01/05/2024
Crappies have been going in the shallower systems I've fished, but they've been wanting minnows. We can catch gills and perch on plastics, but crappies, especially better ones, want meat. Earlier in the week fish were concentrated and dropping a jig and minnow under a bobber, then letting it soak was the ticket.
Yesterday, there was a definite preference for a moving bait, so we paired up the crappies king tungsten fly and a minnow, under a bobber. Usually I prefer a pencil bobber, but for swimming a jig slowly under a leash (bobber), I like an egg-shapped or round bobber. The rounder styles don't plow water and dive like a pencil style will, and these fish required it to be moving ultra-slow. Casting and swimming even the smallest jig on a tight line was too quick. Though we caught a few stationary under pencil bobbers, for the most part, staying put was too slow.
We used the Avid Panfish in 70LXF and 73MLXF to throw those bobbers long distances and leverage crappies out of the surrounding brush. Our GX Series 1000s were spooled up with 6 # Invisix Fluorocarbon, and the whole setup worked great together.
The moving bait deal under a float was an interesting wrinkle I've seen only a few times before, and really made a difference. Moving baits under a round bobber caught more fish. Over the years I've tried to get better at listening to the fish - they're always right!
