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.

One key thing here is to try to keep them as lively as possible. You can buy small aerators at your local Wal-Mart or outdoor store for $20-$30. But if necessary, you might even buy a second aerator, just to move as move oxygen around in your bait bucket as you possibly can.

When you are rigging up for live crappie bait minnows action, use a small hook, and hook the bait up through the bottom lip, and out the top lip. This will keep the bait right side up and will allow it to look natural in the water.

Crappie Jigs

If you have little or no experience using crappie lures, I highly recommend starting off with marabou jigs. For just pennies per lure, you can have the most time tested, crappie producing lure ever. I would buy them in the 1/32 to 1/16 (perhaps even as big as 1/8) ounce jig size. Stick to lighter colors in the beginning, whites, greens and yellows are good starter colors.

Take them out to your fishing spot, then let them down to the bottom, and “jig” them (bounce them up and down) off the bottom, the reel up some, a repeat the process until you have pulled in all the line. This will allow to work the different depths, and you can find about how far down the fish are.

Crappie Baits: Soft Plastic Lures

If you are looking to use a bassassin or plastic worm, it can work, but the lure needs to be small. Try to get sizes of less than 3 inches long, and couple that with a jig head that is 1/8 ounce or less. Your worm style should be that of a grub, sassy shad, small worm or styles that resemble shad or minnows. Stay with the lighter colors in the beginning, and as you get confidence with a particular style and size, you can look at some of the darker colors when the water is stained, and the light colors aren’t working.

So that is three strong crappie baits you can use at your local fishing hole. So let me know what you think, and I’ll be back soon with more great crappie fishing tips.

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.

This will get the bait bleeding, but yet it is still alive. Sometimes I will leave a fresh, live perch on the line, after I have done the 2/3 fillet on some of them. This combines scent with live bait in the water. And let me tell you, when you have a dozen or two lines out there, with some blood and live perch, you are setting yourself up for success.

3. Find the Right Catfish Jugging Locations

Along with getting the right gear, and the right bait, you need to find the right locations. The best locations are within a set of stumps, along the edge of a drop off point or an old river bed within a lake. Catfish tend to like soft, sandy or muddy bottoms as opposed to rock bottoms, but they do like to scavenge around cover areas or large rocks, etc.

One other thing you can do is consult a topographical map of the area you are fishing and look for spots that are known to be good catfishing spots.

4. Go Catfish Jugging

Once you have the right gear, bait, and scoped out your locations, it’s time to go get ‘em. Get out there in a good aluminum or flat bottom boat that you don’t mind getting beat up a bit, troll through the stump areas, set your jug lines, and tie them off to the stumps.

Get your jug lines set in order, so you can easily come back through and check them later. Then go back to shore, wait a couple of hours, and come back and check / re-bait the lines. Trust me, it works!

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).

2. Find a likely spot for crappie

There are several things that are involved here, like using topographical maps and fish finders, but in general, if you can find an area with excellent cover for the crappie, and there are bait fish in the water, you stand a good chance to catch crappie.

3. Use a light to attract bait fish

Using a submerged green light can really pull in the bait fish, which will in turn, pull in game fish. If you can get a light that submerges down to about five feet, then you stand a much better chance of catching night crappie. Also, there is a product called a crappi candle, which is a light that actually attaches to fishing line, and sheds light directly on your bait! Pretty neat concept, and it works.

4. Chum up the water you will be fishing

Using very small cut up bait fish like blue gill and minnows, and pouring out all the blood and pieces into the water, you can create a scent that will help to attract the crappie. Once you have the light and chum in place, you can wait for about a half hour (or you can begin immediately if your prefer) and then start fishing. Start off about a foot or two from the bottom, right around the edges of the light. Then pull the line up foot by foot until you start getting some strikes.

Well, those are some great starter tips for night crappie fishing. So get on out there and start catch some fish.

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.

