What Size Hook Should I use to Catch Crappie?
This is a question that is commonly asked by novice anglers planning their first crappie fishing excursion. Unfortunately, there is no single right answer to this question, which is why it is almost invariably answered with another question: What are you using for bait?
Minnows call for a #2 light wire Aberdeen hook, since you don’t want to kill the minnow before it can attract crappie. This smaller hook also allows for more movement, ideal for slow trolling for crappie. I almost never use a #4 or #6 with minnows, unless I’m just dunking the bait in brush piles to see if there’s any response while trying to avoid getting snagged.
If you’re using minnows with a jig, I still say a #2 hook is the answer. If you want to use a jig with spikes or waxworm though, then go with a #4 or #6 hook instead. With Roadrunner jigs, a 1/8 oz jig with minnows, 1/16 for tubes, grubs and other smaller baits.
I should also mention that hook gap is actually more important than hook size. A live bait hook with a bigger gap lets you go with a smaller size like#6. A small hook is easier for your bait and reduces the odds of losing a crappie by tearing off their lip! Crappies have very soft, easily injured mouths. If you’re doing catch and release, then a smaller hook is better since it causes less damage and gives the fish better odds of surviving the experience.
00 sizes are good for Roostertail, Mepps and other French type spinners. You can go as high as 0 or even 1 if you have especially large crappie in your local waters. 1/8 oz Roostertail or Panther Martins are fine, but anywhere up to ¼ oz works pretty well.
With a Daredevil, go for size 0. If you use crankbaits, you want ultralight models (Rapala or Heddon are good ones); but something like a 1/8 oz Lazy Ike is murder on crappie.
Finally, for all the fly fishers out there, I recommend Clouser Minnow flies and Crappie Candy sized 8-12 depending on your local stock. Tied on a straight-eye streamer hook, these are about as good as crappie fishing gets.
Crappie Fishing Year Round
Like many other fish, you’ll want to use different gear and different strategies to catch crappie depending on the time of year. Suppose you take a weekend to go toe-to-fin with your prey in late June to mid-July. This time of year, you’re not going to find crappie just below the surface in the shallow waters they prefer in the spring.
In the summer, you’re going to have to look for crappie in slightly deeper waters. The summer heat sends the fish to the cooler waters ten to fifteen feet deep.
Crappie fishing is something which you can’t count on for consistency. These are dish with very exacting criteria for conditions to facilitate their reproductive cycle. Crappie are more active as the moon waxes, with many anglers reporting that the most successful crappie fishing of all is to be had around or a little after sunset four to six days before the full moon. Once the moon is full, however, the fish quiet down and the following few days are the worst time of the month for crappie fishing – unless you really can’t wait to get out and fish, you may want to sit these days out or go fishing for something else.
If you insist on crappie fishing during a full moon, count on having to put in some effort to get sluggish crappie interested. Live bait and slow trolling (and a lot of patience) are the best way to go. In contrast, when crappie fishing in the four to six days before the moon is full you’ll have the best luck fast trolling with jigs – they’ll respond well to fast movement when they’re feeling more energetic. Different anglers do better with different baits, especially in the summer. In general though, a 1/16 oz. chartreuse or green jig with a minnow on the tip seems to work pretty consistently.
There are hundreds of thousands of different streams, creeks and lakes all over the US where you’ll find good crappie fishing. However, there’s no one right answer to where the best crappie fishing will be at any given time. Crappies are smaller fish, but they’re abundant and easy to catch. Even beginners can do very well for themselves on a crappie fishing trip; in the spring, it almost doesn’t matter what gear you use or what approach you take. Fishing for crappie in the springtime nearly guarantees that you’ll bring in a great catch of these fish, one of the angler’s favorite catches.
Crappie Fishing 101
Let’s start with the most basic facts – when we say crappie we’re actually talking about two different species, both closely related members of the sunfish family. These two species are white and black crappie.
