Bait for Croppie

Question
Have you ever used maggots kept clean in cornmeal.Have asked several shops in Murfreesboro,Tn. Said they never heard of it. Used them in Ohio many yrs ago for blue gill.Next week croppie tourney want to win!!!

Answer
Nancy; I have used various kinds of maggots for bluegills and have occasionally caught a crappie on one but I think that was just a chance thing.  I have caught crappie on plastic worms too but If I were fishing for crappie I believe I would depend on one of three things.  Small livly minnows would be choice one,  Next would be a small feather jig and finally a small spinner such as a flicker or beetle spin. A little  trick that I learned many years ago is to buy the tiniest in-line spinner I could find and tie it to my line and put the hook on the clip of the spinner.  As your minnow swims around the spinner flashes and sometimes this will attract the crappie.  

Basically crappie are minnow eaters.  Far more crappie are caught on minnows than anything else.  Jigs, small spinners etc. are intended to immitate a minnow.   Still if you have the maggots it wouldn't hurt to give them a try if you find a place where crappie are biting well.

Remember in your crappie tourneyment that crappie are school fish and finding them is the first problem.  Next they will be at a specific depth regardless of the depth of the water.  I have found them feeding eighteen inches deep in water that was thirty feet deep.  Do keep trying different depths both of water and different depths in deep water.  

I hope this has been of some help.  I went a little beyond your question.  I hope you don't mind.

Good luck in your tourneyment next week.  I would be interested in knowing how you do.  Why not give me a follow up after the tourney.

Jack L. Gaither  (JackfromSeminole)