The Top Crappie Jigs Available

If you are just starting out, don’t buy anything else except Marabou Jigs, especially if you are on a budget. The marabou jig has produced more great crappie fishing than any other lure on the market today. Marabou jigs are comprised of a jig head, and a hair, chenille, tinsel, or feather body and tail. Start off using a 1/8 ounce or 1/16 ounce marabou in a white, yellow or green color. If need be, you may also get some in the 1/32 ounce size, just in case.

If water clarity is an issue, or if you just want to do some experimentation, consider using Rooster Tail Jigs. Rooster tail jigs are a modified version of the marabou jig. Basically, the rooster tail jig is a marabou jig with the addition of a straight shaft style spinner blade. As you might have already guessed, adding the blade to the rig can help you when there are low light levels or murky water.

Lastly, curly tail jigs can work as well. Curly tail jigs are small, soft plastic worms with a curled tail to provide action in the water. If your other jigs are not working, you might try out the curly tail. Stick with similar sizes and colors as with the marabou jigs.

Crappie Jig Colors

As aforementioned, if you are beginner, start with the basic offerings of crappie lures at your local outdoor store. White, yellow and green/chartreuse are excellent, proven colors to begin with. These colors tend to work the best with clear water, clear weather, and good lighting conditions.

If you are fishing a stained area of water, you might want to put on a darker colored jig. Consider using black, purple, or dark green or orange. This may be the time to put on the rooster tailed jig, just to get a little more reflectivity in the water.

The Crappie Jig “Technique”

The basic idea when using crappie jigs is to drop the bait straight down to an area denoted on the fish finder as having a school of fish, and jerk your rod up, and let it down slowly, bobbing the bait up and down in front of the fish. When you first hit the fishing spot, start by fishing deep, and then jig your way up toward the top of the surface, and note about what depth you were fishing when you got the strike.

Once you have determined about how deep the fish are, concentrate on that depth until the fishing slows down. Find out more crappie fishing information to give you a better chance at catching more fish.

The Crappie Jig

By far the most widely used and effective crappie lure, the crappie jig is a small chenille, hair, tinsel, or feather crafting attached to a 1/16 or 1/32 ounce painted or unpainted jig head. Often couple by a skirt of the same material, the crappie jig has been proven to catch fish over time.

The marabou jig has been the most effective jig over time. Behind it, the curly tail and rooster tail jig have been effective as well. I like using white colors the best with my crappie lures, but using chartreuse, yellow and green also work well in clear waters. If you find yourself in murky water, go for darker versions of purple, black, orange and green.

Soft Plastic Crappie Lures

A small, soft plastic lure of less than 3 inches long on a 1/8 ounce or smaller jig head is probably the second best crappie lure to throw. Stick to grubs, small worms, sassy shads, bassassins or other shad-like body styles for plastic baits. Again, I like white, but other colors like yellow, green, chartreuse, and black will work as well.

Crappie Spinnerbaits

You can also use small straight shaft or bent shaft spinnerbaits as well. Stick to small, single blade spinnerbaits with a small jig or worm. Again, stick to the basic colors mentioned above.

Crankbaits for Crappie

If you think the crappie are running deep, you can throw a small shad style or minnow style crankbait at them. Something like a 2 inch Rapala minnow or shap rap will work great with a deep running lip. Stick to basic colors like white, green, and natural shad or minnow coloring.

Crappie Flies

For the fly fisherman, you can do really well with crappie flies. Some of the better flies for crappie fishing are Crappie Candy, Clousers Or Minnow Imitations. They come in a variety of colors and styles, so just stick to good basic water color and time of year colors (as I talked about above) and you’ll do very well with these crappie lures.