| Our article today is going to focus on some crappie | | | | honest most of the crappie bits you will get using this |
| live bait selections that are often over looked as | | | | live bait will be hard strikes. |
| crappie baits. Any combination of these crappie live | | | | Shad |
| baits can fill your crappie basket so read on for | | | | Shad are another excellent choice if you want to |
| details. Most crappie fisherman never use these | | | | catch a mess of crappies. The shad actually makes |
| crappie baits because they probably never need too | | | | up from 50 to 90 percent of the crappies food |
| 80% of the time if they are fishing with crappie | | | | source in some locations where there are large |
| minnows such as fathead minnows. So why bother | | | | populations of shad. Amazingly shad is not often |
| with these other types of live bait selections for | | | | picked as a crappie fishing live bait selection. Probably |
| crappies? Well there are times that crappies turn off | | | | the main reason is they are hard to keep alive in |
| of the standard crappie live bait selections and you | | | | your bait bucket. But if you can catch them fresh |
| need to try something different or go home empty | | | | and use them right away you will be surprise how |
| handed. We will talk about two of the most common | | | | many crappie will hit this bait and hit it hard! The two |
| alternate crappie baits that work quite well. | | | | types of shad that are populated throughout the |
| Bluegill fry make an excellent live bait selection | | | | united states are the threadfin shad and the gizzard |
| especially if you want to target crappies in ponds | | | | shad. You can use either of these shad in the 2 to 3 |
| where the young fry that crappie feed on are from | | | | inch size range to catch crappie. The smaller size fish |
| bluegill or sunfish hatch. I would recommend you | | | | make excellent a excellent live bait selection. The |
| check with your local department of natural | | | | best way to catch fresh shad is to use cast net. Go |
| resources because in some states using these fry as | | | | to areas such as bridges, power plants piers and rip |
| bait may be illegal. The best size fry to use to catch | | | | rap where shad tend to school. The best way to |
| crappie are 1" to 2" in length. You can use a minnow | | | | keep shad alive is to use a bait container that floats |
| Seine, cast net or minnow trap to catch these fry. | | | | in the water and has freshwater moving in and out |
| You won't find them at any bait shop. Actual bluegill | | | | of it. If you use a bait container on your boat it |
| and sunfish fry make up a big percentage of the | | | | needs to be aerated. these fish like I said will die |
| crappies natural food source. Make sure when you | | | | easily. You can hook shad through the lips or just |
| fish bluegill fry you stay just a little bit farther away | | | | below the dorsal fin. Shad work great where the |
| from the cover then if you were fishing standard | | | | water is very stained and traditional crappie minnows |
| crappie minnows. Bluegill or sunfish fry will tangle very | | | | are not cutting it. |
| easily in any standing cover. It will take a bit of | | | | Well folks that concludes our article about a live bait |
| practice because the bluegill fry may feel exactly like | | | | and crappie live bait We sincerely hope you use our |
| a actual crappie bite to you. So you will need to be | | | | fishing information on your next fishing trip Good |
| able to figure out the difference quickly. But to be | | | | Luck! |