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Hey y’all – hope you’ve been whackin’ a bunch of slabs! Back with another Target Crappie, hope you dig it!
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Highlight and follow contours to get on the bigs
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That's what Terry Adams did in last weekend's Crappie Masters tourney on Kentucky Lake. He took a quick break from running his construction company to win it on his home pond.
We got with Terry to get the rundown on how he caught the fish to win. Some great takeaways that'll put big 'ol slabs in your boat too:
How did you pattern those fish with the changing weather? [A significant cold front came in the night after the 1st tourney day.]
> "The 2nd day of the tournament, the fish that I thought were going to be there were totally gone. I switched off that plan and just started searching, covering water.
> "I ended up finding 'em on secondary creeks off bays. Day 1 they were further out. Day 2 it’s almost like they moved up, more inside into those secondary channels.
> "The bigger fish were in open water...on the high side of a ridge...shallower than I anticipated [10-14'].
> "I ran up on the right deal. I’ve got Humminbird electronics [2 Helixes on the console, 1 at the bow] – I just tried to mimic what I found throughout the lake.
> "I highlighted that depth where [the contour] might make a little turn or look a little different. Everywhere I replicated [that pattern with the countour], I saw bigger fish. It was stuff I’ve never even fished before, but I strictly went off the map."
How were you getting the best hookup ratio on the bigger fish? [He mentioned a lot of the bigger crappie were biting super light.]
> "The 10' rod I’ve designed [a custom-built rod] – I truly do think that rod got me extra bites because it can detect those subtle, light bites.
> "A lot of guys in the tournament said fish were coming up, then just weren’t biting and would go away. For me, I think I was detecting those a little bit better with that rod.
> "That’s what I love about this 10-footer – it’s so versatile. I can pitch it like a bass guy would, or I can get on top of them and hold it on their nose. I can fish a lot of different ways.
> "The other thing...that goes hand in hand...is line choice. I actually use [10-lb] mono. ...the combo of that rod and mono was huge for me.
> "I'd always used fluoro, but I started working with Reactive Fishing Line. They sent me their mono, and I could tell immediately it had no memory.
> "It let me be more accurate when I was trying to get on fish. I could just get on them quicker without worrying about line twist."
How do you find fish fast with your limited time on the water?
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Terry runs a construction company and coaches his son's basketball team – said he gets about 5 full days a month on the water.
> "It always comes back to the products I use. They shorten the learning curve. I keep the right products in my boat – rods, reels, baits – and I pretty much use [the same thing] everywhere I travel.
> "Every time I go out I try 3 different depths – shallow, medium, deep. Wherever I start seeing better quality fish, I’ll dial in from there.
> "In years past I’ve won a lot of tournaments here, so you want to go off history a little, but I try to keep an open mind. Once I dial in a bite, I’ll look at the map and find other places I can replicate it."
What are you looking for when you're scanning with side imaging?
> "Depends on the day. If it’s a structure day, and I catch a big one on a tree, then I’m looking for every tree I can find. Same thing with stumps. Sometimes even a little ditch or dip can hold 'em.
> "Usually I set it out a little over 100' on each side so I can cover ground quickly."
Does scent play much for you when you're crappie fishing?
> "Yeah – my title sponsor is Bait Pop. I use it every single trip, and I used it the whole tournament.
> "Jacob Wheeler has been working on [a Bait Pop version] called the Ghost Series, and that’s the one I used. In the past I’d always used the one with red flake in it, a crawfish color. Everyone around here knows that’s what I'd been winning with.
> "This time I switched to the Ghost. I didn’t change up my bait’s appearance at all – just gave it a little bit of scent. And I really think that gives me extra bites every tournament.
> "But I did notice that if you put too much on, it could deter the fish. So I only put it on the jighead, not the plastic. Maybe it didn’t give as strong a scent, but it was enough.
> "In my mind, that little adjustment made a difference."
Terry's setup
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1/16-oz Cruz Custom Jigs plastics and hair jigs, Bait Pop Ghost Series, 10-lb Reactive Fishing Line (mono), 10' custom Anvil rod.
