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. 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.