Page 11 - Crappie NOW - March 2019

SPRING CRAPPIE TIPS
creek channels. Suspended crappie
sometimes hit passing jigs or minnows lightly,
so move you bait slowly
Minnows, jigs tipped or not tipped and
small lures work best. Try heavier jigs
when fishing depths. Tip jigs with minnows,
generally hooked behind the head, euro larva,
meal worms, small pieces of night crawler,
commercial baits and some use crickets
for early spring crappie. The key is an extra
incentive for the crappie to bite your jig.
SCENT--Scents are used for two reasons:
to smell like natural bait or to cover human
scent. Many fishermen do not realize the
importance of camouflaging odors on their
hands.
Have you ever noticed that some fishermen
catch fish while the person sitting next to
them using the same bait and technique are
skunked? I smoke cigars and use scent to
cover up tobacco odor on my hands. Others
might fill their vehicle up with gasoline, a strong
smell. Odors that we take for granted can be
transmitted to lures or baits. Crappie don’t like
foreign smells and will shy away.
Most tournament professionals use
commercial scents on jigs or lures. But when
none are available, a fisherman can literally
11 Crappie NOW March 2019
Tipping jigs is an excellent spring tactic to
trigger crappie in the trees.
wipe a small bit of slime from crappie sides
on his lure or bait. Only use slime off fish you
keep to avoid damaging released crappie.
The second phase of cover scents are odors
that imitate shad or other live prey. Crappie are
well acquainted with the strong odor of shad
that they follow in large schools throughout
the year. Fruit flavored scents used mainly by
bass fishermen will occasionally give crappie
a sweet flavor they are not used to. This may
or may not be productive, depending on what
the fish want or don’t want.
Early spring crappie fishing success is
possible by finding productive feeding spots
with sonar. The key is staying out long periods
of time while finding active fish.
- Kenneth L. Kieser