His custom rods will soon be produced by Anvil Rods, the same folks who make the Reactive mono.
A little more
> "Honestly [this win is possible because of] the support between my family helping me get ready and my sponsors backing me – that’s what makes a win like this possible.
> "Friday night my son was up late with me, rigging tackle at 9-10:00 to help me get ready for Saturday. I told everyone at the weigh-in this win was his just as much as mine. He’s right there with me all the time."
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"You can feel it better, since you can literally feel nothing..."
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That's east TX fishing guide Kaden Proffitt talkin' about how he's using super-light jigheads to feel bites better. He's been bringing in limits even though crappie are ultra-finicky in ETX this time of year. Sounds like he's got a cool deal dialed on lake Bob Sandlin, TX:
> "The brushpiles were all main-lake stuff. The water was already down to 80 degrees and the thermocline was gone, so we were catching them in 18-24'.
> "Those brushpiles out there are full again. Not like they were back in May, but they were stacked.
> "You had to be using a lightweight jighead – 1/32- to 1/16-oz – and you had to be casting it. I could almost say the long pole was useless today [on brushpiles] – they would not bite anything vertical.
> "...you had to float it through the pile, not over it.
> "The other problem was the bites were so subtle, and then they would just start swimming at you when they ate."
What adjustments were you making to feel those subtle bites?
> "I'll drop down to a 1/32-oz head and no splitshot. That light head is better when the bite so weak – you can feel it better, since you can literally feel nothing.
> "It would feel like they hit it and didn't eat it – you had to set the hook when you felt anything. It was a very weird bite."
> "...1/32-oz jigheads with [a] 1.5" 6th Sense Micro Fiction, except they had a splitshot.
> "...the reason that I'm getting more bites is because of the light weight."
How are you teaching your clients to feel those super light bites?
> "I think most people are taught with crappie that when you feel that thump, you snap that rod just enough to get 'em. Even I am very snappy with my hookset – not hard, just quick.
> "When the bite gets like this, the casting and reeling deal, it pays to have more finesse in your hookset.
> "I tell clients, 'With [super-light jigheads] try to be a lot more fluid. When you feel something, try to pull with a little bit of reservation.'
> "If I feel resistance, I'll lean into it almost like I'm fishing a jighead minnow for bass – just a steady slow lift of the rod.
> "If I don't feel that resistance when I check up, I'll give it slack and let it go back down in [the pile]. If you snap it on the hookset and miss a fish [when they're biting like this] that cast is done.
> "You can't ever assume they [didn't get the bait] just because you can't feel 'em. You have to give a little bit of pull to try feeling that bite."
He also had to downsize his plastic:
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> "Normally on Sandlin I'm using a 3" bait, but they didn't want that. We were using that 1.5" 6th Sense Micro Fiction – we caught almost every fish on it. They wanted that little dude and they were eating good for for this time of year."
How were you setting up on the brushpiles to cast to them?
He said that the brushpile fish have been so finicky that long-poling/ vertical fishing has been "useless" on 'em:
> "About 15' from the pile. I had my [forward sonar range] on 30' and I was putting the piles dead center on the screen. That was a good happy medium where you could cast past it, but when you got to the pile you weren't straight over it."
For a little (big) bonus, Kaden also wrangled up this monster from a brushpile:
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Ever tried "neutrally buoyant" braid?
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KastKing's got this Hammer FFS Braid in their new lineup of braids that could be something to try when you're casting to crappie. Why?
Here's the rundown on it, from KastKing's Rex Nelson, who happens to be the guy behind the first braided line ever – full story is on BassBlaster.com where this is taken from:
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> "When we built Hammer FFS we did a ton of research with our pros and a lot of anglers, and the feedback was unanimous: They didn't want a braid that sinks or floats. They wanted a braid that kind of gets into the water column super fast but remains as neutral density.
> "...stay in the middle of the water column. So you're casting to fish and using FFS technology...get a lure in front of them as quickly as possible...and have it sit there as long as you can. It allow you to keep the presentation in front of the fish a lot longer.
> "If you have a sinking braid...counteracts that [mid-column presentation] a little bit.
> "We impart a bismuth-enhanced coating. That gives it it's neutral-density properties."
