Red hooks, tops & more – part 3

Here are 10 tips I picked up from Crappie Fishing Class with guide Steve Danna last week at the Union Parish Library. This is part 3 of a 4 part series on that class:

1. I love hair jigs the best, but you can catch them on plastic. I also pour my own jig heads. The best tip I can give you there is use the size that is comparable with where you are fishing. Fishing shallow, you want a smaller head. Fishing deep, you need a larger one where it will stay at the depth you want it. I strictly use a No. 4 hook.

2. Always remember the part about crappie not being bottom feeders. They feed up. So if the fish are at 12 feet deep and you fish 13 feet deep, you will not get a bite. Remember to fish above the fish, not below them.

3. I have put out hundreds of tops in D’Arbonne over the years. If you want to have spots you can always catch them away from the spawn, it’s a good idea to put out some tops. Put them near the channels or deeper water. Fish will suspend over them. Here’s a rule of thumb, though. You have to put out tops in areas where there are fish. Fish want travel for miles to find your tops. But the tops will attract the fish in that area.

4. I’ve made all kinds of tops. I used to use pallets, cypress, oak. But the best tops and easiest are what I call bucket tops. Fill a bucket half full of sacrete and fill it with switch cane about 5 feet high. Stagger the angle of the poles. Then lower the bucket into the water with a rope to keep it upright.  Its better to put 4-5 tops in the same spot to form a mat. That is what really attracts the fish.

5. You have to have electronics and know how to find the shad and spot the fish. If you can’t do that, you can’t catch fish consistently. You have to find the shad. Then try and find the shad that have “lines” or “arches” under them on the depth finder. That’s the crappie. And that’s where you’ll catch them.  Make sure when you are calculating the depth the fish are in that you allow for the fact that your depth finder transducers is a foot, possibly 18 inches, under the water.

TIPS 6-10 TOMORROW!   To get in touch with Steve for more information or to book a trip, call 318-245-6398 or email him at lacrappieman@aol.com