Most Common Mistakes When Fishing For Crappie

Brad and Todd sit down with Jerry Hancock and Jeff Riddle to discuss some of the biggest mistakes they see new anglers make while out on the water. Each one of these guys is a guide, they spend a great deal of time out on the water and it's pretty common they see somebody out there and say "Man, if that guy would just do ______ then he might could catch more fish." Well we hope to fill a few of those blanks for you with this one!
As always guys, like and subscribe on what ever platform you're using, we appreciate all your support.

[@user-tn1xv1vc2d]

Watching 👀 you guys from Commie California. Crappie Connection Rocks 🎣

[@crappieconnection]

Heck yeah Appreciate you tuning in and commenting

[@leroyharrison2943]

Great video liked the show

[@crappieconnection]

Thank you 🙏

[@earnestjust4706]

thank you!!!

[@crappieconnection]

Thank you 💯🎣‼️

[@jonstokes3122]

Great video guys! Big mistake I often see is when getting short strikes anglers not downsizing the jig head to enable the fish to suck it in deeper for a better hook set

[@dlc9345]

Great information. Really enjoyed the video.

[@mlcatfish75]

Such a informative video! Thank you for sharing. I’m really interested in tying my own.

[@tarheeloutdoorexcursions5580]

Another great episode!!

[@robertluckadoo5940]

Enjoyed this episode. Good job Brad and friends!

[@c.l.freshwaterfishing3680]

Great job great info!!! Thank you guys.

[@crappieconnection]

Thank you

[@dannymalone4073]

Surely enjoyed the tips given in this video i have learned how important 'noise control" in the boat to help limit spooking the fish, even loud talk.

[@ppdrawings]

Wow!! Thank you so much for this video!! I just got even better at crappie fishing and I'm going out tomorrow to prove it.

[@stumpthumpnoutdoors6624]

Great info fellas, thanks a bunch. Slabs Bro !

[@brianharrington5593]

Listened up to the 10 minute mark, I'm a very impatient sob. If that fish isn't going to bite something stationary, I'm tossing a small jerkbait in forage colours. Have caught many fish in the fall, water temps getting down to low 40*F. Had about 10 other boats around me, slipbobering and not catching much, and I come through tossing a jerkbait and nailing some of the biggest black crappies these boys ever saw. 2.5 - 3 inch jerkbaits diving down to 8-10 ft. Sometimes long pause, short pull, pause, short jerk and bang hit like a 3 b. LMB. All this on 8lb flourocarbon leaders 10-15 ft long tied onto Nanofil 8 lb. test.

[@crappieconnection]

Like it!! Sounds deadly

[@jerryscrappielife]

Just got Livescope and used it for the first time last week. I could see crappie 40 foot away from the boat (12 feet or less) and when I would get within 30 feet, they would spook and dive to the bottom or turn around and run. I attributed it to boat noise. The two things going were my trolling motor and a squeaky DIY transducer pole. At the end of the day, I began throwing at those 40 foot distance fish with a mega bass swim jig and they hammered it.

[@crappieconnection]

That sounds like a blast 💥

[@MrDereksykes]

Great discussion - true leaders / professionals are transparent with their mistakes, this way they aren't duplicated and folks can actually learn. I appreciate this content and look forward to more shows highlighting "what not to do".

[@budchrisco1334]

Great vid as usual Brad! Lots of great tips there, especially the points about spooking fish. Appreciate the advice!

[@lamaringram2099]

Enjoyed the video I really enjoy them I appreciate what you guy's are doing for crappie fishing.

[@crappieconnection]

Thank you Thanks for commenting

[@perrypotter1640]

thats was a great video!! i will sit in one place too long and use too big of a jig head!! thx for the video i really enjoyed the conversation!!!

[@crappieconnection]

Appreciate it

[@slabbusterrtr7690]

I've been fishing for them 40 years and I still feel like I make rookie mistakes sometimes I still learn something most every trip no trip is wasted for me

[@slabbusterrtr7690]

By the way awesome show 👍

[@dougdavis8138]

No doubt the best show yet. Guilty of a lot but some that I’ve broke the habit. Got a couple good tips I won’t forget and will try them out. Thanks for a great show.

[@crappiedayfishon1756]

another great one Brad you never disappoint!!!! Luv It !!!!

[@crappieconnection]

We got more coming!!!

[@earnestjust4706]

I listen to your pod cast and you mention 'shallow' water. What would you consider 'shallow'. Especially in the hot summer, would you see fish in 2ft of water? Or, is that too shallow?

