Spring Crappie

[NJTroutbum]

For those of you who hold a warm part of your piscatorial heart for Specks, they are coming soon to a water near you.

 

[pete41]

amen...
right time,right place with a little white marabou streamer can be as much pure fun as any fishing you can do and leave fond memories of a day fishing without anything what so ever to prove. Just sheer enjoyment although I do remember the time I caught one so big I said "holy crap" or words to that affect.lol

 

[chemsarge]

Special time of year for me and my 7 yr. old grandson!

 

[JackM]

When the crappie come into the coves at Cross Creek lake, they will take flies from the surface. This is good fun.

 

[kobalt335]

Crappie and blue gill were the first fish I caught on the fly rod. I felt like a champion reeling in about 50 the first day. Man was I in for a lesson when I started fishing for trout.

 

[troutbert]

What are the top flies for catching crappies in the early spring?

The spin guys seem to use minnows I think?

 

[pete41]

if it's running water and they are spawning small [12s] white marabou streamers are as good as it gets.Silver body-

 

[Fly-Swatter]

+1.

Also, mini-clouser style minnows tied with angel hair. The flashier, the better. The jigging action helps, too.

 

[Dave_W]

Agree.
A small, white streamer with lots of flash is hard to beat. Keep the total fly length to about an inch. I also feel that you want a fly that doesn't sink too fast, a couple small bead chain eyes are about as much weight as I want on crappie flies.

 

[Mike]

Crappies will move into some coves in the next couple of weeks, but they will be transient depending on night temps. If the coves are warm enough to attract them, the will move out in a hurry during a cold night . Focus on coves into which the prevailing winds blow. The problem for you may be that the fish are there, but out of range for a typical fly angler, so not only must you consider cove direction but also cove width. We fish at night in a particular SE Pa wide cove with spinning gear and must use expensive heavy weight bobbers or home made wooden bobbers to deliver the jigs to the location of the fish. In that case they can sometimes be caught in daylight, but on most days it is not worthwhile showing up until sunset. Later in March or early April the need to night fish goes away. Also, if there are weeds in a cove, they may already get too high in the water column by late March for effective fishing below about a foot. In contrast, deeper coves may require fishing at depth except, perhaps,,at twighlight or after dark.

 

[afishinado]

^ great info above.

As a side note: After a heavy rainstorm the night before made the water murky, we caught crappie on every cast. The next day the water cleared and no crappie. More so than most other fish, crappie seem to be low light feeders.

 

[Letort]

Had a few minutes this evening to make a few casts in the lake across from my house. Caught one nice crappie n a white streamer.

 

[geebee]

i fish for them with a bouyant Booby style fly on a sinking line. as you strip the fly dives, when you pause it jigs up.

white marabou wing over a white UV crystal chenille body.

 

[melvinp]

For the murky spring water I love black with a little red with a gold chain,bar bell or jig head.When it clears up then white,char,.

 

[Chaz]

BE Creek below the dam.

 

[FarmerDave]

pete41 wrote:
amen...
right time,right place with a little white marabou streamer can be as much pure fun as any fishing you can do and leave fond memories of a day fishing without anything what so ever to prove. Just sheer enjoyment although I do remember the time I caught one so big I said "holy crap" or words to that affect.lol

I once said that if I ever caught a crappie over 15 inches, I'd have it mounted. Then I did catch one that was pushing 16. But the darn thing was so skinny that you could almost see through it. It would have been like putting a picture on the wall (two dimensional).

It was an overpopulated lake where 100 in a couple hours was not unusual.

And yes, I realize that is nearly one a minute. There were that many.

 

[JG63]

Don't forget chartreuse!

 

[LongLineRelease]

I fished for my first time for Crappie last year using flies on a spinning rod with a casting bubble. It was great fun. Chartreuse sparkle bugger size 12 was the fly