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What a cool weekend it was! Excited to share it with y'all!
Spent Thurs-Sun at Lake Fork, TX at CRAPPIEFEST and got to hop in the boat with crappie pro/guide Jerry Hancock and crappie pro/guide Kayle Ward to learn some stuff about Bobby Garland baits. Learned A TON, which we will get into in a sec.
Random but I stuck my PB bass (9.60) with Kayle on a Bobby Garland Baby Shad in the new 'wanted monkey' color in a tree in 25'! 🤯 Was using the new 14' Kodiak Kistler Big Game Crappie Poles that are out now! More on those poles next week!
Gotta shoutout Guthrie Tackle. Jerry gave me 1 of his jigheads, I bent that jighead out twice on wood, caught a bunch of crappie, and the next day still held up and landed that huge bass the next day!
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Alright enough about bass, let's get to some crappie 🧃!
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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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Old-school wisdom with Jerry Hancock
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Man was that the truth of my trip with Jerry Hancock! We did a mix of some old-school fishing and Scoping – biggest deal was that Jerry just had an eye for what kind of wood was going to have fish on it.
Here's some Q's I asked and tips from Jerry:
What kind of areas are you targeting right now?
> "I’m focusing on edges – especially the inside edges of thicker cover. When you’ve got a big field of timber, I’m not just plowing through all of it. I’m scanning the edges and picking off the spots where fish are more likely to set up.
> "That inside edge is usually a little shallower, and this time of year – if they’re going to move up to spawn – they’ll stage on that before actually pushing shallow.
> "I also really like anything that’s a little more isolated within that, like small clumps of stumps or cover grouped together. If you’ve got 4-5 pieces of cover in one tight area, that’ll concentrate fish and make it way higher-percentage.
> "Another thing, I’m not just looking at what I see on LiveScope – I’m also paying attention to what’s above the water. Not everything looks the same down below. I'm targeting thicker, 'noisy-looking' stuff that has a better chance of holding fish.
> "Right now, a lot of those fish are relating to stuff lying flat – laydowns more than vertical cover. So if you can find that kind of cover on those edges, that’s even better."
How do you fish when you don’t "see" fish?
> "There can be multiple fish sitting in a piece of cover that you never see on LiveScope. That’s why you’ve still got to fish it – not just look at it.
> "When I’m 'blind fishing', I’ll drop straight into that cover, let the bait fall all the way to the bottom, then lift it just a little and hold it there. A lot of times, those fish are just sitting in those spots you can’t see, and they’ll eat it sitting still.
> "I’m not sitting there forever – I’ll drop in a few times around that piece of cover, hit different angles, and if nothing happens after a few drops, I’m moving. It’s about covering water efficiently without skipping over fish that LiveScope might not show you."
When Jerry's just dipping into cover, he's fishing a 1/8-3/16 oz jighead with no top weight so he can feel when he hits the bottom.
Something I thought was real interesting is Jerry was using a Bobby Garland Itty Bit Slab Hunt'R, which is real small, in that dirty water:
>"...right now, smaller baits like Itty Bit-style plastics are getting more bites.
> "Typically, this time of year, I’d be throwing bigger, brighter profiles or a more-aggressive bait to trigger reaction bites. They’re just not reacting to that.
> "The fish are there, but they’re not in that aggressive mode yet. They’re easing up to the bait, looking at it, and of grabbing it – not thumping it. That smaller more-subtle profile gives them something they’re willing to commit to.
> "It also matches how you’re fishing – a lot of these bites are coming from dropping into cover, holding it still, and letting the fish come to it. A smaller bait looks more natural sitting there, especially when you’re not moving it much."
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I also had the privilege of getting out on the lake with another one of the best crappie pros in the game right now, Kayle 'need for speed' Ward. Why'd I add "need for speed"? This dude covers more water on the trolling motor than anyone I've ever seen – a big key to his success.
