Early Spring Crappie

Article and Photo By: Ken McBroom
www.ramblingangler.com

Crappie will be moving into the spawning areas of your lake. Look in coves with a gradual progression from deep water. If you find a cove with lots of wood and at least some gravel along its bank you should find some slabs spawning in and around this cover. Red clay banks will attract more spawning crappie than you might think. Some clay banks have gravel in the clay and the crappie can fan away the clay and make a great bed to lay her eggs so don't overlook red clay banks with lay-downs for spawning crappie.

Of course a live minnow under a bobber will always work on spawning crappie but a jig is a lot less hassle and at times will catch more crappie. I have found that a jig will work as well or better than a minnow during the spawning phase due to the more active crappie as well as the defensive strikes you get when the spawning crappie are on their bed.

Spawning crappie can be caught from shore and if you can find a rocky bank leading into a shallow cove you might have found a great transition and staging area for the crappie moving up to spawn. A mistake I see many anglers make is to move around a lot during this time of year. I have found that if you stay put you can catch your share of crappie that come to you. Locate a good looking piece of cover and give it some time. If you catch a crappie, especially if it is a good one, hang tight. So many crappie anglers think that the crappie are supposed to "be there" but many times it is much more productive to catch the fish that are coming to you. You may not catch one after another but consistently catch crappie and by the end of the trip you will probably have as many or more crappie than those that are looking for the pile of fish in one spot. By sitting tight and catching one crappie every once and awhile you draw much less attention to your productive log or brush-pile leaving the great fishing to yourself. I promise if you are pulling in one fish after another you will have company and they will quickly catch the crappie there and move on. I like to consistently pull in my crappie and usually you will catch the bigger crappie because the bigger crappie are a little less likely to hang out with other, smaller crappie and as you pull one big crappie out of the cover it leaves it available for the next big crappie moving up to spawn.

I hope these tips help you put more crappie in the basket. For more tips visit http://www.ramblingangler.com

SMALLMOUTH BASS

CATCH MORE SMALLMOUTH

by: Ken McBroom

I can remember as a boy wading creeks and streams in search of smallmouth bass. There is no better fighter on the end of your line than the acrobatic smallmouth bass. I have often referred to the smallmouth bass as the poor mans trout and the beauty of a bronzeback is unmatched to me. There are many ways to catch smallmouth and listed here are just three of my favorite.

 

Small crankbaits probe small streams for prowling smallmouth. photo by: Ken McBroom www.ramblingangler.com

SMALL CRANKBAITS: There is nothing more fun than to put on an old pair of sneakers and shorts and wade one of the many creeks or small streams scattered all over the tri-state area. One of the best lures to catch smallmouth bass in these small waters is the small crankbait. There are many crankbaits to choose from but my favorite is the new DT series by Rapala. The DT-4 is the perfect size for small streams and creeks and with the sure-set style hooks can handle those occasional four pounders you might run into. Crawdad patterns seem to work really well in creeks and streams but sometimes a sunfish pattern is the ticket.

When fishing creeks and streams I like to throw my small crankbaits with a spinning outfit. A small spinning reel with 6-8 pound test line works great. Another good line choice is 10 pound braid because with 4 pound test diameter and less memory you can cast your crankbait a mile. Braid also stands up well to all the trees and rocks where the smallmouth bass love to hang out. I like a six-foot rod, or even shorter when the creek or stream has a lot of trees along its bank. The shorter rod allows for precise placement of your bait underneath those trees and that is where the bass like to hang.

 Slip floats are great for fishing jigs over deep structure for smallmouth bass. photo by : Ken McBroom

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FLOAT-N-FLY: Many bass anglers target largemouth Bass because there are more of them and they tend to be a little easier to catch as they stick to the more visible cover. However, when one of these anglers hook into a smallmouth they vow to catch more of them someday. Very few bass anglers can truly be labeled strictly a smallmouth Bass Angler. However, there are some who have taken the practice of catching these ghosts of the deep to a whole new level.

A technique created to catch big smallmouth bass is the float-n-fly technique. The fly used in this technique is actually a lead-head jig tied like a fly. The longtime traditional materials for the smallmouth fly or hair jig is deer hair or squirrel hair. Today there are many synthetic materials that make great flies for the float-n-fly rig. Colors range from natural to bright depending on the clarity of water and whether it is sunny or overcast. Natural colors in clear water and bright colors in dingy or muddy water.

The fly is attached to the line beneath a float. The slip-bobber has become more popular in recent years and makes it easier to cast. The float-n-fly rig is usually used when the water is cold and the smallmouth bass are a little sluggish and deep. The float should be between 9 to 12 feet above the fly and worked super slow. The hair on the fly will pulsate with very little current and pauses of 30 seconds or more are not uncommon. A quick twitch with the rod tip after the pause is all that is needed before another long pause. The strike often come just after the twitch but the pause is important to getting the smallmouth to commit to your presentation.

 The original floating rapala has brought many smallmouths to hand.  photo by: Ken McBroom

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FLOATING RAPALA: The original floating Rapala has been bringing smallmouths to the boat for

many years. Probably the most over-looked presentation, and arguably the most fun, has to be twitching an original floating Rapala over deep clear water. The smallmouth just cannot hardly resist this presentation and when they refuse to hit anything else you can usually coax some up this way. I have caught smallmouth bass with the floating Rapala on top when the water temperature is in the 40's. The trick is to convince the smallmouth below that there is a dying shad struggling to swim. Shad cannot tolerate cold water and weaker shad will begin to die when the water temps reach the low 40's. Smallmouth bass are cold-blooded and will not expend the energy needed to chase baitfish but when it just sits there, motionless, it will trigger the smallmouth to move up and take the easy meal. Sometimes a smallmouth will come from 40 or more feet below to smack your bait.

