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Old School Crappie Fishing Family Secrets One of the most difficult and sometimes frustrating things that a new or experienced crappie angles find when trying to identify what are good tips to catch crappie is the “what” “when” “where” and “how” When selecting the best bait for crappie fishing. We as fisherman know on any given day we can come up empty handed. If we don’t catch any crappie we will start asking ourselves what did I do wrong today? What tackle for crappie fishing should I of used? Of course as you become a more experienced fisherman there are some intangibles when fishing that are simply out of our control and should be noted as such. The Trick good old Mother Nature plays on us from time to time is a prime example. The key to becoming a more consistent crappie fisherman is learning tips to catch crappie that are manageable. In the following paragraphs I am going to identify some very simple guidelines that I think you can use to determine how to catch crappie at your local fishing hole. Guideline #1 Visit your local State Department of Natural Resources and your local bait shops to get some valuable fishing information about the crappie population in your area. You need to find out what type of crappie fishing rigs are being used to catch fish. You need to find out the average size of the fish being caught and if any larger crappies are being caught. You need to find out what types of crappie jigs are best, what size and what color. The color doesn’t mater as much as matching the size and the to the forage fish that crappies are eating, such as crappie minnows. You Can verify very quickly what the fish are eating after you catch a few and check the contents of their stomachs. Based on what you find you can adjust your crappie rigging and crappie baits accordingly. Guideline #2 Spring is the most active time of year for the crappie species. Get your crappie minnow rigs and your arsenal of jigs for crappie ready because the crappie fish will be active! Crappie will start spawning when the water temperature reaches about 56degrees Fahrenheit. The crappies will be eating large adult crappie minnows right before the spawn because their natural forage fish do not spawn until later in the spring and summer when the water temperature rises to above 70degrees Fahrenheit. So if your wondering what crappie baits to choose keep in mind that the early spring crappie and the fish on the spawning nests will be eating larger forage fish. You can verify this information but cutting open the stomachs of a few fish and example the contents. Another important tip to catch crappie is the fact that nesting crappie hate any fish invading their nesting areas. You can use this to your advantage because these fish will “strike out at any thing that invades there nesting area. Guideline #3 In the summer months you will be able to use crappie fishing rigs ranging in size from 1/64oz to 1/4oz depending on the size of fish you plan to target. The majority of the crappie fish’s diet will consist of adult & and recently hatched forage fish fry. You can adjust your crappie minnow rigs based on the size of fish you plan to target. The smaller fish will be feeding on the fry so choose a crappie bait to match the size of the fry. A choice of about 1/64oz would be good here. If you are going after slabs then adjust your crappie rigging accordingly. A bait for crappie selection of 1/8oz to 1/4oz would be a great choice here. As in the other guidelines you can verify your sizes by checking the content of the stomachs of the fish you catch. Guideline #4 Special fishing situations will need special crappie rigging preparation. There are only two common situations that I will talk about here. The first is how to catch crappie if the water is very muddy or stained. There are some very easy tips to catch crappie you can use here. Crappies have very good eye site and outstanding hearing. If you come across situations where the water is stained and muddy, then you need to dress up your crappie baits to hone in on the crappies good hearing because there line of sight will very limited. Attach some shiny rotating blades to your line just about the hooks. Then attach a line rattle. A crappie will zone in on the noise of the rattle and then it gets close the crappie will see and go after the rotating blade thinking it is a wounded crappie fishing minnow. If the water is extremely clear you will need to use a very small diameter line, fire line is good for this application. You will need to sharpen up your crappie bait imitation skills. You will need to use crappie rigging, and crappie baits in the 1/64oz to 1/32oz sizes.
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Mark Fleagle is an Expert Author At Ezinearticles.com. and has over 30 years of fishing experience who has written 100's of useful fishing articles. Would you like to max out your catch on your next fishing trip? Blow your fishing buddies out of the water and get your bragging rights today! Also don't forget to get your free copy of "78 Fishing Discoveries Unleashed" www.oldfishinghole.com
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