ADVENTURE SPORTS OUTDOORS “THE VOICE OF THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN”
120
May 2004
The Spin On Spring Crappies
spinners come in almost every color in the rainbow, from orange to white to blue (and every color in between). Some colors are best based upon prevailing weather conditions, like bright day = bright colors and dark day = dark colors. Other colors are made for different water conditions. Fluorescent colors are often the hot ticket when the water has been muddied by spring rain storms. That’s when fluorescent chartreuse and fluorescent orange (and others) are best. Fishing for crappies in the springtime is an annual ritual for many Midwestern Natural or muted colors like brown, smoke and green are usually better when anglers, and I must admit that I’m one of them. There is just nothing like the the water is clear and the fish can see them better. There are no absolute rules, feeling of seeing a 13 or 14 inch (or 15 inch!) crappie come up to the surface though, so experimentation is always important. out of the depths after a harrowing battle on ultralight tackle. That’s when your Popular Crappie Spinners heart races and you yell “Get the net!” Johnson Beetle Spins are deadly for spring crappies, I can distinctly remember a cloudy early-spring day in the whether you are working on schooling fish around subnot-so-distant past, when I found a small school of crappies merged weedbeds or whether you are targeting individuals holding around a sparse weedbed in 8 or 9 feet of water. I that are spawning in shallow water. Two Beetle Spin colors was using a small Beetle Spin that was green with black that are absolutely fantastic for crappies are the green body stripes, and the crappies were jumping all over it. They were with black stripes (catalpa) and the white body with red all big pre-spawn slabs, too, averaging between 12 and 13 spots. inches and weighing a pound or more. The classic Mister Twister spinners can also spell doom They would not rise up and hit the spinner if I ran it too for unsuspecting papermouths. Mister Twister Curly Tail fast or too close to the surface. I had to reel it in slowly, and Grubs come in a wide variety of colors, and the curly tail let it flutter down to the tops of the weeds. If the presentahas excellent action underwater. Some of my favorite tion was just right, they would nonchalantly glide up off of springtime colors include plain white, plain yellow, charthe bottom and suck the bait it. It was almost magical. Ever treuse and white/pink firetail. Plain white is particularly since that day, small spinners have been among my favorite good when paired with a pink jighead. spring crappie baits. If the crappies become finicky and won’t hit a larger spinCrappies have always been attracted to spinners, and they ner, switch to a Mister Twister 3” Meeny or even a 2” Teenie are still falling for them today. Inline spinners and safety grub. Downsizing often results in good action when the pin-style spinners (spinnerbaits) are both productive, but fishing gets tough. If the fish want something even smaller, the safety pin-style spinners are probably the most widely Ken Crappie! go with a Mister Twister 1” Li’l Bit spin combo (1/32 oz). used by crappie fishermen. Tiny baits can be deadly. Spinners are such good crappie baits because they use three different attracFor those who prefer inline spinners, I have found that ultralite Mepps Aglia tion factors. The first is the silver spinner blade. Spinner blades revolve and and Comet Mino spinners are very good. The tiny Mepps Spin Fly is another spin faster and slower depending on the retrieve speed. When the blade spins, it great choice. I prefer spinners with a polished silver blade for crappies rather catches sunlight and reflects it - resembling silvery minnows and other baitfish. than a gold or copper blade, and I usually use one with a white or red tail. My The flash from the spinner blade is a major attractor. other favorite inline crappie spinner is a small white Rooster Tail spinner. The second attraction factor is the spinner body itself. The spinner body repOne thing is for sure: when crappies hit the shallows in the spring, they can resents a minnow or other prey animal that the crappie can key-in on once it is be caught in great numbers with spinners. When the action really heats up, small attracted by the flashy spinner blade. Some spinner bodies have a single or douspinners can even outproduce live bait since no time is lost re-baiting (and you ble tail, while others have a curly tail that undulates and seems to “swim” in the don’t have to worry about running out of minnows!). Give spinners a try this water. All of these factors help convince a hungry crappie to take the bait. year and see for yourself! The final and often most important attraction factor, is the body color. Crappie
by Tom Berg
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