Hidden Fishing Tips

Today, I am going to focus in on the top three (3) crappie baits to cast out there for these delicious fish. But to shed a little background light on the subject, crappie are a small panfish that mostly feed on small minnows and bait fish. So as we go through these crappie baits, keep that in mind; a bait that is 1 to 3 inches long is likely going to work much better for crappie than a bait that is 5 inches or longer (like you might use when going after big mouth bass).

Live Crappie Baits

The most effective live bait to use when crappie fishing is the live minnow. Minnows that are 1 to 2 inches long work best for the small panfish, and will yield some excellent results.

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If you really want to catch large catfish, and lots of them, you need to learn how to go catfish jugging. This type of fishing has produced more catfish for me than any other method of catfishing (except “telephoning” them, which I have never done, only heard about). So let me just give you a quick breakdown of exactly how to go about preparing and setting your jug lines to catch the maximum amount of catfish.

1. Get the Right Catfish Jugging Gear

So if you want to go catfish jugging like me, go out and get you some one quart, square jugs from your local outdoor store. While you’re there, pick up some heavy twine, some large barrel swivels, and some 9/0 hooks. I know that sounds like a large hook, and it is, but you are going to be going after the larger fish (just wait a minute and I’ll explain).

2. Get the Right Catfish Jugging Bait

The best catfish bait for getting the large fish is shad or perch. I have had success with both. But I tend to lean more toward perch, as I have just seen some great results fishing with this bait. So I’ll go out and catch the perch alive, take a fillet knife, and cut 2/3 of a fillet down only one side of the perch.

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An excellent technique indeed, night crappie fishing can sometimes out-do regular daytime crappie fishing. There is a distinction between crappie and some other game fish out there, and that is the way they see. Crappie are able to see colors fairly well, so you can use that to your advantage at night. But let me show you some key things you can use for some successful night crappie fishing.

1. Make sure you have good lively bait

If you have a live well, this isn’t much of a problem. But if you don’t, you can just get you a small clip on battery operated floating aerator for $20-$30 from your local outdoors store or Wal-Mart. These will come with a cord and two clips to hook up to your 12 volt battery(ies).

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Although it may not be the first thing that enters into your mind when you think about crappie fishing, but crappie trolling can be an extremely viable method of finding the crappie. Because crappie are a schooling fish, if you can find one, it is very likely that you can find the rest of them. So let’s look into one method of making this happen.

Crappie Trolling, Getting Setup

When you are preparing to start crappie trolling, be sure to have several poles on hand. You can decide how many, but I would recommend at least four for a good start. Have several different weights on hand, from 1/4 ounce up to 3/4 of an ounce. Make sure you have some good crappie jigs ready to go as well. I would recommend having lighter colors to start with like green or white, with a green or red jig head.

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Anybody who is interested in catfishing will be interested in catfish rigs. There are a tremendous number of them out there, so instead of me trying to tell you about each and every one of them, instead I am going to show you a couple of basic rigs, and the knots used to tie them with.

The Deep Catfish Rig

You can get real fancy with some of the rigs out there, but I have found that using a good sturdy weight, and attaching it to the end of the line, instead of the hook on the end of the line, works out much better as far as avoiding snags goes. So take a good one ounce or so weight, tie it on to the end of the line with a palomar knot, and the tie on your hook about 12-18 inches up from the end of the line.

At this height, tie a dropper loop into the line to hold your hook and leader line. You can use a wired leader to keep the line attaching to your hook from getting wrapped around the line that attaches to your weight if you wish.

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