Page 4 - Crappie NOW | June 2016

By Tim Huffman

L bring the jigs up higher in the water. “
ate spring and early summer mean fish Jig depth is a combination of line length,
have spawned, gone through post-spawn and bait weight and boat speed. Line diameter and
are in transition from spring to summer patterns. the type of jig makes a difference but when kept
Whether you live north or south determines the consistent they can be ignored. By keeping the
water temperatures and stage of this transition line length the same along with consistent jig
process. weights, the boat speed is used to control bait
Catching crappie is a matter of picking depth.
the right spot and making a good presentation. “I’ll use a variety of heads and I pour
That sounds simple, but there are many factors my own,” says Johnson. “Sometimes a Road
in picking the right place for the season and Runner head used with a jig body is good for
knowing crappie movements. The presentation adding flash and more bites. When trolling I
includes the right depth, speeds, baits and prefer paddle tail and curly tails styles. When
several small but important details. the jigs are moving it’s an advantage to have
Picking baits is part of the fun of fishing. something with a lot of action.”
Minnow choices include large, medium and Two jigs we included on our trip were
small; types include silver, rosy red and a the Panfish Assassin 2-inch Curly Shad and
fathead/tuffy. Jigs choices include: diameter
size; length; plastic, hair, mylar or other
materials; and shapes that include a basic Jigs for vertical jigging are
grub or tube, minnow/shad shapes, and critter different than for trolling. Shad
designs. Since jigs are the most fun, our article and minnow imitators are good
will focus upon the artificial side of fishing. choices.

Longline Trolling
“Today we are pulling six poles out the
back and two out of the front,” says 2-inch Crappie Dapper. They both met the
Alabama fisherman, Jay Johnson (pictured on requirements of good tail action when pulled
the magazine cover). “The rods out the back and they caught fish.
are short but we use long poles out the front to “My color choices are simple and
get the jigs out away from the boat and where determined by water color. I use a lot of
they won’t interfere with the back lines.” chartreuse in stained water. In clearer water I
Johnson uses 6-pound test line with switch to blue-white and light colors.”
tandem jigs. Two 1/32-ounce jigs are common How long will the pattern hold? The
and so is a 1/32 and 1/16 combo to add a pattern holds throughout the summer with
little more weight. Casts are made with the depths ranging from 9 to 24 feet in Johnson’s
length being kept as consistent as possible, home waters. Favorite spots to search are the
approximately 20 yards. drop-offs, humps and flats near channels. On
“We fish at 0.7 to 1.2 mph depending our trip in early June, we were in Swift Creek, a
upon the depth we want to fish. We will stay at large creek off of the main river. The fish were
a consistent speed if we are catching fish. That on the first drops just outside spawning areas.
means the depth of the jigs are where they The post-spawn crappie were lethargic but we
need to be. If we get into deeper water we slow caught fish.
down to put them deeper. If we come up into a James Wesson, another local fisherman
shallow area or go over a hump we speed up to on our trip, talks about the bite. “A lot of times

4 Crappie NOW June 2016