Crappie feast on small fish most of the year, and while live minnows tend to always provoke a strike, small jigs are an excellent alternative. And there are literally hundreds of thousands of size, color and shape-combinations available. The water depth, color and clarity, and the size of the available forage will determine which combination will work the best.
Since small fish are the main diet of summer crappie, small lures one to two inches long tend to draw mores trikes than larger lures, but larger grub and twister-tail bodies will sometimes trigger just as many strikes.
Guide Steve English (843-729-4044) uses a variety of different colors, including anything from blue and white to pink and chartreuse.
“Don’t be scared to experiment with different sizes, shapes, colors, and presentations. Their appetites change and they will want a different profile or color. While the staple colors of blue, white, pink, red and chartreuse produce some strikes most of the time, a unique combo can sometimes beat out the norms,” he said
Typically, the water in Lake Marion in late spring and early summer is dingy from the spring rains. English prefers blue, white, pink and combinations thereof. Since Lake Moultrie is usually clear this time of year, he will use combinations of reds and chartreuses.
Tandem rigs are another option for presenting a variety of colors to fish, as well as spider-rigging with a handful of rods fanned around the boat. As long as the crappie are available and active, they will quickly tell the angler which flavor they find appealing.
The bottom line is, do not be afraid to pick up a handful of unique colors and sizes on the next trip to the tackle shop. Crappie may not know it yet, but a new combination may be just what the doctor ordered.
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