Crappie fishing

Crappie fishing on Swan Lake. Local private lake subdivision>

The launch always entertaining>

Not exactly a wall mounter but very tasty.

The bait. Its a sixty fourth oz. lead head with a chartreuse plastic body and tipped with a wax worm. Ive seen bigger wax worms but thats what the guy sold me :curse: One problem with such a small bait is you catch smaller size fish usually.>

Not a bad day for three hours of fishing.

Use a small fishing reel I use a zebco 33 but an open face works well if you like them. Six lb..monofilament for pan fish so the very light lure will cast and wont sink too fast. Crappies will suspend in a thermal layer in the water this time of year where they prepare for winter. Crappie eyes are set in the top of their heads so they feed going up. Once you find the right depth try to stay above that layer while casting or trolling. Retrieve or troll very slowly to maintain the correct depth. The strike may be very light and setting the hook is usually unnecessary as they tend to hook themselves. They are nick named "paper mouth" because of the thin skin in their mouth so dont "horse" them in when they are hooked.

You can scrape the scales off with a knife blade or spoon and gut them or fillet them. I prefer fillet so no bones. Deep fry fresh rather than freezing is my preference. Shake fillets in a zip lock bag with flour and some sea food mix dusting powder. UMMMMM :thumbup:

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I tought I taw a talaban