Kayle had his Minn Kota Ultrex QUEST on 9 or 10 when he was cruising around, panning back and forth, and I was just looking over his shoulder, trying to stay on my feet!
Felt like Goose the entire day – even got the stache working for me! 🤣
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I'll have a YT video about this too that covers way more of what we were doing on the water, but here's some juice from Kayle and a few key takeaways.
Lesson #1: Crappie don't all spawn on the bank
It's late Mar, the water is in the upper 60s, Jerry and I had just been up shallower, and what does Kayle do...head to 25' of water. Asked him why:
> "In my opinion, more crappie spawn in deeper water than shallow. The average spawning depth, according to biology, is about 15'. I’m tournament fishing, so my mentality is finding pre-spawn fish – they’re more likely to bite, and they weigh more.
> "Also the lake is low and shallow areas are treacherous. I like to go fast, and I'll break something up there. So I try to make myself find them out here, where the timber is more scattered."
Which, in our case, turned out to be pretty true. When I went into fishing with that mindset, I started to notice that a lot of crappie were on or near the top of the timber (spawning on it?), not deeper, to the side of it.
Fishing deeper also gets you away from a lot of fishing pressure too.
Lesson #2: Speed kills for size and numbers
> "When you’re chasing fish, especially in wind, you’ve got a short window to get your bait to them. Yesterday, you had about 10 seconds to get to those fish. If your bait falls too slow, by the time it gets there, they’re already gone or you’ve lost your chance.
> "That’s why I use a heavier jighead – it lets me get down to them faster and stay on moving fish.
> "When it’s calm you can slow down a little. But when they’re active, or you’re dealing with wind, speed matters a lot."
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So I learned that if fish are equal shallow and deep, but there’s more pressure and more post-spawn fish up shallow, deeper water should mean a better catch rate and bigger fish.
1 more thing – he fishes FAST with a spinning reel. Opens the bail, lets that bait free-fall, stops it right on the fish, and if it doesn’t bite, he burns it back up as fast as he can. Sounds simple, but that kind of discipline is why he catches ‘em like he does.
Quick deal on how Kayle uses his LiveScope – and btw he still uses and really likes the older LVS32 transducer: He puts his trolling motor on 9 or 10, scans back and forth across the path with his Scope distance out to 50'. When he sees a fish, he slams on his Power-Brakes, turns his troller down, and eases up to the fish...and then it's on!
Kayle's Setup
> 1/4-oz Guthrie Tackle jighead, 3/8-oz pegged tungsten bullet weight, Bobby Garland Baby Shad (slab juice),15-lb fluoro, spinning reel, 13' Power Fishing Jerry Hancock Signature Series Patriot Rod.
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CRAPPIEFEST cool and new baits
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Got to see some new releases and some cool baits I've never seen before at CRAPPIEFEST too. Here's a quick rundown of some of 'em.
New BoneHead Tackle colors
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From top to bottom (had the wrong color in there when I took the pic, oops!): 'chartreuse diablo', 'slick chartreuse', 'slick diablo', 'slick green shad'.
Dang right those are slick! Seems like the 'slick' color – which is reminiscent of 'monkey milk' – was catching 'em so they had expanded that style to some other colors to getcha covered in a bunch of situations.
Also heard that the wizard of black crappie, Eric Cagle, was begging Bonehead not to release that 'slick diablo' yet – probably cuz it doesn't work and he's just looking out for us, right? 🤣
Check out this vid I got with MO BoneHead pro Matthew Rogers talkin' the new colors and when and where he likes using them. See those new colors here on the Bonehead site available in the Slim Stick, Brush Glider, 2.5" Minnow and Stump Bug.
Jenko Fishing Gill Bob
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Was wondering if/when someone in the crappie world was going to hop on the dice train! All handmade, so they came in a bunch of different colors and in 6-packs for $9.99.
Let us know if you fish 'em – I'm curious how they work.
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"There are only 3 things you need to pay attention to – water clarity, water density, and seasonal movement."
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> "Understand those 3 things, and you'll stay on fish all year all over the country."
