Crappie Time!

[Fishidiot]

This time of year – late March to early April – is prime time for crappies. Schools of white or black crappies (or both) can often be found laid up around shoreline brush piles, structure in shallow bays, or slow pools in streams. My preferred method to go after them is with a tiny crappie fly (see Fly Tying forum for an example) fished under a strike indicator with a tippet of about 5X. Strikes in cold water are often so subtle as to not even budge the indicator. Polarized glasses can help you see strikes and this will greatly improve your hookups. Once hooked, play crappies gently as they are, of course, famous for their soft mouths. In a good day, I’ll land 50% of the crappies I hook.

The Incredible Fly Fishing Weiner Dog says, “that’s why they’re called ‘papermouths’.”

 

[jdaddy]

Wow, didn't know they were that early here in the NE states. I tore them up (not their papermouths) on Hopewell last year. Maybe I'll have to get out and give it try tomorrow.

I've never had that kind of land/loss ratio. Is it possible that you are employing a hard hook set or something along those lines? I remember catching hundreds a night down in NC and never loosing more than a few.

 

[Fishidiot]

jdaddy wrote:
Is it possible that you are employing a hard hook set or something along those lines?

Probably. This time of year is about the only time I deliberately target crappies and I probably never get the finesse part down. Being accustomed to bass fishing I'm probably too aggressive. If you watch hard core crappie spin guys, they're very soft and careful in their presentation and manner they fight the fish. Nevertheless, even when I'm trying to be careful, it seems I lose about half the fish I hook.
Hhmm....

 

[CathyG]

I love any kind of panfish on the fly. Its great that the crappie bite starts early. Unfortunately where I live early is more like mid April as the ponds and lakes are still completely frozen over.

Hell, right now its 18 degrees. Lovely Spring we're having.