Crappie experts - need your advice please

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TritonGlenn

TritonGlenn

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I recently received a few "Crappie Poles" - Shakespeare Ugly Stik Crappie Poles to be exact. They are 8' models - USCR80 is the number on them. The handles are like Tennessee handles - graphite rings that just slide back and forth over the length of the solid rear grip. I was thinking "cool.... ultralight spinning". But then I noticed the guides - They are CASTING guides, not spinning. Do I just use small ultralight spin-cast reels on these, or am I missing something here?



How about these:

http://www.shakespeare-fishing.com/index_reels.html



I love to fish for crappie, bluegill, and such, but have always done so with little 4'6" and 5" ultralight spinning setups. This 8" crappie pole is new business to me, and I would appreciate any inputs.



All the best,

Glenn
 
Glenn, I may be wrong, but these might be something like a doodling rod. I think you merely reach the length of the rod and place your bait versus casting the bait. Does this make any sense? I know what I mean, but don't know how to explain it. Like I said, I may be wrong. Beck
 
Beck,

I'm fairly certain that you are right. I don't think I could cast with something this light of an action coupled with it's length. I watched some guys down in Florida fishing crappie jigs called "Striker Jigs" on poles similar to this, but they didn't even have reels on them - just a short length of line.



I would suppose, since I won't be reeling much line up anyway, that I could use most any ultralight reel, as it's basically only going to be used for line storage for the most part.



I have enough of them that I may try a few different setups and see what I like the best - small baitcaster looking reel, spincast, spinning, underspin, etc... until I find something I like.



Thanks!

All the best,

Glenn
 
Mine are rigged with very small baitcasters that I "believe" i bought at Gander Mountain. I am sure the reels are available at all the "biggies". By the way, I use some as slip bobber rigs and some are just for "jigging". Spooled up with 4lb Trilene Maxx.. (I believe).
 
Glenn,



Yep, pretty sure the way you use the rod is as explained. You just "place" your bait where you want it off the side of the boat/bank.



A friend of mine loves to crappie fish, and he has a couple of telescoping poles that extend to 10' just for that purpose. The poles don't even have a reel on them. You catch something and you hand-line it in. Kind of an updated cane pole, lol. On the other poles he uses for crappie fishing he has small spincast reels on them. Good luck with your new poles and hope you catch something. :)
 
Glenn,The little underslung spincast work well.Alot of people kind of do an underhand pitch with those rods.That way you get more distance than the length of the pole.I think the reel # from Zebco 11. Good luck.
 
Glenn,



They are made for the little baitcast looking reels. A lotof people use them for slow trolling crankbaits, jigs and spider rigging., not really for casting. Kind of like a slow power type real. You could also put an underspin or small ultra light and use them for jigging or doodling. I personally use an 8' fly rod and ultra lights for this method. Hope this helps.



Tim
 
The only problem I know of with the underspin is, that it is easy to accidentally hit the lever handle during a hook set. This will then release the line and the fish is gone. This especially happens if your trolling using a rod holder when you go to retrieve the pole.
 
Thank you all very much for responding. I greatly appreciate all the help and advice.



I really like the way those little mini-baitcasters look, so I'm definitely going to try those out.



Carl - yep. I know exactly what you are saying in regards to the under-spin reels... but they are so much fun, ain't they?! :) I own a couple of the larger ones that my wife uses, and she likes them as well, so I definitely have to pick up at least one of the mini versions of those.



All the best,

Glenn
 
Here's a tip for all crappy fishermen:)

My buddy and I have come up with technique that produces slabs when the bite slows or there is little to no wind. It is also a deep water system that absolutely works!

We call it "jigglin" :cool:

Use your standard slip bobber system with a minnow but we have found that the styrofoam bobbers work better and having just enough split shots to keep just the painted area on the bobber above water.

Slowwwly pull the bobber with the rod tip down a few inches and while the bobber is leaning in the pull, give it a few small twiches while pulling and it will make it dance in their face and they just can't stand that! Cadence will have to be expeimented with. Sometimes they want it in place(dance) and sometimes they really want it movin'...it makes the minnow swing higher. Sometimes this is the only way they will bite.

Try it....JIGGLE EM" UP!;)
 
Tee, sounds similar to our favorite technique, except we use jigs and no minnows. I call it the redneck float n fly! It really works well in the spring when they are moving up to spawn. Set the float anywhere from 18 inches to 6' depending on where they are holding, cast it out, twitch it, and slowly reel. Stop the reel and pop it good. Usually when you pop it they answer back. When they pop it set the hook. For some reason it seams to catch a lot of nice bass too!?!?! It also works good in the winter when you find them suspended in the creeks 5 to 6 feet down eating shad. I have caught them doing this when I used my boat to break the thin sheet of ice out and throw back in my trail and caught fish immediately!!



Tim
 
Fun isn't it?;)

Our crappie up here in Ohio at Caesers (at least the good ones) are caught between 8 to 15 ft. It has a lot of deeeeep timber.
 
Do you ever use the Berkley Crappie nibbles on your jigs? I've seen days when the out fish a plain jig 5 to 1. I rarely crappie fish without them. We don't have any timber here. An occasional stump and plenty of brushpiles, but lots of crappies. Where you at in Ohio? My family is from the Middletown and my sister lives in Ohio City.



Tim
 
Yes..if I'm fishin' a small grub or tube especially early in the year when the water is real cold...I'll tip them with wax worm or Crappie Nibbles to enhance the bait. IT works.

I'm just NE of Dayton here at WPAFB:cool:
 
I use all of the above except no minnows (90 percent of the time). A 1" or 2" BPS Squirmin Squirt is my bait of choice. Or a Bailey's Magnet. Tipping with live bait is a good way to get the stubborn ones to bite. Any power bait will help too.



Tee you sure are right about moving vs. sitting still. I let the fish tell me what they want. It is amazing at times how they will only hit it one way. At times you can call the bite before it happens. :)



 
Mini's the "Crappie Whisperer"......except he rarely whispers,.......it's more like a "BITE IT!! BEEEEEyotch!" :blink::rolleyes:;);)
 
Man! I wanna go crappie fishing now! :lol:



I was just thinking back to my younger years when a friend of mine and I used to go fishing on the local golf course. Our bait of choice? The meat part of a strip of bacon! We would pull off a little "bite-sized" piece and thread it onto a hook. Think of it - meat, salty to begin with, little bit of white fat attached.... Perfect crappie bait. Total cost was cheap too. We could fish for a week on one pack of cheap bacon. :p



All the best,

Glenn
 
I used to use bacon a ton when I was a kid. Especially on golf courses. We would wade in the water to get golfballs and then sell them to the local 7-11 owner. We would get a slurpee, a pack of bacon and some nightcrawlers with our money....oh yea, we would also take a few packets of salt with us to get the leeches off.



I look back now at it and the times I did it the rivers and lakes were so polluted around here (prior to the clean water act of 1972).....its a wonder I am not brain damaged :) I know that is entirely open to individual assesment....lol



 
Thats a true story! Well at least when fishing....lol
 
Just bought 4 this weekend at Academy. They are jigging poles, for the most part - as reported above. I bought two 8' and two 10' ones. Really nice for getting next to/into brush and bridge pilings.



By the way, I'll post up (in a few minutes), a link to Texas Fishing Forum. Pretty good site with 23,000+ members. Lot's of information there. Pretty good Crappie board on there, and likely a good LM board also (just haven't browsed there as yet). Lot's of buy/sell stuff also.



Tex
 
Sounds like Mini and I would put a real whoopin on them slabs!!



Tim
 
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