves. Some people run baits just over the tops of
submerged grass so that the baits brush the tips of grass blades and
occasionally flutter into the grass.
With any retrieve, maintain contact with the cover as much as
possible. When a spinnerbait bumps into cover, let it fall a few feet. The
blades continue to spin as the bait flutters down. That action mimics a
dying or wounded baitfish. Fish often hit baits on the fall.
Slim “willow-leaf” blades cut through grassy cover better than other blade
types. Rounded “Colorado” blades make more commotion when wobbling
through the water, thus attracting more attention in dingy or muddy
conditions. An “Oklahoma” or “Indiana” blade offers a compromise between
the two extremes, better for all-around situations. Many anglers use a
willow-leaf and a Colorado in tandem to take advantage of the attributes of
both at the same time.
As some of the oldest and most effective lures on the market, spinners
hold an honored place among anglers. While bass anglers may catch
particularly large crappies on 3/8- to 3/4-ounce spinnerbaits, anglers
specifically targeting crappies might stick to smaller temptations. Anglers
wishing for more bites should probably throw 1/32- to 1/8-ounce
spinnerbaits. For specifically targeting crappies in the 2- to 3-pound range,
anglers might use 1/8- to 1/4-ounce baits.
