BIG CRAPPIE NOW
What Tackle & Lures to Use
 Editor's
Note: If you want to find buried treasure, you have
to search for the places other treasure hunters have
overlooked. You must use research others haven't discovered.
You must develop a method of searching for and finding
the treasure all those who have failed haven't used.
"To find the biggest crappie in any lake, you've
got to fish the spots no one else knows about with a
method no one else uses at a time of year when no one
else fishes," says Gaston Jordan of Alexander City,
Alabama. Jordan catches the most crappie during the
hot summer months by fishing the bottom of any lake
in the middle of that lake. A lone soul anchored down
in a small boat in a vast expanse of water seems out
of place on a large lake as water-skiers and tournament
bass fishermen race by on both sides. The men in these
big boats must wonder if Jordan has lost his mind. But
from May through September, Gaston Jordan finds the
big slab crappie that most other anglers don't catch.
 Although
Jordan prefers to fish the humps with 6-pound-test line,
he opts for 8-pound-test because then he can land almost
any type of fish that swims in a lake. The places Jordan
fishes concentrate most of the game species in a lake.
The bait he uses has proven it will catch fish. "I
fish a 1/16-ounce, lead-headed, bucktail jig,"
Jordan explains. "Above the jig, I pinch a piece
of 1/16-ounce lead onto the line. However, I don't close
the shot lead all the way down on the line. I want the
line to slip through the shot lead. By rigging this
way, I cast a total of 1/8-ounces, which means I can
throw my bait farther than I can when I fish a 1/16-ounce
jig."
Jordan puts the shot lead on the line ahead of the
jig because the split shot tends to sink faster when
it hits the water and falls away from the more buoyant
hollow deer-hair jig. By using the split shot ahead
of the jig, Jordan can cast his jigs like an 1/8-ounce
jig. But the bait will fall slow and hop across the
bottom like a 1/16-ounce jig.
" I
believe crappie see the colors black and red best,"
Jordan says. "I paint the eyes of my jigs black
and use red string to wrap natural white deer hair or
dyed yellow deer hair to the jig. I've also noticed
when baitfish get excited or try to move away from a
predator fish, they'll often flare their gills. Prey
fish like bass and crappie see the red of the these
gills and attack. I've proved -- at least to myself
--that I catch more fish, especially crappie, when I
wrap deer hair onto my jigs with red string than when
I use any other color of wrapping." Sometimes Jordan
dyes the deer hair of his jigs chartreuse or pink. I
got kidded when I first came out with my pink jig,"
Jordan remembered. "But the kidding stopped when
I took that pink bucktail jig out on the lake and caught
crappie with it. I know crappie are extremely color
sensitive. I've learned that when they won't take the
white or the yellow jigs, they will hit pink. I've caught
fish that have weighed as much as 25 pounds on these
little jigs, although I do have to admit, that 25-pounder
was a carp."
 To
catch more crappie this summer, search the middles of
lakes for bottom structure, and try Jordan's tactics.
Although these strategies primarily take crappie, don't
be surprised if you catch some of the many kinds of
fish that live in a lake. Jordan does.
For more information about how to find and catch crappie,
order "The Masters' Secrets of Crappie Fishing"
by John E. Phillips by calling (800) 627-4295, using
PayPal or sending a check or a money order for $13.50,
which includes shipping and handling, to 4112 Camp Horner
Road Birmingham, AL 35243. You can learn more by visiting
www.nighthawkpublications.com/fishing/masterscrappie.htm.
|
