As the water begins to warm early season spring crappie fishing begins to heat up. Follow these crappie fishing tips for catching specks in March and early April.
Start out fishing with jigs.
There is a general idea among crappier anglers that since early season fishing is a bit tougher and the crappie are more dispersed that you should start out fishing with live minnows. I have found this to be relatively ineffective, however, compared to early season crappie fishing with jigs.
The idea behind early season crappie fishing is to locate the fish. Whether you are in a boat or on foot, you want to move around and vary your depth and presentation. Waiting for early season crappie to come to you is a lazy way to fish and it won’t reward you with as many specks.
That makes jigs a much better choice than minnows. Jigs can be quickly and repeatedly fished in many different situations that are more time consuming with live bait. You can vary your style and color with jigs which can be a key to early season crappie.
Most importantly, you can vary the depth on jigs quickly and repeatedly trying to find out where early season crappie are located. Depth is a key to early season crappie and jigs make it easier to find them before you settle down and work on a hole or bed.
Use tube and straight jigs.
In colder water you don’t want as much action on the lure. Normally I prefer curly-tailed jigs for crappie, but in cold water you should go with tube and straight-tailed jigs. Curly-tails have a little too much action to look life-like in cold water.
Fish your jigs slowly.
In cold early season water you want to fish your jigs very slowly. Early season crappie are still somewhat lethargic. Bites may be tentative and light, and my not come at all if you’re zipping the jig right on past the crappie.
Go with small jigs.
You never want to use very big jigs with crappie, but it is especially important to go small in the spring. Jigs should all be between 1 and 2 inches. In many situation you can fish them under a bobber, constantly varying your depth. In a boat you can troll them along the shoreline.
Fish a productive spot well.
When you finally do locate some early season crappie fish the spot well and come back to it often. Crappie may not be biting in a gung ho fashion yet, but they will be gathered together.
As the water warms into the spring productive spots will see increased action, sometimes suddenly turning on after just a day of warm weather.
Keep these early spring crappie fishing tips in mind as you head out to the lake or pond to get a start on the crappie fishing season.
For more fishing tips see my blog A Dash Of Salty