Black crappie is white or grayish-white in color, with dark gray or black spots which cover their sides. White crappies are named for their lighter colors and have distinctive vertical bars which run down their sides.
The spots and bars on crappie are darker or lighter depending on the kind of water the fish live in and the time of year. In the spring when the fish spawn, male crappies are darker; most of its body may be jet black at this time of year. You can also distinguish the two species by their dorsal spines; white crappie will have 5 or 6 spines, black crappie 7 or 8.
Their appearance may be slightly different, but the two species have much else in common. All crappie have arrays of gill rakers used to strain plankton (a staple of their diet) from water. Crappie will eat nearly anything they can: insects, minnows, crustaceans, small fish and sometimes even prey their own size including threadfin and gizzard shad. Crappies have very healthy appetites, but do most of their feeding from dusk to dawn. They prefer to stay out of the sun and feed less frequently when water temperatures sink below 50 degrees.
While they’re active year round, the spring and fall are the best times to catch crappie. Spring offers a particularly easy catch. Crappie will tend to stay away from shallow waters in the winter months, but once the water starts approaching 50 degrees they’ll start to come out of hiding, hanging around the mouths of creek channels. Once things warm up a little further, they make their way to shallow bays and secondary creeks via creek channels.
This is the time of year I like to get out there and either troll minnows or cast a Road Runner baited with a grub out to stumps and pockets of brush, retrieving the line very slowly. By this time of year you’ll find the males in shallow water scoping out spawning beds while the females hang back in the closest deep water. As it gets closer to spawning season, crappie will be more aggressive feeders and you’ll see baitfish becoming more active. To catch males, try a minnow under a cork in likely spawning beds. For females, you can use a cast into the deeper waters with a slow retrieval to lure them out.
Water surface temperatures from 62-65 degrees are when crappie will begin spawning in earnest. You’ll find black crappie spawning in shallow waters, while white crappies prefer deeper areas, with depths of 10’ or more. The females will move in to the spawning beds only once the time is right. They stay only long enough to deposit their eggs. The males stay behind to guard the nest while the females head back to deeper water to rest. Three to five days and the eggs should be hatched. You’ll do pretty well right now with a live minnow under a cork.
The males stay to protect the nest until their fry are about ½” long before heading out. Once the water gets to around 70 degrees, you can use minnows or a Roadrunner or other jig. Cast and retrieve very, very slowly. When the water is reaching 75 degrees, the males will head back out through the creek channels and rejoin the females in deeper, cooler waters for the summer.
The toughest times for crappie anglers are summer and winter. Crappie head for deep waters after spawning, coming to the shallows to feed only at dawn and dusk; there are exceptions and I know I can’t be the only angler to catch a crappie in shallow water even in the middle of summer. You will sometimes find them in shady areas including under docks, bridges and weed beds which are located near deeper waters.
The fall is a better time for anglers. When the water starts to cool, crappie begin fattening themselves for winter. You’ll find crappie staging not too far from their pre-spawn hangouts and you can do well just casting jigs in the autumn. Personally, I use the same jigs as I do in the spring pre-spawning season.
The good times end soon though. Once water temperatures sink down to the mid-40s, crappie head back to the deeper waters of a lake.
Please note that the water temperatures and times of year will correspond to each other differently depending where you’re located. Water temperatures may reach spawning temperatures as early as late January if you happen to be in Mississippi, but you’ll have to wait until May or June if you’re in Minnesota.
The number one rule with crappie is this: Crappie love cover.
You’ll find them in brush piles, around stumps, rock piles, fallen trees and any and every other submerged or semi-submerged cover.
Vertical jigging is the way to go with these structures – a wax worm-tipped 1/16 or 1/32 oz jig twitched in a brush pile is going to get their attention. A minnow on a Tru-Turn BloodRed hook with a bobber will do the trick nicely as well. Once you’ve found what depth they’re hiding out, work it! Keep fishing at that depth until you’ve caught all you want or you stop bringing them in.