How Do You Troll Minnows For Crappie?

When should I start trolling for crappie?

Trolling speed is critical when it comes to crappie, and Duckworth bases his speed on water temperature. Right after the spawn when water temperature is 65 to 70 degrees, he trolls at 1.8 mph. With water temperature between 70 and 75 degrees, trolling speed is 2.5 mph.

What is a good trolling speed for crappie?

Low & Slow: Trolling at 0.7 mph with an electric motor is the ideal speed for prespawn crappies. “A 1⁄16-ounce jig gets down about 7 feet and a ⅛-ounce jig about 12 feet,” says Puccio.

How deep should I fish for crappie?

Crappie like to spawn in areas of shallow water, usually around 2-to-4 feet deep, with cover such as brush, flooded timber or weeds, and with easy access to deeper water. In areas with murky water and thick cover, I have sometimes found them nearly on the bank.

Can you troll with live bait?

Live trolling refers to trolling with natural bait. Also called shallow trolling, the key to success with this form of live bait fishing relies on knowing how to hook live bait to best mimic live prey. Unlike live lining, live trolling does not necessarily mean trolling the bottom.

Can you use minnows on a crawler harness?

You can put crawlers, minnows, leeches and plastics on a harness.

Can you troll for crappie at night?

Fishing vertically is the best technique for catching summer crappie after dark, either slow-trolling vertically or setting over fish and dropping baits directly down to them.

What is long lining for crappie?

The “push” technique of the pros is “tight-line trolling,” a vertical technique executed with multiple rods on a “spider rig” arrangement. The “pull” technique is called “long-line trolling,” and it presents crappie jigs on multiple lines pulled horizontally behind the boat.

What is the best size minnow for crappie?

While you might use a #8 on similar sized species like bluegill, you want to upsize your hooks for crappie. We recommend that you run nothing smaller than a #6, and we often use a #4, #2, and even a #1 for large minnows.

How do you rig a jig and minnow for crappie?

Either hook a minnow behind the head or thread it onto the jig hook as if putting on a plastic grub tail. Insert the jig hook point in the minnow’s mouth and carefully move it onto the hook shank, with the jig hook point coming out of the bait just forward of its tail.

What is the best crappie bait?

Minnows
Minnows, worms, insects—just about anything can catch a crappie’s attention. You don’t have to worry about the color of the bait, and you’re only throwing them what they would be eating anyway. Minnows are hands-down the favorite used by most, and some even tip a jig with a live minnow for a double-whammy.

How do banks fish for crappie?

One of the best ways to find and catch spring crappie from the bank is simply to cast a crappie jig, allow it to sink to the depth you want to work and swim it back slowly. This allows you to cover a lot of water to find fish, and it is effective, whether you want to work a foot deep or 8 feet down.

Can you troll with live minnows?

Okay, enough whining. The upside to all this heat is it’s going to kickstart some good high-country trout fishing.All the usual fare — Needlefish, Rapalas, grubs, nightcrawlers, Trophy Sticks, etc. will certainly get bit, but my all-time favorite way to catch big trout this time of year is to troll with live minnows.

How long should a crawler harness be?

You can put crawlers, minnows, leeches and plastics on a harness. My go to set up is a two ounce bottom bouncer with a harness between 4-6′ long. It is conducive to use a longer snell in clearer waters, thus on Lake of the Woods, I normally go about 5′ or so as the water is stained.

How fast should I troll?

So, what is the best trolling speed? The best trolling speed depends on several factors including the type of fish, water conditions and lure choice. In general, trolling speeds between 1.5 and 2.5 mph, as measured by GPS, are a good starting place for most species like walleye, trout and salmon.

What is the best speed to troll for walleye?

Trolling speed, in the spring, is best at 1.3 – 1.5 mph. Summer trolling speeds increase 1.5- 2 mph as walleyes are more active in warmer water temperatures.

What lures to use for trolling walleye?

The three basic types of walleye trolling lures are plugs, spinners, and spoons. Plugs are by far the most popular for a couple of reasons. Plugs can be purchased with lip sizes that result in them diving down to a determined depth.

Is it better to fish at dusk or dawn?

Generally speaking, the best time of day to catch fish is in the reduced daylight hours from dawn until 2 hours after sunrise and from 2 hours before sunset until dusk. During these windows, light is reduced, prey becomes more active, and water temperatures cool allowing fish to more freely hunt for food.

How do you fish for crappie at night?

Night Crappie Techniques
Because most night fishing for crappie involves lights and concentrated fish, your being stationary is a good approach. Casting a Stroll’R or Hyper Grub and swimming it through a lit area or along the edges of the light allows you to work the entire area and fish a range of depths.

Can you catch crappie at night during the spawn?

Crappie can be caught in most any weather or season. But during their transition time, after spawning and setting up shop on structure and near forage in deep water, some of the best crappie fishing takes places after the sun goes down.