Once you have your equipment lined out, get a topographical map of the area you want to fish, and look for structure changes, break points, and areas of cover. These areas are the more likely to hold fish. Then, grab the boat and the gear, set different weights on different lines so that you can fish some deep, some shallow, and some in between, and start trolling the areas you have laid out.

The Crappie Trolling Key

So here’s the key. Once you catch a crappie, you need to stop the boat. It is extremely unlikely to find a crappie all alone. So take the one fish that you have caught, and hook him on the end of one of your lines by the tail. Then give him plenty of line, and attach a bobber many feet (maybe 10 to 15 feet) above him.

The crappie that you have caught will inevitably swim back to the school, and because you are tracking him, he will lead you right to the rest of the fish. Give him plenty of line, and as slowly as possible, troll up onto the school of crappie and go fishing.

Once you have fished out the area, then just go to another area, and begin the process all over again. Now, I’ll encourage you, if you want to really get successful at this over time, to mark the spots on your topographical map or in a computer or GPS system, and record the date, time, weather conditions and water temperature. If you build a steady library of these statistics over time, you can become a tremendous fisherman, who rarely goes out without catching fish.

If you want to know more, check out these 7 great crappie tips.

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.

If you are fishing with shad or perch catfish bait and are looking for big catfish, use an 8/0 or 9/0 circle hook. You’ll find that the hook setting is a lot better and the fish will be less likely to straighten or otherwise escape you once it has been hooked.

If you are using chicken livers, worms, or dip baits and going after smaller channels or other catfish, then you can use a smaller hook, a number 2 all the way up to a 2/0 would be sufficient for this case.

The Shallow Catfish Rig

If you are looking to fish shallow, get some good catfish bobbers, put a bobber stop 2 to 3 feet from the hook (or however deep you are wanting to fish), just above the bobber itself, and then add a split shot or two between the bobber and hook, and follow the same guidelines as above for which hook to use depending on the bait and desired catfish types and sizes you are wanting to catch.

The Palomar Knot

In my opinion, this is the best knot available for attaching a hook, weight, etc. to the end of the line. It is simple to tie, and seldom ever has a problem with being pulled loose. Generally speaking, you’ll snap the line before this knots unravels.

Here’s a video to show you exactly how to tie the palomar knot.

The Dropper Loop

When you are looking to tie on a hook or weight above the end of the line, you’ll need some kind of loop in the line to attach to. The dropper loop is a great way to create this loop to tie to. Here’s a video to show you exactly how to tie it.

So that’s it. Again, you really don’t need complicated catfish rigs to get the job done. Just a simple weight and/or bobber with a sturdy hook and the right catfish bait, and you are good to go. So go out there and catch fish!

The ideal water temperature for bass spawning is 63 to 70 degrees.

But, the smart anglers will begin their spring fishing season when the water temperature is cooler than this, perhaps in the 58 to 60 degree range, as the bass will be in the pre-spawn, and will be preparing their nests for spawning activity.

Where to Find the Bass Spawn

While water temperature is warming, but cooler than ideal for the spawn, the male bass will be in search of proper nesting areas. They will look for shallow areas, maybe only 1-4 feet deep, with good cover surroundings like bulrush patches, weeds, or lilies. They are looking for consistent bottom structure, they won’t often build a nest close to a drop off or other structure change. They also want the bottom to be firm, they don’t like thick silt areas, they want to be able to lay their eggs and not have them be buried by runoff deposits, etc.

Also, during the bass spawn the fish are very territorial. If they can spot another nest close by, they will move on and look for another area. Thus in good spawning areas, you’ll probably find nests that are about 25 to 30 feet away from each other.

Once the male finds a good spot, he’ll fan the spot to try and remove as much debris as possible. This will leave a small saucer like depression in the bottom, one which is fairly easy to spot in the shallow water.

Pending the influence of harsh changes in weather (which will delay the bass spawn), the bass will typically spawn when water temperatures are in the 63-68 degree range. A nest that hatches may produce 2k-10k worth of new fry. Of these, maybe only 5 or so bass will reach the 10 inch mark, the others will be eaten by other fish or die of some other cause. Once they are about 1 inch long, the male bass will leave the fry, and may even begin to feed on them.

