10 Best Crappie Fishing Hacks for Beginners & Experienced Anglers

Immanuel Baranov

There is nothing like a thrill that felt while an angler got a catch. The tension of the string and the bending of the rod can start the heart-pounding of any angler no matter how many years and how many a big catch he got in his entire life. Every catch is like the first catch for any angler. However, some aggressive fish like bass and crap often sends rookies home empty-handed and frustrated.

If you are a beginner level fishing adventurist, try to catch crappie first since catching the fish requires no extensive fishing experience. Knowing only a few fishing techniques will help you catching some crappie without much effort.

Crappie fish is a Northern American fish that can be found in any freshwater ponds, rivers, and Lakes. Native to the Northern United States and Canada, this fish made their way into every freshwater stream of U.S. The abundance of this fish makes it easy to catch, then other more dominative water dwellers. Crappie fish also called “paper mouth,” because of its small thin mouth. If you push too hard and bend the rod with extreme strength, it is much possible that you end up catching a ripped mouth instead of a full fish or having an empty hook. Full-Grown crappie can be 10 inches in length and one or half a pound in weight. They are easy to catch, however tastier than any other freshwater fish. Crappies have diverged diet that’s why they can live on anything from small freshwater fish to zooplankton. They can even hunt and eat their own enemy’s eggs like northern pike, muskellunge, and walleye.

In the daylight, crappies are less active and tend to hide in submerged objects (logs or boulders) or roam around weed beds. They mostly become active in the dusk and dawn by moving into open water or towards the shore. So, if you want to have crappie while angling, you must start fishing early in the morning or after sunset.

For fishing crappie, you don’t have to bring fancy and expensive equipment with you, any basic reel or rod will do. It’s better if you take the lightweight line instead of a massive line. The primary focus should be on the bait and lures because without a good set of the lure and good bait to attract crappie it will be a total waste of time. Furthermore, we will provide you with a set of crappie fishing tips that will help you to get a good grip on crappy fishing.

10 Things to Remember When Fishing Crappie

1. Find the Crappie Habitat

The abundance of this kind of fish doesn’t mean that you can just cast your line and have crappie. It’s easy to catch crappie if you at least have some minimum information about their habitat. There are two species of crappie are widespread in the fresh water, the white and the black. Black crappie lives in deeper and clean water, than the white one, moreover they like to stay in the more relaxed area of the water. You can find them in the large ponds or in the shallow part of the lakes, where the water floor is bit muddy or sandy. Find a beautiful place to sit on and cast your line for happy fishing.

2. Crappie Fishing Techniques for the Season

There are two main seasons for crappie fishing, the summer, and the winter. In the summer, crappie roams offshore in the deep water so drifting and trolling technique would be the right one for the season. However, in the winter season, crappies are more active in the shallow water, making ultra-light spinning or fly tackle can be useful in this season. There is a crappie fishing rigging technique is popular among anglers, called “Spider Rigging.” Use this technique if you’ve some skills in crappie fishing.

3. Test the Depths

From spring to fall, crappie used to roam in different waters. They can be found in deep water as well as in the shallow water. It can vary from time to time in a single day. It would be better if you cast several rods with different depths lining. You can also measure the temperature of the water and go for cooler part of the shore for crappie fishing.

4. Fishing Time

Timing is crucial for crappie fishing. To get higher success rate, you have to abide by the timing rules. Otherwise, all the effort will be worthless, and your fishing trip becomes a sad story.

5. Fishing Bait

Fishing baits always work like a charm. Any fish will be attracted to its specific types of bait. Crappie has its kind of bait that makes them crazy. Keep your bucket full with small fishes, worms, and minnows if you want to use fresh bait to attract crappie. Other options, like artificial baits, are also ideal as crappie fishing lures. When you want to have a small budget for fishing, you can easily swap your bait with jigs or lures. Jigs are more popular among the anglers because it’s easy to use and replace; moreover, not that much pricy.

6. Fly Fishing

Fly fishing is an angling method where angler made artificial flies and cast them as a resemblance of natural fly, to lure fishes to bite the bait. Fly fishing has no comparison when it comes to crappie fishing. Crappie fish loves to catch a fly. As a result, they become the pray from the predator. This is the most popular techniques used worldwide for crappie fishing, though you need to grow proficient with this technique.

7. Spawn Time

Try to go for the spawning season for crappies. It’s more likely in the fall when crappie comes to shore for spawning. It will be highly useful for you if you go crappie fishing at that time.

8. Right Fishing Knot

Fishing for crappie will be fun; however, you have to know about making knots for the hook as well as for the lures. For example; if you want to use jigs, you must do the loop knot in the hook.

9. Keep the Line Tight

Crappie has short, thin lips, so you must keep your line tight. Otherwise, you might lose the fish. Crappies are a fighter. Therefore, you don’t have to burn too much energy to maintain a tight line.

10. Don’t Be in a Hurry

Angling is a patient sport. If you are too aggressive than the crappie, you should leave angling. Crappies are in the area, and you know it then slow down and wait for the right moment.

These ten tips are the summation of worldwide crappie catcher’s experience. If you are a good learner, next time when you go for crappie fishing you won’t be disappointed. Always try to keep intact the natural habitats of crappie, while fishing them. Avoid unnecessary damages to the species, because they are unique and also a good source of protein.