Try these rigs for cold-water crappie

Rigs for catching crappie in cold weather are designed by experts to fit the specific requirements the conditions present.

Guide Wendell Wilson said when fishing deep, open water without a lot of woody cover, he likes to go with fairly light rigs.

“I use light spinning tackle with 6-pound line and a No. 4 gold Aberdeen hook,” he said. “I put a 3/8-ounce drop-shot sinker on the bottom, and the hook is about 18 inches above on a 6-pound leader. I drop it to the bottom with a shiner minnow. It’s subtle but very effective on cold weather crappie.

Crappie pro Rod Wall uses a slightly different rig that’s a bit heavier in terms of line size because he’ll be fishing around more cover. Wall uses a two-hook rig on lakes where lots of woody cover is present.

“I’ll typically use a two-hook rig with the bottom hook fished a couple of feet off the bottom,” Wall said. “During winter, I’ll often alternate these rigs with every other bottom hook in my eight-rod spider rig having a minnow trailer on a jig, the next rod with no minnow trailer and so forth. The top hook will be a live minnow.

“Fishing a specific area, one of the rigs is likely to outperform the others and I’ll make adjustments. On any given day, the bite can be quite specific. Using different color jigs, some trailing minnows, some not, and the live bait-only option provides that diversity. Usually, one of these will produce.”