So just to reiterate, the bass spawn usually occurs when water temperatures are around 63 to 68 degrees. Just before the water reaches these temperatures, you’ll find bass in the shallows, and they will be feeding heavily, to make sure they have enough food to make it through the spawn, and to recuperate and hatch their fry. So when water temperatures are in the high 50s, make sure you are out there fishing for bass!

Using the Right Catfish Bait

So once you have located the fish, now it is time to bait them up. Selecting the right catfish bait is really not that difficult. If you are fishing for larger catfish, use shad or perch. If you really want to go after large flathead (yellow) catfish, then use live perch, and drift fish or setup on the bottom. If you want to catch the big blue catfish, use live shad wherever possible.

I’ll note that live shad and live perch are difficult to keep alive for long periods of time, so you’ll be changing out your bait frequently. But no problem, just keep the bait that dies, you can re-use it later as cut bait, or just slice it open and let the blood and guts put the scent in the water to draw in the big fish.

Now, if you are looking for fast action, or don’t mind pulling in the smaller fish, use the other catfish baits. The two baits that I have found to be extremely effective are chicken livers and blood bait. They are soft baits, and provide a lot of scent in the water. As they sit on the bottom, the blood and perhaps small pieces of the bait will break off, and provide a sort of “trail” in the water that catfish can follow to draw them to your hook.

Some Gear Suggestions for How to Catch Catfish

No fishing guide is complete without gear recommendations. My recommendations are simple, get you a good medium to heavy weight rod, get a spinning or bait casting reel with a large spool that is capable of handling a lot of line, say 250-300 yards at least. If you do find yourself fighting a huge catfish, you don’t want him to pull you down to the knot, and snap the line. Reels that can hold 500 yards or more of line are great to have on board.

Lastly are hooks. Probably the best hooks to use are larger circle hooks, and treble hooks. I prefer the circle hook myself, just because it does a great job of hooking the fish, and you don’t have to deal with getting 2 or 3 barbs out of the fish. But treble hooks have a purpose, especially if you are fishing with chicken livers, blood baits, or dip baits, they can really help to keep the bait on the hook, and they will hook a catfish.

Until next time, go out there, catch some fish, then come back here and post your comments and feed back on how this website has helped you to catch more and bigger fish!

There are two things that contribute probably 80-90% of your catfishing success. And they are fishing in areas where catfish are, and using the right catfish bait. That may seem elementary, but it really is the most important thing. The gear that you use, the time of year, weather conditions, and other things play a role in your catfishing experience, but when it comes right down to it, if you aren’t using the right bait and fishing in an area where catfish are located, you just won’t catch fish.

Finding the Catfish

This is the hardest task when it comes to how to catch catfish. This is where seasonal changes and weather conditions play a role. Now catfish aren’t as seasonal as other fish, they feed continuously, and they grow to be enormous. But there are some things you can use to help you find the fish.

First, you need to find areas that have bottom structure changes, current breaks, and cover. Particularly useful are areas that have submerged trees (often called stumps, or a stump area). Deep or shallow really doesn’t matter much to the catfish, they just like to scavenge for food in areas where there are trees.

Another good location to find are channel areas, places where there is a shallow water, then a deep drop off. These are excellent points to drift fish or troll, working the edges of the drop off.

Points are another good location. Fish the points around the breaks. Use topographical maps to assist you in finding the specific points an drop off areas.

Last, use technology. Use fish finders to help you locate schools of fish. Once you find an area that is successful fishing, log it in your GPS along with the time of year and weather conditions. Build up a catalog with this information, then you’ll know exact spots to fish the next year.

That’s it for today. Stay tuned in to tomorrow as I take you through more details on how to catch catfish. In this next part, I am going to go over the baits that work for types of catfishing, and some gear recommendations. It will be a fun ride, and I am sure that it will help you to become a better catfish fisherman.

