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This week we've got some new juice from Northland, a couple fancy trollin' tricks, and lots of slabby goodness to help you find those late-summer slabs roamin' out in the open – WITHOUT using LiveScope if you don't have it!
Hope you get a chance to put a few in the box this weekend!
Appreciate you reading. If you’re not already following us, catch us on Facebook and Instagram – and if someone forwarded you this, you can sign up here to get Target Crappie sent straight to your inbox EVERY week – and it's FREE!
God bless and appreciate y'all hangin' with us for another week.👊
- Brett & Joel
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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 – email programs keep changing stuff!
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New ICAST crappie candy from Northland 🫣
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Promised ya another round of ICAST trade show coverage – Northland Fishing Tackle's got the crappie juice flowin', time to dig in! 👊 (Click the links to buy if you are interested.)
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Doesn't get much better than this! Has a crappie minnow profile, made from super-TPE, comes in 8 colors, 5 to a bag, MSRP $6.49.
2. 2" Pan-Candy Larvae Bug
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Kinda looks like micro-Ned with glider wings and this one looks like a panfish magnet. Made from super-TPE, comes in 8 colors, 5 in a bag, MSRP $6.49.
3. 1.25" Pan-Candy Leech
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Has a juicy little micro-leech profile, made from super-TPE, comes in 8 colors, 5 per bag. MSRP is $6.49.
4. Tungsten Panfish Jig
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Has a special keeper for locking in plastics. Comes in 2 sizes – 1/16-oz with a #6 hook, 1/8-oz with a #4 hook. 6 colors, available Jan 2026, MSRP is $7.99 a pack.
5. Twitchin' Puppet
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Cool little deal with a bite-sized glide, sharp hooks and dying baitfish action, and it looks cool too. Over-molded resin gives it a glassy-minnow finish, and comes in 1/8 and 1/4-oz, 10 colors, MSRP $8.99-$9.99. Believe it comes out this fall.
6. Tungsten Crappie Queen
Recently had tis in TC (read about it here) but basically a tungsten jig dressed with "queen-like metallic angel hair tinsel."
7. 3.25" Eye-Candy Shiner
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Larger profile would be great for targeting bigger fish in a school. Made from TPE, comes in 12 colors, ships Jan 2026. MSRP is $7.99 and it's not available yet.
8. 1.75" Pan-Candy Crawler
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Made from super-TPE so it's durable and apparently dances in the water like the real deal. Bags of 5, 8 colors, MSRP $6.49.
9. 78-pc Pan-Candy Kit
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Tandem-rig trolling secret?
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Late summer's here – water's warm, probably mid-80s, and in the South crappie are spread out, chasing shad just above the thermocline. AR guide Greg Robinson swears this is THE best time to catch 'em trollin'!
he guides on Beaver Lake but this works anywhere fish are scattered and you gotta cover tons of water fast to find 'em. This post on Lurenet shares the deets:
Crankbait + plastic rig
Greg's trick is a Bandit 300 crankbait paired with a tiny soft-plastic (like the Itty Bit Slab Hunt'R) tied 18" behind the bait on 6-lb line.
The crankbait grabs their attention and the trailing bait seals the deal for fish that don't wanna eat aggressively. Plus the Bandit 300 dives fast and that's 1 of the reasons Greg likes it:
> ...a thermocline sets up on Beaver Lake, and the fish mostly hold just above the thermocline [in 12-15']....
> ...the fluid motion [of the crank] and small profile [of the soft-plastic] make it look like a very easy meal.... It's not unusual for crappie to bump the crankbait, then take the soft-plastic.
He uses long rods (6-18') fanning out from the boat, 10-lb line and trolls at 1.5-2 mph. He zigzags the boat and watches sonar to keep the baits just above the fish, tweaking speed and line length:
> "Running depth is a critical factor for effective crappie trolling...[Greg] seldom trolls in a straight line.... If bites consistently occur on inside lines when he is turning, he...[slows] the trolling speed just a bit...
> "...if the fish are feeding at the deep end of the baits' running range but...slower trolling speeds...trigger strikes...[I let] out more line."
He says line-counter reels are key, and be sure to switch up the speed to keep it in their face.
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It's hot as heck out there man, and the water's hot too. Most lakes in the Midwest have algae blooms muckin' up the clarity. Seems to make fish grumpy and it's not all that fun to fish – but if you know what to look for you can still get into a mess of filets!
Here's MN writer Joel Nelson dropping' knowledge on the Virtual Angling site about catchin' basin slabs suspended over deep water near the veg:
> Jig trolling is deadly for suspended crappie. ...[target] adjacent open water next to cabbage or coontail.... Look for prominent points or flats that have a lot of weed growth...
> ...fish outside of this vegetation over the basin. Big schools of crappie will often show up on side imaging and look like specks of salt and pepper.
> "I...catch some casting, but...crappies seem to like the jig slow and steady.... When fish are suspended deeper than 15'...trolling is often the key...
> ...these fish will often reposition in the water column throughout the day...[they] can sometimes be found nearly at the surface early in the morning and late in the evening...[and] deeper during the middle of the day....
> ...[troll] about 1 mph and [experiment] with different jig weights.
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He likes 7' spinning rods to chuck the jig out with what he calls "cast and pull" technique. Which is basically making a long cast behind the boat and pull off an additional rod length of line.
If crappie are deeper, he uses 1/8- or 1/16-oz jigs. For the ones up high, he goes lighter: 1/32- or 1/64-oz (a slower fall rate helps keep it in the strike zone).
