Help tightlining for Crappie

[Transplanted Sportsman]

I went to Normandy last Saturday to try this new technique on Crappies, I had 4 long poles, 12-14 ft long with a 1 oz weight 6 lb fluorocarbon and a two hook rig, one had a minnow the other had a Crappie magnet I tried, killer klat, bison, and the purple redemption with no hits, finally around 3 pm when the wind picked up to about 12 mph I caught 2 keepers at aboout 14 ft deep in 21 fow with no structure around, but that was all I had to show for the entire day, in the past I have seen some people doing this at Normandy before I was interested in Crappie fishing but I really do not have the know how, I tried the ussual places I fished in the spring and summer and no crappie was found, where do they go??, where should I begin my search?? how deep?what are the fundamentals for this type of fishing?, I slowly trolled around the 15 to 30 fow sections doing some figure "S" but mainly was looking for brush piles, any info would be appreciated, thanks in advance!!
TS

[Transplanted Sportsman]

I guess not :D!!!Lol!!!, y'all are as tight lipped on this issue as them Crappies were last Saturday!!, c'mon folks, 83 views and not a single reply!, if you are not comfortable sharing info on here you can PM me don't be shy, my daughter and I will be very thankful!!

[Alphahawk]

I tight lined years ago when I had a boat. You first have to find where crappie are at and then get the depth right. You probably know they will not go down for a bait so it has to be above them. Important to be able to feel the bite. Most do it with minnows but some use jigs......that is what I used. Tight lining is defined several ways by folks. To me it was a creep along trolling and sometimes just fishing vertically. But no matter how you do it if you are too deep it does not produce. As for where to find them look for brush....bridge pilings...breaks and drop offs. When the water hits about 60-58 degrees fish should be a lot more active. Plus the day you went they could have just been turned off. Crappie are notorious for turning on and off. The bite may last for 30 minutes and then they just quit....still there but they have lock jaw. Or the bite could last for several hours. If you find a place that has crappie and you catch a few, and then they quit you need to either stay at that spot and wait on them to start back up or make a point to check back at same location if you have moved elsewhere and have not caught any fish. I can't emphasize enough that depth is very important. I hope this helps you some.




Regards

[jaycee]

I fish using what in the day was called a KY (Lake ) Rig. I still call it that, ha. Weight on the bottom with two dropper hooks 18 inches apart above the weight. Call me if you want to fish this way sometime, I live in the 'Boro. Best for deep, over 12 feet. I use mostly summertime. I just placed over 20 bamboo attractors in JPP so should be ready later.

Bryan Carper, JPP guide, tightlines using 1/8 double cross jig and CM. He has brush marked.

Find some old Crappie Magazines or check out Crappie.Com for more info. Also use utube to research.

Jim Duckworth has a video about crappie fishing avail at BPS. He learned much from Harold Morgan, the Champ. crappie fisherman/guide.

Send me a PM for phone number.

[Transplanted Sportsman]

Mr Randy, we crept along very slow, sometimes just drifted with the wind and used the TM just to stay on course or correct the approach and keep the baits in front of the boat, I knew about keeping the bait just above the fish, but mainly wanted to know about where to look for them in the fall and winter, not only I did not get bites on the normal spring and summer hangouts, there was no fish marked on the sonar, so I just started to move along towards the main lake in 15-35 fow making some turns to see if I could connect and notice a pattern, I covered very little water, all the people I talked saturday at the ramp were bass fishermen and they reported very few bites, it may have been the time of day/conditions, I will continue to use Crappie and trout magnets and minnows on two hook rigs, do these fish just move deeper or do they migrate to a different area of the lake in fall/winter?, thanks Mr Randy!!

[Transplanted Sportsman]

Will do, thanks Jaycee!!

[creekcrappie]

I fish using what in the day was called a KY (Lake ) Rig. I still call it that, ha. Weight on the bottom with two dropper hooks 18 inches apart above the weight. Call me if you want to fish this way sometime, I live in the 'Boro. Best for deep, over 12 feet. I use mostly summertime. I just placed over 20 bamboo attractors in JPP so should be ready later.

Bryan Carper, JPP guide, tightlines using 1/8 double cross jig and CM. He has brush marked.

Find some old Crappie Magazines or check out Crappie.Com for more info. Also use utube to research.

Jim Duckworth has a video about crappie fishing avail at BPS. He learned much from Harold Morgan, the Champ. crappie fisherman/guide.
When I fished with Brian we tight lined for crappie with live minnows and splint shots.
Send me a PM for phone number.

[bfish]

Sounds like to me, that you were moving too slow. When the wind picked up, so did your bites. Otherwise I don't see any fault in your technique.

Here in E. TN my old man limited out in 3 hours with cranks on Fri and again Sat, again at much faster speeds.

[Transplanted Sportsman]

Thanks fellas!!!, I will keep trying, someday will hit the crappie jackpot!!:)

[jaycee]

It helps to know where structure is located. Place it yourself. Watch other fishermen with markers. Make mental notes. Go back later and find on sonar. Cruise in slow days. JPP is full of brush by people doing their "homework". Mark while trolling.

[Transplanted Sportsman]

Jaycee, I have a couple of locations marked but just too small in my opinion, how big are the bamboo atractors you are placing?, I have a friend who places Christmas trees as atractors every year at Woods and every now and then at Normandy, but he says that these need to be the size of a small car (at least) in order to atract Crappie effectively, this guy only Crappie fishes and he catches a lot more fish than I do, is there any truth to this statement or can you get by with a smaller atractor?, also how deep do you place these? are you able to fishe them year round?? do they need to be close to any particular feature, like points, bends, creek channels, stump fields, how about bottom composition, does it have to be gravel, rock, mud, etc? Pm me if you care, thank you!!

[jaycee]

The Crappie.com has an on going discussion about brush attractors. Christmas trees are what TWRA uses around some of their attractors. Too easy to hang up but they work. There are commercial fish attractors. These get pricey. http://www.mossbackrack.com/

I do different depths but like to be close to the channel and in an area they do not wash off.

Crappie will gather around most any type structure at any given time. Something as small as a stump. Just hard to locate.
Old Hickory lake is known for holding crappie under the deeper privately owned boat docks.

Some houseboat owners drop structure near their boats at the dock to provide easy fishing. Look for it.

Again refer to crappie.com and utube. It is where I got my info. Google fish attractors for crappie. Keep you busy for awhile.

[Transplanted Sportsman]

Thanks Jaycee, will do that!!