Thanks for the replies must say I just don’t have much confidence in them. Come open water I just smash <em class=”ido-tag-em”>panfish and bass on ultra Rippin raps one of my favorites. I do move a lot looking for active fish but this ice season has just not been my friend. Also I’m not bashing any certain company or lure what works well for me may not work for you. Point is my best <em class=”ido-tag-em”>walleye and <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>bass lure is a Rapala count down. Most say they never catch anything on them for me it’s the best lure.
If you are doing well with these baits during the spring or summer or fall, you need to start paying attention to what is happening around you: what’s the weather like on a given day, what’s the barometer doing, where is the wind blowing from/too, where are the fish in the water column, etc. Actively feeding crappies hit much larger baits than what you are giving them credit for.
IF you do well on summer crappies, mirror what you are doing then during the winter and think of crappies having two seasons, not four. Summer/winter and spring/fall can have crappies using almost identical waters and the bites can be near identical. In the wiinter don’t be focuses on all the fish on the bottom. Look for marks on the locator in mid-water column that appear for five seconds or so then go away. Those can likely be feeding crappies. Get the bait up and slightly above of where those marks are showing and work them. Matt’s above post’s first sentence speaks volumes when using larger baits. Don’t get so aggressive with working them, you don’t need to lift them a foot. 3″ is plenty and control the drop so you are in constant touch with the lure. Lift, drop. Rest ten seconds or more, maybe give the rod a tap or two with a finger during this rest. Lift, drop. Just because some of these lures are way larger than that dink jig with a bug on doesn’t mean that they get worked as hard as the dink jig.
Another thing you can do is find a middle-of-the-road lure size. Eurotackle’s Z-Vibers come in 1/16 and the new 1/32 sizes and are superb crappie baits in both under-the-ice and open water venues. I find the 1/16 size the absolute best for crappie fishing in cold water, but I do replace the single hook with the treble. Many places where these can be bought also sell the small replacement #14 treble packages right there in the Z-Viber display. DO NOT let that #14 hook fool you into thinking its too small! The 1/32 size is so small I have trouble getting the damned hooks out of fish without having to have my glasses on so I don’t use them anymore, but they’ll catch a ton of fish too. Joes has always had a super good selection of Z-Vibers if you need direction in finding some.
James was asked once here about why IDO was sponsored by one something one year and another something the next year. His answer was advertising dollars. Can’t knock that as it helps keep this site afloat, but just because something is not shown here or mentioned in the shows does not mean that it is not a fish catching bait.
I asked a pro fisherman who is well known this person said it’s all about the sales not what works and said for sunnies use small jigs.
