I've been fishing for bass and bluegills for 60-years, but never fished for crappie, for some reason. I've caught a few by mistake, but that's all i know about them.

Besides a live minnow.... what's a good crappie lure to go catch a few on Lake Jordan and Martin?

Thanks for your help...

any 1/16 to 1/32 ounce jig. Light colors in clear water and dark in muddy water. I keep several colors and both marabou and soft plastic.

Grab some Bobby Garland Baby Shad jig bodies and go after'em. Like RH said, use the colors dictated by water color. BGBS Pink Phantom color works good sometimes in both clear and muddy water. I mostly use Monkey Milk and Blue Ice in clear water. I have some darker stuff for the occasional muddy water I fish.

http://www.bobbygarlandcrappie.com/babyshad

And subscribe to this guys Youtube channel so you can see how it's supposed to work. It doesn't work that way for me pretty often, but it's something to shoot for. And yes, all us north AL folks act like him.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzGaX29DR0VlH2tUCODFixg

About 20 years ago I was a minner fisherman where crappie were concerned. A guy I worked with befriended me and showed me how to jig fish. The first time we went,I carried 3 dozen minners and about 6 rods. We went up in a slough full of stumps and I started setting out minners trying to find some crappie.

My buddy watched me and took his time. When I was done,he pulled out an ultralight rig and some 1/32oz jigs. I had never much used jigs except on the river and then about 1/4 oz because I had never fished ultralight. My new friend started dragging out slabs from all around my minnows with those jigs. He caught about 7 before I had caught a fish,and from within a foot or two of my minnows.

I must have had a real bad look on my face after that seventh fish,cause he took pity on me and set me up with a spare rig he had in the boat. We caught a limit in less than 2 hours there and all but 3 or 4 on jigs,even though I was still fishing with at least 2 rods with minnows all that time. Since,I have used ultralight on lots of fish and enjoy it more than about any other kind of fishing.

Thanks guys for the kind replies....

I use a 1/16 weedless jig, with 2 inch slider or curly tail grub in black/chartreuse. I have also used the road runner under spin bait, again 1/16 black/chartreuse.

I like to use a 6'6" rod rated 1/32 to 1/4 oz. Pair that with your favorite spinning reel with your favorite 4-6 lb line and jigs and go at it. Water and structure will determine which jigs will be productive,but basically it will be the ones that can get to the fish,that they can see,and that stays in the strike zone the longest.

I've used jigs suspended in cover by a tiny float when the wind was good enough to wiggle the jig. You just have to keep a tight line and strike at the first bump.

I pour my own jigs.... with plain and sickle hooks.

What size is best for crappie?

Thanks

Bobby garland baby shad, monkey milk

I make most all my jigs whether it be 1/16 or 1/32 oz. with a light wire #2 eagle claw hook. I like being able to straighten the hook mostly instead of breaking off. In my opinion most of the bobby garlands (2") and other grubs fit the #2 hook size best.

#2 hook 1/32 oz for me 90% of the time. I do think in tight brush a #4 would be better but unfortunately I don't know where a whole lot of that is.

If I'm single pole fishing, I always use a light wire hook. I only use sickle hooks when I'm pulling jigs.

I am planning to fish crappie on the fly this year; think that would be fun.
Anybody else do that ? Tips?

A fly rod would make a fine minnow dunker.

not what I have in mind; fly rods are for casting

put an UL spinning reel on that sucker. Great for dropping minnows in brush piles.

I know nothing about fly fishing

Back to hooks.... a #2 hook sure looks kinda big to me, especially on a little 4# line.

Maybe a big hook if you're catchin big crappie.

These little thin bodied grubs I had laying around are around half the diameter of a bobby garland. I don’t have any jigs poured with #4’s right now so I just slipped the grub on for a comparison of a #4 (left) and 1/16 #2 (right). I have caught a bunch of 5” crappie on a #2 hook. Personally I don’t see any reason to use anything less than a #2 unless you are dropping down to the 1.25 grubs then I want a #6 but that’s mainly for bream.

I use to think a #2 was too big until I found out that lots of people in MS use 1/0 hooks. Those guys who fish the "Big 4" swear by em. You'd have to use 3" grubs to use that large a hook. You'll lose lots less fish on a bigger hook. You get more roof of the mouth hookups instead of lip hook ups.