10-18-2006, 10:22 PM
[cool][#0000ff]I will be prospecting for crappies on my next Willard expedition...probably next week sometime. I haven't really fished for them the past two years, but in times past they do come inside about this time of year. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]One of the best ways to get them is with a float tube..."dipsticking"...moving along the docks and dropping a single small white or chartreuse jig down about six feet and just letting it sit. They don't like a lot of jigging. Tipping with a waxworm or small bit of crawler helps too.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]If you fish off the shore, try using a teeny bobber and six or seven feet of line under it, with a 1" tube or twister. You really have to watch the bobber because the bites are very light and hard to see if you don't know how to watch that bobber.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The south marina can be good too. Used to be lots of crappies school up right in the middle of the arm off the main channel. Again, they are slow and bite light, but you can sometimes do well with a deep jig under a small bobber.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Since the wipers...and most specifically since the gizzard shad...there have been a lot fewer crappies. The shad eat all the zooplankton the baby crappies need to survive until they can get large enough to feed on larger insects and fish fry.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]One of the best ways to get them is with a float tube..."dipsticking"...moving along the docks and dropping a single small white or chartreuse jig down about six feet and just letting it sit. They don't like a lot of jigging. Tipping with a waxworm or small bit of crawler helps too.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]If you fish off the shore, try using a teeny bobber and six or seven feet of line under it, with a 1" tube or twister. You really have to watch the bobber because the bites are very light and hard to see if you don't know how to watch that bobber.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The south marina can be good too. Used to be lots of crappies school up right in the middle of the arm off the main channel. Again, they are slow and bite light, but you can sometimes do well with a deep jig under a small bobber.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Since the wipers...and most specifically since the gizzard shad...there have been a lot fewer crappies. The shad eat all the zooplankton the baby crappies need to survive until they can get large enough to feed on larger insects and fish fry.[/#0000ff]
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