I have personally seen a jug a line where a large catfish straightened an Eagle Claw 9/0 circle hook (that’s a pretty big hook). It was our estimation that the fish was at least 40 to 50 pounds to be able to straighten a hook of that size. How did we do it? Let’s take a look at some of these catfishing tips.

Jug Fishing

Probably the premier way to go catfishing, when you set a couple of dozen jug lines out for catfish, you stand a very good chance of catching fish. Use live or dead shad or perch when you are fishing this method, as the larger catfish tend to hit this bait a lot more often.

In general, the larger the bait the better. We often use shad that in the 5 to 6 inch long range, and perch that are about that same size. And trust me when I say that a 10 pound catfish can take a 6 inch perch without any problems at all.

Drift Fishing

This is another good way to go when you are seeking the larger catfish. In this scenario, I recommend that you use live bait wherever possible. Live shad tend to die quickly, and if you are fishing with shad, just make sure to change them out often. A good live perch will do well in this type of environment.

Get you a good, solid, heavy weight and secure it to the end of your line. The tie on a hook about 2 to 3 feet above the weight. This will keep the live perch or shad off the bottom, but close enough to the bottom to be swimming right in front of the face of the catfish.

Try to drift across bottom structure changes like drop off points and old river beds. Anywhere the habitat changes considerably is a good potential spot to find fish.

Set It and Forget It

The traditional way to rod and reel for catfish. In this case you will find a good spot to throw your line in, and you will setup in one spot, and let your bait sit on the bottom, or under a cork until something comes through to grab it. If you are really want to catch fish quickly, use catfish bait like chicken livers or blood bait to stir up the catfish quickly.

These types of bait will tend to yield smaller fish than using shad or perch, but the action will be faster. For the most part, any area that is populated with fish will have more smaller fish than it will big fish. But don’t think you’ll only catch fry sized catfish on livers and blood bait. I was on a retreat recently and caught a nice 3 pound catfish on a chicken liver. It put up 4 or 5 runs on me before I got it in. It was an exciting fight.

Good areas to setup include stump filled areas, drop off points, edges of bulrushes, underneath or beside fallen tree limbs, rocks, and other places where the bottom structure changes or where currents break. Set your bait on the bottom, and wait for the fish to come in.

Crappie Rod Length

When you are thinking about the length of the crappie fishing rod you need, think long. When you are fishing crappie, you are usually going to be using a vertical jigging technique (often with crappie jigs) to attract the fish. So if you have a long, lightweight, sensitive rod then you can easily move the bait around as you are jigging. This will provide better action for your crappie lures, and give you a better chance at catching the fish.

I would consider at least a 6 foot rod, and possibly going all the way up to a 10 foot pole. This length of rod is going to get you out there where the fish hangout, under brush and cover in the water. Then you can commence jigging in a location that is much closer to where the fish are.

Types of Crappie Rods

There are 3 main types of rods to consider when looking for a crappie rod. Those 3 are the telescoping rod, the sectioned rod and the fixed rod.

The telescoping rod is very compact, and you can quite possibly get your entire rod and reel combination to fit within a tackle box or action packer. This is especially nice if you are taking the family or friends out, and need to haul a lot of fishing tackle. The disadvantage is if you are fishing, and the rod closes up accidentally on you.

The sectioned rod is the one most often seen in stores, and it can be broken down to help in transportation. This rod doesn’t have any problem folding up on you, but it may twist on you, depending on how aggresive you are fishing.

The last is the fixed rod, and it is the best for fishing. But the obvious downside is that because it doesn’t fold up in any way, hauling it around may be challenging. But once you get to your spot, it is nearly maintenance-free.

So the bottom line here is, when you are looking to go crappie fishing, and need a good crappie rod, think lightweight, long, and whether convenience of travel or ease of maintenance is more important to you. Once you have those points ironed out, then go shopping. My opinion still is that the Shakespeare Ugly Stik is the best rod out there, but Berkley’s Lightning rod is certainly good as well.