There are times you’re going to be out there fishing where the bait never even touches bottom and you get frustrated because no one will touch it on top, maybe this is the time of year and the place to be catching them and they aren’t touching your plastic. More often than not, it’s not the temperature and it’s not the clarity of the water. It’s what happens to the bait as soon as it come to the top.
How To Choose Crappie Soft Plastics
Understanding Crappie Feeding Behavior
Crappie is very picky eaters. They’re also very visual predator. They don’t pester prey as a bass or pike will.
They sit there waiting on an easy meal to come along and won’t chase much of anything, unless it’s something naturaly-looking and filtering through the water column. That’s why your soft plastic need to mimic this natural drift flawlessly. The more mechanical the movement and fight against current, the more the fish just turn their nose up at it.
Soft Plastic Material and Firmness
If you want to understand what makes some plastics more effective than others, it’s important to examine what they are made of. Does it flutter softly or is it hard and resilient? Will it look like a dying shrimp or a piece of debris?
That can be the difference between an empty boat and a full cooler. Material firmness are the first consideration. Standard rubber bait retain their form and stand up to abuse.
They will last forever on your hook. But that’s the problem. Crappie see the hardness of hard plastic and often reject it out-of-hand.
Because they don’t move naturaly in the water, these baits fights the water instead of working with it. This is less true for soft plastic bait, especially those formulated from porous or gel type materials. Bait company such as Z-Man and Keitech has started this category of essentially indestructible-yet-limp baits.
With each change in current they compress and expand. They move in a lifelike way that produces strikes. This give the appearance of movement to the fish, rather than being manipulated.
Matching Bait Action to Water Speed
Then, you have to pair the action with water speed. A swimbait that sink slowly, like the Keitech Swim Jerk, is awesome in standing water. It gives you some forward motion but not so much that it spook the school.
Gently pumping it along and letting it float allows for a subtle wake which look like a small baitfish suspended on the current. Now change gears and move to some flowing water. This is where that floating stick bait like the Reaction Innovations Zoom Swimz are your weapon of choice.
As you will find out, this thing floats right at the top in any current. Cast upstream and allow it to float down to them. They don’t have to chase it because it looks like an easy meal and they can barely move against the current.
Color Selection Based on Water Clarity
Color selection matters, but water clarity is much more important Crappie’s lack of color vision when deep means that contrast are key. Pink, white and chartreuse won’t go wrong. But it’s clearer where clarity comes into play.
Darker hues (watermelon red, black/blue) will cut through murk due to their silhouette in dingy water. They know what it is, a shape. Natural colors (flake patterns, green pumpkin) offer a realistic look which helps get those wary bite in clear water.
Rigging Techniques and Patience
The final part of the puzzle is rigging technique. With a drop shot, you can finesse the bait down to an exact level. The bait hang just over the weight and the weight touches bottom.
It holds the bait in the strike zone longer. And because crappie are often finicky fish, letting them have time to inspect the bait helps. Finally, be patient.
Patience is your best friend in crappie fishing. Don’t keep jerking on that rod. Let the bait work.
Pay attention to your line. A small tick is all you’ll get sometimes and it’s enough to let you know you have something. And when you do, set the hook smooth and hard.
Using soft plastics for crappie isn’t rocket science, it’s an exercise in understanding how materials work in water and displaying something that appears to be effortlessly edible. Get the action correct; let the fish come to you. Fill the cooler and the frustration will dissapear from your mind.
