Beating
the Winter Blues
Delta
Crappie
The over looked winter Delta Prize, once you find them it's not
that hard to catch these fish. Basically all you have to do is
put the bait minnow/Wax Worms in front of them. Not that hard,
huh? Last year I was asked to guide for crappie at one of the
shows started working on this drop shotting thing then, wee it
was too late as February I got my first big bass of the year and
it got put to the back burner. Recently here on Fishdelta.com
a crappie string started on the FishDeltabuzz message board and
inspired me to finish this article. What makes crappie fishing
difficult at times is finding them! Brilliant statement isn’t
it How about we just figure out what to look for.
In the winter, you want to look for structure more than cover.
Structure is depth changes or bottom composition of the bottom.
Rock piles trees on the bottom especially in corner eddy’s,
marinas and areas like discovery bay that you need to be targeting.
Don’t be afraid of protected main river corners. Also when
looking for crappie spend time in the back of dead end sloughs
with water or pumps running into them.
For most days any type of jig or minnow fished around these trees/rock
piles will pull in as many fish as you want. For the past year
or so, I have been working on adapting Drop-shotting for Crappie
fishing; We have all marked tons of them on the graph, some of
us have caught them on speed worms or incidentally on Bass baits.
So I spent a few trips targeting them.
I tried conventional baits for several times, not so much minnows,
but jigs wax worms, Beetle spins, when the water was warmer they
all worked well, but as winter has set in and finally I have again
been able to catch them but they want the bait slowly dangled
in there face, hard to do in cover with the wind blowing and a
bobber.
If you are looking for a new twist that may make it a little easier
to eliminate water and let you catch winter delta crappie. Drop
shotting is one of the hottest new techniques for bass on the
pro and amateur tournament trails. Now a lot of people have adopted
it for crappie fishing.
What I have been doing were taking the normal drop shot rig and
making a few small changes to make it crappie ready. Aaron Martens
taught me how to Drop shot years ago, simply, drop shotting is
taking a hook and placing it above your weight. Proper rigging
is the key to this technique. You start by tying on the hook with
a palomar knot, leaving a long tag end usually 4" to 36"
long (I have used this rig with the hook tied as high as 6 foot
above the weight). Pass the line through the hook eye from the
topside down, which will keep the hook straight out. Next, tie
your weight on the bottom, and you are ready to go. Nose hook
the worm or tube you are using on the hook. This is critical,
as the exposed hook is how the fish helps hook itself.
Instead of using the lighter weight, we started using a 1/4 –
½ ounce (Cheap) casting weight and a small curly tail grub
on a stand out drop shot hook just above the weight. The same
In your face principles that bass anglers use for years in the
lakes for spots (another schooling fish) is now the key to delta
crappie success. The bait in the face technique here works the
same picking up and slowly shake it in the structure. Letting
the 3 ½ zoom tube bait (white Pearl Flake) or Robo Worm
Prism Shad fall back to the structure drives the fish crazy. Bites
are light, If the line starts moving or you feel just a little
resistance, don't jerk hard. Instead, just start reeling up and
the fish will hook itself. A slow sweep hookset is all you will
need, as the principals of the hook are that as the fish inhales
your bait, they turn away while chewing or killing its meal.
If you are looking for a way to learn a new technique that will
help you catch not only crappie but bass as well, try the drop
shot like the guys at Mc Clure, the Dan Method, includes eating
a sandwich usually helps the bite when the water is this cold,
eh Bob? Not only will you put another weapon in your fishing arsenal,
but you are very likely to put some fish in the boat on those
dull winter days. Enjoy!
Dan
Mathisen
FishDelta.com
- All Species, All Delta
The
Ultimate Resource For California Delta Fishing
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