[@crappieconnection]

It kinda depends on what body of water but 3’ and less would very shallow IMO

[@chrisfulmer9856]

Love the show awesome content.

[@crappieconnection]

Thank you. We really appreciate you guys

[@ppdrawings]

One of the biggest mistakes I had been making was to use an oversized jighead that drops entirely too fast --- when I learned to use a 1/16th and a 1/32nd,, I started getting bit a whole lot more... Bites increased a lot when I downsized my line too. All I use now is 4 pound test.

[@randallrader680]

What is the best line to use ?

[@ppdrawings]

@@randallrader680 I switched to Mr.Crappie high vis yellow in the 4pound and it's perfect - it's light but strong!

[@randallrader680]

@@ppdrawings thank you I'll give it a try

[@aubrychaudoin1366]

Another good show. Enjoy everyone and learn something new

[@crappieconnection]

Thank you

[@kipwright148]

Great info. Figured out some of that bottom action on Palestine a couple weeks ago.

[@mikewheeler3449]

Thanks guys on the information. Here is one for you people run bass boats and pontoons catch hardly any fish and a kayaker with his limit not far from the boat ramps

[@crappieman11]

Great great video

[@ronaldgray2008]

That was an awesome pod cast. I find myself not identifing the fish. Setting on brush full of shad not realizing what I'm looking at. Then spending to much time trying to put crappie on that pile.

[@halmiller6834]

Good show!

[@crappieconnection]

Thank you

[@vickiandmarv]

Changing different depths and trying different speeds are big in my book 😀

[@gillgetter3004]

Talk about change in twenty or even ten years, fishing memories! Try in south Michigan where the zebra mussels have changed all the lakes extensively. First off they cleared up all the water, and the bluegill and red ear populations are bigger ( much) and nicer fish too. The crappies are living, spawning and everything deeper, very short time are they shallow. I’ve caught spawners up to fifteen feet deep!!!!! Lots of changes over the years.

[@Joshua_Matthew_Fishin]

Think a big mistake I see is you’ll see a fish on structure and or hear someone say I couldn’t get them to budge off the structure, profile! I’ve learned as a guide in Oklahoma if they won’t move to try different profiles(size of jigs) and the speed you present that bait at, or boat positioning, a lot of times moving the boat around the opposite side of the stump or tree will produce a solid bite throughout the day.

[@johnmcmillan9716]

Great podcast guys, My biggest mistake is sitting on fish and waiting for them to bite! thanks for reminding me

[@richardcox2229]

I have a very small boat ....no electronics and I have gone out and have had boats yelling at me don't even waste your time man !! They must not be hungry today and I'll get to a spot hammer 10 -12 huge crappie bite slows down I move second spot hammer em !! After about the third spot I'm coming in and some of the boats that said it's a bad day that moved out to work their way back in to head home are loading up to do so see me with 15-20 or my limit and look at me like I went to a fish market and bought them !! But the thing I do when it's like that I sit way off and cast to them and work the bait I'm using very slow also stopping it for a split second and slow retrieving the bait back to the boat !! Many times I'll see these guys a few weeks later and they will say hey man how did you figure that out ? Because we caught more fish in one day than we did all week !! I told them don't rely on your electronics all the time to catch fish go old school every now and then it works !!

[@rcagle123]

I have a few hot spot brush piles I fish that sometimes will not have fish on them. I'll go back and hour or two later and it will be loaded with crappie.

[@randyshaffer7257]

Good things come to those who wait be patient but don’t stay to long

[@MrDereksykes]

I'd like to see some content on boat control in high winds/waves, and if there is any specific style of boat that is preferred over another, for instance aluminum vs. fiberglass. I predominately fish out of a 20' pontoon boat w/ livescope using an ipilot to control the boat - definately not easy in high winds/waves. Any tips and pointers is much appreciated!

[@chadcoulter8854]

Non livescope dude here, but I’m installing now, but I used to fuss at my dad for jigging with a curly tail or in my eyes a type of casting bait all the time. Until one day he smokes my hair jig and baby shad bait and says I told ya it looked good sitting there. And I know a lot of people look down on minner fishing but have had days that a strait minner on a Aberdeen hook will absolutely kill a minner on jig don’t know why but the fish sure did Holla

[@jennifernuckolls8423]

Rookie mistake #1 backing down the ramp before you get your crap ready and blocking folks that are ready ! 🤣

[@crappieconnection]

Not a good way to make friends

[@stevenmckee656]

When covering water, How long do you wait in a particular spot where you see fish to determine if they are the aggressive/will bite fish? 15min? 30min?