That's what TX pro and head honcho at River Bottom Boys Guide Service, Dan Langston (left), said to me in a neat convo at CRAPPIEFEST. That who deal could be made into like 20 Target Crappie Top 5s, so this was just 1 of many things I thought were cool! 😎
Dan keys on how water density (driven by temp) affects crappie vision and lateral-line sensitivity. He said this about that in a Target Crappie last year after his Crappie Masters win on Eufaula, OK:
> "I base my bait selection on water density and clarity. That's the only 2 things you need to know...."
Guess he added one more thing since then! 😁
> "Ice is more dense, steam is less dense. When you have colder temps, it's going to create a more-dense environment. In a denser environment, fish have a much harder time seeing.
> "With the cold temps, [and] the blown-out mud lines that were coming through, I wanted a bait that was going to produce a lot more movement. I went to a [heavy] plastic, a G-Daddy bait.
> "The 1st day we were using a 2" Crappie Shad – it has twin tails that come off the back. That was able to get their attention from about 2' away [in clearer water].
> "The 2nd day it wasn't [clear]. [G-Daddy] has a little crawfish bait – it's a smaller bait, but it's got those craw paddles that come out. When I pop it, it's dispersing more water and putting more vibration.
> "You can see those fish on FFS looking for it – swimming up and down, up and down, and they would finally hone in on it, and then they were just choking it."
Here are those baits he was talking about:
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Pretty cool stuff, man! Lesson of the story – pay attention to how fish are reacting to your bait's shape, the vibration it's putting off, etc.
Dan also said that one of the biggest tells that you need to change something up is when fish will constantly get right up to your bait and then turn away.
So, next time you're out there, look for those signs in the equation, make some changes, and catch 'em up! And if you don't catch 'em, just tell your fishing buds that it's your lack of math skills, not fishing skills! 🤣
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Cool look at new Garmin tech
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Covered the new Garmin stuff last week in Target Crappie but came across this vid from Bass to Barra Outdoors on Facebook with a cool look at the capabilities of the new Garmin Spy Pole + GT360UHD 'ducer and LVS34.
Not saying you have to or need to have this, just appreciating some new tech and what we can learn from it. What I saw from it:
a) Fishing grasslines for crappie – looking at you Northern and FL folks! Seems like you can cruise grasslines, see those high % spots and edges on the 360, then stop and point the LiveScope at your target and pick that area apart.
b) When crappie set up on the bottom or in areas where there are multiple pieces of cover – seems you could really dissect those places and know exactly what you're tossing at.
Endless possibilities here, let's see what folks think up to do with it man!
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Yeah they do! Top-bottom is 'gussy’s glimmer blue', 'bad shad' and 'the deal'. These smelly and duable guys come in 3" now and it's still time for those bigger baits!
Catch 'em on Tackle Warehouse at MSRP $5.99 for a 8-pack.
2. Check out these new colors from Great Lakes Finesse
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>...by Larry Williford on Feb 23...at 2.08 lbs. The previous record was only 1.1 lbs. Williford stated the fish was the only one he caught that day on his first drop in 6' near the first tree he came upon.
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Look for fish that swim with purpose
Just a bit more 🧃 for ya from Kayle. We were talkin' how to I.D. crappie by the way they swim, and this is what he said:
> "I always tell people that bass especially...bass and white crappie swim with purpose. They don’t just wander. They’re not wasting a lot of energy doing stupid stuff.
> "A catfish and sand bass, to me they’re almost like a shark – they just hardly ever stop."
Remember this next time you pull up to a tree and that "crappie" is doing laps around it like he's Ricky Bobby lol! 🏎️
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Well, this is awkward....🫠
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Now, THAT is a face only a mother could love! 🤣 Came across this pic on Facebook from Raphyael Tyson, who caught that bug-eyed dude on a Speckled Hogs handtie.
Those handties must be realistic, cuz this fish looks like he's reeeal observant! 😁
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