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Hope you've been catching some big 'ol slabs! Been a cool spring temp-wise here in TX. Typically by May we're getting into summer heat, but so far the lows can't seem to get out of the 50s β how about that!
I did get to slide out to a little lake near the house that's full of black crappie and caught a bunch! Found a pile that was loaded and just cycled through baits til they just quit biting. Fun!
One thing I'll definitely be doing more of is following up my main bait with a BaitFuel NanoShad. I used a hair jig first, and when they got smart to that I wanted something with scent so they'd quit nipping at it. I put on that BaitFuel-infused NanoShad, and it was like I was fishing a new pile. Way cool man!
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If your email program cuts off the bottom of the email click "View this email in your browser" up top to see the whole thing. Sorry about that β email programs keep changing stuff!
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Your rod matters for slip corks?
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Came across an older-ish 3 Pound Fishing podcast with AL guide Eric Cagle after he won the 2020 Crappie Masters National Championship β slip-corking on the Ouachita River in LA. It has some dang good info on why a short-rod + slip cork setup works when a big fish won't react to a jig β and why slip-corking is more than some low-level technique.ο»Ώ
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ο»ΏHe was fishing a 6' rod, and his slip cork deal is something he always has ready when a big fish won't react to a jig:
> "If there's a big old fish sitting down there and I can't get her, I can usually put a slip cork down there.
> "When folks are pushing...minnows into those fish, you still have pressure on that minnow because that rod is there. When you flip a cork in there, that minnow swims more freely because all he's got is a splitshot above him.
> "He can...move like he wants to, more freely than he can if you're pushing him in there or if you've got a long rod holding him in there. He looks more natural on a slip-cork rig."
Eric likes that short 6' rod with a short handle because he fishes sitting down and doesn't want anything getting in the way when he sets the hook.
At the time, he was talking about his older signature series HH Custom Rods. Now his designs are the Dobyns E.C. Special Rod Series.
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> "I love fishing with that 6' rod. It's got a cork [handle] β I call it a TN handle. It's an 11-inch handle.
> "The eye spacing makes a big difference on these short rods [too] β where your backbone ends and your tip begins.
> "We did a lot of work on the eye spacing [on the signature series rods]. On my rod, the backbone goes all the way up to the third eye from the tip, and the rest of it's just tip.
> "When that fish is coming up to that bait, I want enough tip where I can pull back on it to feel pressure if he's got it.
> "[Crappie], especially on Grenada ...you wouldn't feel a tap. That fish would just come up behind that bait and push it at you.
> "By having a little bit of limber tip, that fish doesn't feel it when you lift that rod up. But you can feel a little bit of pressure and then you finish setting the hook on him."
Why not a long-pole for Eric
> "People are going to disagree with me, but I feel like if the fish are active and you don't have to just sit the jig on their head, I can outfish somebody with a short rod.
> "When that fish is coming at my boat, if he's inside 10' or even 30', I'm going to get more jig passes on that fish than you are with that long rod.
> "I'm going to hit him at 40', 30', 20', 10'. If he gets to 3', I can drop it right beside the boat. I don't have to pick my rod up or back it up or anything like that. I can just drop that little short rod right there on top of him, right by the boat."
How he works a fish with a slip cork
> "When that fish is coming at my boat, I will not hit my trolling motor. I'll wait until that fish gets past my boat.
> "He'll usually choose a side β go down the left or the right side of my boat. When he goes past that trolling motor, I'll let him get past just a little bit, and then I'll turn my boat and start pitching again.
> "The whole time he's going by, I'm still dropping, trying to get right on that head. I just keep working and keep working until I get him."
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How to pick out the right docks
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Yep, it's dock-shooting season, but nope, that doesn't mean every shady boat dock deserves your jig!
Every dock can look "good enough" to shoot. Mike Hayes has been shooting Lake Sinclair, GA docks since 1981, and knows which ones are worth the time and which ones to skip. Here's some dock-shooting π§ from Mike in this Outdoors News post:
> ...when water temperatures get above 70 degrees, you can start finding good schools of crappie under deep boat docks.... On that same stretch of the lake he'll also fish the deeper creeks....