We haven't been able to try that braid yet, but it sounds like it could take a bunch of line-bow out since it doesn't float. Might be good for keeping lightweight jigs over piles and next to cover longer.
Brett's 2c is it could be even more of a tool on windy days – less line-bow overall = more sensitivity = less missed bites?
Type: 9-carrier micro-filament
What it's for: Finesse spin and BFS fishing
Best knots: Palomar (straight), FG Knot with a couple more wraps (braid to fluoro)
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The "Seiche Effect" moves your fish?
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Ever get dialed on crappie (or anything that swims), go out the next day knowing you're gonna whack 'em and the bite just disappears? Without a big weather change.
We can throw around all kinds of “reasons”, but what’s really happening? Here’s one possible explanation, from a good In-Fisherman post by Dan O’Sullivan with help from Hook n’ Look's Kim Stricker).
After a day of catching smallmouth on Lake Champlain, NY, Kim went back to the same spot the next day and didn't catch anything. He put on his scuba gear and took his underwater camera to see what was going on.
> [Kim] and his son Danny found that the water had [divided into layers] differently in the area than it had the day prior. On the 1st day the water was evenly mixed with turbidity and fertile aspects that were visible to the [men] and the camera lens.
> On the 2nd day, the water several feet up from the bottom was crystal clear, and much cooler, while the turbid, warmer water was elevated off the bottom.
> In this case, the wind drove cooler water into the area, and because cooler water is more dense than warm water, it sunk to the bottom – forcing the fertile warmer water towards the surface.
> [What Kim] found was that the fish tend to follow the warmer water upwards....
On Hook n' Look's YouTube video, these new layers of water are even visible on camera:
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The cooler, new water is on the bottom, and the warmer, cloudy/nutrient water is on top:
> "That’s why these fish moved out. This pattern-alternating phenomenon we’re experiencing is caused by [the seiche effect] – the result of sustained winds and wave movement blowing across a large body of water out of the same direction for several days.
> "[Going down to] 15-17', the water temperature had abruptly dropped 10 degrees. And the visibility at that depth became crystal clear. The layer of warmer more-fertile water loomed directly above.
> "It appeared that the cold water was upwelling from the deep, compressing the warmer fertile upper layer, in turn directly pushing the bass and baitfish shallower within their comfort zone."
What's this mean for crappie fishing? Well for TC's Brett Jolley's trips on Sam Rayburn Rez, TX, it might explain why brushpiles will be loaded one day and empty the next. Or why big schools of bait with big single crappie around 'em move around and change depth so much.
So how do you combat this? Seems like vertical structure could be a key. Timber, tall brushpiles, even deep docks could give slabs the opportunity to not have to vacate an area when the water starts changing.
Just looking higher in the water column or right on that thermocline in the same areas can also be the ticket. If the water's got baitfish high and moving, that's where the big predatory slabs are going to be too. But they can also ride that thermocline and use that change in water clarity to ambush bait.
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This just proves that there's 101 (or more) ways to use an Aqua-Vu underwater camera. Aqua-Vu posted this video on Instagram that is one of the most creative uses we've seen!
Not sure of the logistics that went into getting this rig set up, but these folks have a live feed of what's happening under their dock on a screen all the way up in their house!
Target Crappie's favorite comment on the post was was: "Every time you see a biggin u gonna be running to the dock!" Dang straight! 😅
Whether you've got a dock to yourself or just a boat slip, that'd be a great way to know exactly when the slabs show up!
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Mr Crappie: Visual aids for finding loaded docks
Here's some juice from Wally Marshall on just using your eyes to find your next limit of crappie:
> "Docks with diving boards and slides mean deep water. You don’t even have to think about it.
> "Look for docks that have cleaning tables, minnow buckets and sinks [too]. These are visual aids, especially for folks that don’t have forward-facing sonar.
> "Some docks are dug out around them. It’ll be a real shallow bay, and then some docks are dug out. A lot of times that leaves a ledge or a dropoff.
> "I also used to catch a lot of fish on random beaver huts. You find where that chute comes out and drops off – strong, brother, strong."
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