The way to fool these smallmouth is to cast your floating Rapala close to shore along deep bluff banks. Let the Rapala sit initially for several seconds before the first twitch. When you twitch the Rapala just a couple quick snaps with a slightly slack line will be enough to entice a bite. Let the Rapala sit several more seconds and repeat. This technique allows the bait to stay over the fish longer and convinces them that the dying shad isn't going anywhere fast and this will trigger a strike. Oftentimes it is an explosive strike and it will surprise you, be prepared and don't set the hook too quick and pull the lure out of the smallmouth's mouth. Give the fish a second to get the bait into its mouth and your hook-up success will go up. To find even more smallmouth bass tips visit www.ramblingangler.com

PACA CRAW IN DEFENSIVE POSITION DRIVES BASS CRAZY

You can see in these images that the rattles along with the Lindy float in the nose really help bring this bait to life. Notice the top image and the claw bent back the next photo was taken a couple seconds later after the claw slowly moved to the front it was great watching it in my fish tank. I never use a rig at the lake without testing it in my tank first. It can tell you so much about the action and the best way to retrieve the bait for the best results. Sometimes the Paca Craw stands straight up and the rattles act just like legs and I know if my bait lands in these positions 90% of the time It will trigger bites even when the bite is slow. This is a great flipping rig that will help you hook-up more. The Trokar hook is awesome and will pentrate the hardest part of a bass' mouth. I believe this rig will help you catch more bass this season so give it a shot and have fun!

ADDING LINDY FLOATS TO THE PACA CRAW

Adding the Lindy Snell float to the nose cavity of the Paca Craw really makes this rig special. This float in the nose helps the bait maintain its defensive posture while you let it soak in the strike zone. Watching this thing in the water is awesome as the claws actually will move for a couple seconds without any movement from the line as long as the head stays up and this Lindy float keeps those claws up. The hollow body traps air and occasionally will release a bubble. If the bass thought this crawfish was fake I am sure that the bubbles go a long way to convincing an otherwise reluctant bass into striking your bait.

BUCK-SHOT RATTLES ON PACA CRAW RIG

That lower barb that was mentioned above now comes in handy for my next favorite addition to this rig. John Peterson's Buck-Shot Rattles. Notice the lower bait keeper barb is a perfect rattle keeper barb and the addition of this rubber ring on this barb also acts as a bait keeper in and of itself.

I use the rattles for the noise as I always use a rattle and these double leg rattles seemed perfect for this rig and as you can see in the final photo on this page you will see it helps the bait stand up and keeps it from falling onto its side which will eliminate one of the most important aspects of this rig. The defensive posture of the bait. One of the complaints of finesse anglers is that the craws do not stand up like a worm. The worm tail will float up no matter what way it lays the craw needs to be up-right and with these added rattles it does that. The 5" Paca Craw is great for all these addition as it has enough room to add them and the NETBAIT PACA CRAW is the only 5 inch craw I have seen and the hollow body just makes it better.

PACA CRAW RIGGED ON TROKAR FLIPPING HOOK

The 5" Paca Craw is a great bait for this rig. The hollow body means versatility in the bait providing a cavity to load with scents, a place to hide your hook point to keep it weedless and my favorite, the Lindy Rig Snell Float inserted into this cavity. This is explained later in this tip. Read on!

If you notice in the photo the lower bait keeper barb is on the outside of the plastic. The hook eye is brought deep into the Paca Craw. Visualizing in the photo where the hook eye is in the bait you will notice it is about 3/4 of an inch from the bullet weight. This allows for hook point movement even if the bass has the weight against its mouth. When the hook eye slams into the weight it flips up or down depending on which way it is facing when you set the hook or just pull on your line. Remember this rig is to help you hook fish even when you didn't know they struck your bait.

The beauty is that the line slides in the weight and will pull the hook inside the bass' mouth and before it can spit the bait out your hook set is already in progress. Either the point will find meat or if not the bass must open its mouth much further to clear the hook point.The bobber-stops you see in the first image are important not only to peg your weight where you want it but the bottom stop protects your line all the way through the hook eye. The rubber bobber-stops in my opinion is the only way to go. The ones shown here are made by Eagle Claw.

FLIPPING RIG WITH PACA CRAW AND TROKAR HOOK

A great way to rig the 5 inch Paca Craw is with a straight shank hook. The snelled straight shank is going to give you the most solid hook-up of any other configuration. Not only does the snelled straight shank, like this Trokar flipping hook, provide for the most direct power to the hook but when threaded through the eye correctly as shown in the image ( click to enlarge) the bullet weight slams into the hook eye and causes the hook to slam into the mouth of the bass. You can see a slight off-set in the photo but when more pressure is applied to the sinker the cam action is even more pronounced.

I like this rig all the time but especially when the bass are biting lightly. When a cold front moves through or when fishing pressure has the bass a little lathargic and their bite is so light it is barely detectable this rig allows the hook point to move inside the bass' mouth even when its lips are clinched only on the sinker. Many times a bass will barely take the bait, usually a jig when flipping, and their teeth are aligned perfectly to grip the soft lead of a weight and the hook point never touches the inside of the bass' mouth even though you might have had the bass on for a few seconds before it spit your bait. Anyway this rig is to help avoid this. I have pretty much stopped using a jig and this cam action isn't the only thing in this set-up that improves hook-ups. Read on!