> "If you know a dock that has Christmas trees or some type of brush either around or beneath it, it's a plus.... There's a couple of different ways to find these particular docks. One, look for docks that have lights on them or maybe some rodholders attached to the railings. These dock owners usually are fishermen and have some of this fish-attracting structure below their dock.
> "Another effective way to find the more productive docks...is simply by doing your homework. I've learned that there are docks that never hold crappie, sometimes hold crappie and...always hold crappie. Finding these docks helps me eliminate the non-productive docks, and I can spend more time catching fish.
> "Since crappie will sometimes change depths on a day-to-day basis you need to be able quickly pinpoint a particular pattern and then move to those specific docks where you know that pattern will be effective and you can catch fish.
> "For example, when you fish a high-pressure day the fish will go to the bottom. That's when I'll search out docks in the 10-12' range. When water is being generated the fish move up to the surface and I'll fish docks not as deep."
> Mike's advice...is to fish the areas mentioned earlier, get on the trolling motor and just go. You'll quickly find the deeper, more-shaded docks are the ones you'll get hit on most.
> You may find some docks in only a few feet of water. You'll know next time to go right on past these and to the next good dock. Take a map [or on your GPS] and take notes [or mark docks] to help you remember which docks are the more productive ones.
Here's one of the best tools if we're talkin' homework β the Humminbird One-Boat-Network App. You can sort/mark docks before you ever hit the lake, then keep track of the "never", "sometimes" and "always," docks. Do that a few trips and you're building a real dock pattern instead of just shooting every dock that looks good. Good for IOS and Android btw.
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Quick Mike shooting tip:
> "When I'm shooting a dock I like to fish it from several different angles. The fish will be facing a certain way and sometimes the crappie just want that jig presented from one side. If I know I'm fishing a good dock, I'll spend a little time and fish it from all sides until I find what the fish want."
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Do crappie folks fish hard baits enough?
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I had a recent convo with Berkley hard-bait designer Dan Spengler and it got me thinking β do we fish hard baits enough for crappies? After chewing on it, probably not.
Not saying folks need to put down the long poles or the regular jig-casting stuff. Obviously all of that catches a pile of fish and probably always will.
But I do think sometimes we get so locked into "crappie baits" that we forget how good a little hard bait can be when fish are feeding on minnows β or pushing bait, roaming or just need something with a different look to get them to commit.
A jig is still the deal most days. But a small crankbait, jerkbait or spybait can give you some flash, sound and hang time β all things that can matter when crappies aren't sitting nice and pretty on a brushpile. Or maybe they are, but theyβre lockjaw on 2" plastics.
What do you think? Here's some baits maybe worth having in the box:
Jerkbaits
Berkley Hit Stick 3.5 and 5
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Probably my all-time favorite jerkbait for bass and the one I've caught the most crappies on.
They naturally have a slow sink, which takes a lot of the waiting out of it when you're hitting targets. Even if you're not using LiveScope, tossing these things around grasslines and over brushpiles can be π₯π₯π₯.
BOOYAH Flash Point Jerkbait
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Definitely a unique one β Flash Points have a blade in the head that throws flash and gives a harder return on forward-facing sonar.
Comes with sticky-sharp BKK trebles, which are GREAT. Smaller Jr versions available too.
Bill Lewis Scope-Stik 100mm Suspending Jerkbait
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Also 100mm, and they make floating and sinking versions as well. Good crappie-type colors and good hooks.
Rapala Husky Jerk 08
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Old-school Rapala minnow bait that suspends and rattles, which is still a pretty dang good combo when crappies are eating bait. Can be trolled or worked like a jerkbait. π
Rapala X-Rap 08
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Little more attitude than the Husky Jerk with that feathered tail and sharper action. More of a "true jerkbait."
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This one probably makes the most sense to crappie folks right away: 2", suspending and built for light line. Basically a little jerkbait you can twitch/pause around shallow cover without feeling like you're throwing bass gear at panfish.
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This is Dan's personal fave for big crappie and bluegill. π
Great Lakes Finesse Stay Pinned Spy Bait
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New bait from GLF for 2026. Suspended fish or crappies cruising around bait where you want something quiet and natural instead of blasting through the school. Paint jobs are π§y too.
