Fishing Q&A

I'm going to be fishing in a crappie tournament can any one help with providing tips.?

what are some good baits and scents to use and what kind of structuer should i look for I'll be fishing Pymatuning lake in the NW part of PA if this helps. Thanks.

Public Comments

1. I always liked chartruese curly tail jigs for artifical. In the cold, i would think crappie would be in standing timber in fairly deep water. More than 20 feet.
2. use a nail tail piece of plastic on your ice jig
3. like cold water, loves minnows, catch them all day long off the front deck of my houseboat on belton lake, texas
4. look for brushy areas, standing trees, deeper water,. If you have a fish finder look for schools around these areas. Minnows are always good, but jigs work well sometimes. Good luck
5. if you are allowed live bait in tourney minnows always a good bet. for artificials road runner jigs in black/chartreuse,pink/white, white, and chartreuse. maribou jigs in same colors. the float&fly system was intended for catching bass but works wonders for crappies too(THIS IS MY OWN LITTLE SECRET FOR BIG CRAPPIES ) because no one else really uses it. lake is full of stumps and some brush piles people have put out . don't know when tourney is but now fish should be in the deeper areas ( lake is fairly shallow throughout so depth changes are fairly subtle for most part) and hanging around the stumps. if temps warm up and sun is out look for places where wind is blowing towards the shallows and has wood around as these places will warm up quicker and it might help the fish put the feedbag on. water in lake is fairly dark so stick with brighter color jigs. I would also recommend calling one of the bait shops up there and start asking questions they are pretty helpful and can give you some idea as to what fish are doing and give you some idea where to go. then you can put your own pattern together. at least you will have an idea where to start . hope this helps and hope you win.
6. Caught my first crappie last week. I tried a Blakemore road runner for the first time ever, and what do you know, the things actually work. I was just trolling very slowly over long points in about 10-12ft. of water. (Fla. lake) good luck
7. I don't know how much experience you have with the species, so here's the advice I would give to a lifelong bass fisherman who never encountered a crappie intentionally. When you've got one, don't set the hook nearly as hard as you would for a bass. Their mouths are paper thin, and in some areas they're known as papermouths. Also, you need to find a color that works on the given day. I've found that the best way to do so is to find an area with sunken brush and jig, changing bait color frequently. Their feeding preferences are extremely unpredictable.
8. Berkly Gulp.........The crappie love it as much as every other species!