> "...the traditional curl tail or twister tail gets bit more in clear water.... I also like to use a [paddle tail]...in dirtier or more turbid water...."
> One of Joel's favorite crappie jigs is a Northland Thumper Crappie King which features a small underspin blade below the jig.
FYI the 1/16-oz Northland Deep Vee Spin works great for this too. 👍
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Some real nice spinning rods from ICAST
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Yep these are marketed as bass rods, but they’re built for 2" or less finessey baits so they for sure would work great for targeting crappie too. Some of them are high-$ so...! In no particular order:
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1. 7' 4" ML F Great Lakes Finesse CX and 7' 8" ML F Great Lakes Finesse CX
7' 4" is rated for 1/8-3/8 oz baits, and the 7' 8" for 1/16-3/8.
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GLF says they're built for long, accurate casts with ultra-light baits for targeting pressured fish. No expense spared and gotta say – MicroWave guides are the deal! We're also big fans of the carbon handle and matte-black finish.
MSRP is $399 and you can buy 'em on Tackle Warehouse right now.
Hope to get our hands on one soon and will let you know what we think! 👊
2. St. Croix GXR Lite combo
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They thought this record 4-12 redear was a smallmouth bass!
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Look at that thing! New AZ state record redear sunfish was 4-lb 12-oz and 16" long x 18" around! 🤯 Caught from Lake Havasu, AZ, a well-known trophy redear spot – on a small jighead tipped with a piece of earthworm...with forward-facing sonar (FFS). Outdoor Life had the details:
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> They were looking for fish along structure and near dropoffs with their Lowrance [ActiveTarget] and Daniels finally noticed a large fish close to a creek mouth. It was holding on a flat near a sunken tree in 15' of water.
> "It was a big sonar mark in deep water that I figured was a smallmouth bass,. I cast a micro jig with a small piece of earthworm attached to it with ultralight tackle. I let it sink to the bottom where the fish was holding, but nothing happened...[then] I twitched the 1/32-oz chartreuse-colored Berkley [PowerBait] Atomic Tube lure once, and the fish took it.
> "I wanted to release it, but I also wanted a replica mount.... I put the fish in our boat livewell again and called my taxidermist to see if he had a mold of a sunfish of the same dimensions. He said he had a slightly smaller one, and I said, ‘Great, that’s close enough.'"
💪💪 Big congrats to the fisherman, Joshua Daniels.
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1. IA: Crappies are biting on...
> Center Lake, East Okoboji Lake, Spirit Lake, Black Hawk Lake. Bite is good, quality fish up to 14".
> Big Hollow Lake, Lake Hawthorn, Lake Miami, Red Haw, Belva Deer: Bite is fair, fish are in 7-12' near trees and rocky shorelines. Plastics are working well.
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Sounds like he caught on a shiner so you know what to do! 👊
3. TX: Crappie bite is 🔥 on...
> Bois D'Arc: They're hangin' around 15-24' and some nicer fish are hitting soft plastics and hair jigs tipped with a minnow.
> Lake Sequoia: Bite is good and you can find 'em in 6-7'.
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> Lake O' The Pines: bite is good
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TPWD says they're biting well on these lakes too:
> Choke Canyon, Cypress Springs, Fork, Lavon, Martin Creek, Ray Roberts, Tyler.
4. OK: Crappie bite is pretty good on...
> Spavinaw, Greenleaf, Eufaula: Find 'em around brush, docks and weeds.
> Sardis Lake: Good – use minnows around brush, points, standing timber.
> Wister Lake: They're catching some nice ones on jigs around timber.
5. VA: Looks like they're biting on John H. Kerr rez....
Pics from the Drop Down Fishing Guides FB page:
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A little on it from MN guide Brad Hawthorne:
> "The Tungsten Bobber Jig gives killer sonar returns when slowly fishing a minnow. The facets on the jig shine back to give an awesome return in any water clarity.
> "The hook is also designed to be set vertically, ensuring that you're getting a good hook into those [stubborn fish]."
Comes in 1/16- and 1/8-oz, MSRP $8.49, available soon.
9. $40 crappie combo?
$39.99 for the Daiwa D-Shock II spinning combo with high-vis Daiwa J-Braid line is a good deal for a quality rod, reel and line. Available in 5' 6" UL, 6' ML, 6' 6" M, 7' M and 7' MH.
10. These sick B'n'M hats are back in stock!
Richardson too – get 'em while they last!
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Down-rigging for crappie??
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Here's a slick trick AL guide Brad Whitehead picked up from his side-pullin' days that'll put your jig right in their face without tangling up the other rods:
> "I rig all 14 rods on my boat with different jighead colors and plastics [so it] doesn't take long to figure out what color they want. Don't get me wrong – color matters...but putting the bait in right in their face matters more.
> "...imagine a football field with 10 treetops scattered all around. I'll zigzag from one end zone to the other, hitting every spot...helps find the active fish fast.
> "For my front trolling rods, I use baitcasters with a 12' B'n'M Buck's Graphite jig pole...I'll also put a 1-oz weight above the jig.
> "If my electronics show fish at 16', I let out 14' of line and troll at 0.9-1 mph. The 1-oz weight keeps the line vertical...puts the jig right above their heads...helps keeps the back rods from getting tangled up too...."
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LOL he ain't wrong! 🤣 Gotta love ol' Bill!
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