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Blade baits probably donβt get talked about enough in the crappie world. The Steelshad comes in 1/4-3/4-oz. Fishes kinda like an ultra-finesse lipless crankbait. Cover water or jig it man!
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Will we see urchin baits come to the crappie world? π¦
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"Urchin"-style baits have been hotter than a forest fire this spring in the pro bass world. If you're unfamilar, they're basically a soft-plastic body with the arms instead of the skirt material in dice-type baits.
This bait shape came from Japan, where it has been used for several years. The sort of originator bait here is the Hideup Coike (left pic^) and baits like it β like the Yamamoto Uni.
So β will urchins make their way into the crappie world? I mean, what if these shapes are some untapped crappie cheat code, like they have been for bass? To me, seems like if there's any fish that would smash a slow-falling buggy-lookin' deal, it'd be the slabs!
Here's some crappie-sized baits that go more to the fuzzy side (vs urchin) that we've covered in Target Crappie before:
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That's a plastic mold from CCO Custom Baits for "the panfish and trout guys that have been asking."
I think there's a place for these β but what that is exactly, I have no idea yet. But that's why we love fishing! Always something to keep learning and chasing!
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Ever been around this many crappie??
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π€―π€―
That's a little piece of a screen recording of a Humminbird XPLORE x MEGA Live 2 combo from The Technological Angler. Dang!
Watching these fish in Landscape Mode (aka Perspective Mode) can also tell you a lot about 'em, not just how many there are. Here's what The Technological Angler had to say in that FB post:
> The moving bright spots are the fish. Most are swimming from right to left: We had deeper water to the right, and the shallow bay where we found these fish opened to the left.
> The bright spots that aren't moving...short, emerging strands of curly leaf pondweed. Big leaves, so pretty reflective. Short because there aren't a lot of obvious weed shadows, and it was easy to see past them.
> Settings...Auto Sensitivity/Contrast and High Dynamic Contrast.
> The next few weeks will be great for using Landscape mode with SO MANY fish in shallow water. In my hands, Landscape is perfect for water that is 3-12' deep.
I've been using the Humminbird MEGA Live 2 with an Apex 13 on my bow since Oct and have been running it in Landscape 75% of the time.
I LOVE to be able to see where timber is, exactly where brushpiles and where fish are sitting on 'em β just unlock a whole new view of the crappie world, man!
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Save time by scanning flats
MN pro TJ Erikson in his latest YouTube vid was talkin' spring crappies that are set up near shallow spawning flats β but not buried in the reeds yet. His deal is staying on the deeper edge and shooting SI up shallow so you can mark the pods before wasting time fishing the whole flat.
> "When I'm talking shallow flats, I'm talking a lot of times less than 10', sometimes less than 5'.
> "These are those spawning flats...where there's some reeds, where there's some weeds. ...shallower areas where it's going to be warm a lot of times on the north sides of lakes.
> "...you don't necessarily need forward-facing sonar [FFS] because...you can just troll with them. But if you want to be more efficient and you're not using [FFS] but you have side imaging, this is another bite that you can find these fish.
> "Just work on the deeper edge...I like to stay on the deeper edge and shoot my side imaging up shallower...that's where I'll see these fish.
> "...that's where you can mark some waypoints, come back, and that's where you can troll, you can cast, you can do a variety of things."
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"I always say we're fishing for the hungry one and the dumb one, and [when] we catch that out of a school of fish, we're moving on to the next one."
- Fair enough! π That's LA guide Wesley Miller (Big Sasquatch Outdoors) talkin' not sitting on inactive fish too long when you're fishing big groups on this Crappie Connection podcast. Here's a bit more from him:
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ο»Ώ> "When we pull up to a stump and there's 30 fish on it, we catch that first one, we catch that second one and you throw back in there again and he doesn't bite β you need to move.
> "In my guide days, I see these people just sit there all day long in one spot. At the end of the day, my clients have caught 50 or 60 fish and [the stay-putters have] caught 7 or 8 because they've stayed on that one school of fish."
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How about this this tuxed-up crappie that was posted on facebook by In-Fisherman! π€΅ββοΈ I've seen some pretty dark ones but this'n is real unique, not to mention YUGE!
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