[@crappieconnection]

Depends on if you feel like the fish have had the chance to bite

[@juniorjones169]

Seen a guide yesterday on Weiss lake come into a cove with clients maybe hour he fished and moved on some where else..

[@Mr._D513]

what about tips for bank fishing?

[@crappieconnection]

We need to do it

[@fishingwithcamo-joe88]

THUMBS-UP!!!!!!!!!!

[@Alan-dx1ys]

Had crappy that would only bite within 2 -6 in from one little stickup.any farther away they wouldnt hit it.caught 14 good crappies.others fished it and nothing.i came back every weekend and would catch em.

[@Grainraiser]

One of the biggest mistakes I see is folks setting the hook like they are bass fishing. I tell folks to imagine you are picking up your cell phone to take a call. Your hookset should be at that same speed. Another mistake I see people make is they watch the rod tip instead of watching their line. Many times all you will see is your line moving sideways when your fishing minnows. Those who simply watch the tip never knew they were bit.

[@vickiandmarv]

People NOT willing to change their technique, trying to force the fish to bite what they’re using. Before I start changing colors, I change lures with different actions. Curly tails, Baby shad, Crappie Magnets and so forth.

[@jeepfish15]

Rookie mistake: spend $80,000 on boat and gear to catch a $2 fish. Listen to the knowledge of men who put in the time on the water. That's priceless.

[@Fishermensbiblestudy]

The biggest mistake is not going fishing when you can.

[@crappieconnection]

💯💯💯💯💯💯💯

[@dalcoturner3981]

See people sitting in one spot way too long. Keep moving and find active fish

[@henrylewis5877]

Fishing way too fast.

[@tommypierce8887]

Not learning your equipment

[@pequenioedgarito3067]

Do show n tell not a talk show 😳

[@crappieconnection]

We do both

[@donniedickerson8077]

I've Fished For 50+ years, South Mississippi ,PRWMA , Shallow Water Oxbows , I've Caught Fish ,Pride myself On Being Able To Take Mess Of Crappie To The House , But Lately ,The Last Few Trips , They Have Kicked My Butt , I don't have a livescope ,YET,,, ,But Do Have A Garmin 9" W/ The Sideview , I can See Some Awesome Structure That Normally You Wouldn't Find Till I Got Snagged lol And Indeed I Know How To Find Fish If They're There Even without a Livescope lol 🤷🏻‍♂️, , But I'm Tellin Y'all Gentlemen I am not Finding Fish Which Is Extremely Strange , They should be transitioning to Spawning Depths ,it's time and the water temps are there I Pay Attention To Everything , barometric pressure , Weather Changes Etc,,, But No Freankin Fish , So Far I've Covered 3 Lakes , Two Of Them I've Caught Crappie From In The Past , Of The Three I --0-- in one lake , Caught 1 Fish In The Second Lake Two In The Third Lake, Indeed You Gentlemen Are Right, Lakes Change , Creeks Change , Rivers Change , Bait Or Forage Fish They Feed On And Or Cover And Structure Changes And Water Depths Change , with all That Crappie patterns Change Accordingly I agree 100%, You Gotta Change With That To Consistently Catch Fish , One Of The Lakes Ive Always Had Success In We Fished Today, It Has Produced The Biggest Crappie I've Ever Caught On The PRWMA , Several 15" 16" Fish, AS A Rule Keeper Crappie 9" And up I've Always Caught, Today That Lake Produced Two Fish ,Both White Crappie One About 6 inches One Fish About 12.5 Inches (Released), Fishin These Shallow Water High Pressured WMA Oxbows Is A Different Ballgame , I Will Use Minnows Mostly As Locators And switch to Jigs , I've been fishing Jigs For Probably close to 40 Years Now , I Started Using them Back When the "Slater Jigs" Was About all I Saw , Always Used Black , Maybe A Red, White , Or Yellow Jighead 1/16 oz But The Jig Itself Was ALWAYS BLACK , I Still Use Solid Black But Now The Bobby Garland Brand Plastic When All else Fails The Black Usually Will Come Thru ,The Numbers Of Crappie In These Oxbows Have Definitely Took A Serious Hit In The Last Several Years On The WMA ,I Keep hopes of Seeing The lake George project Actually Happen I cannot For athe Life Of Me understand Why Anyone Would Oppose This Project The Economic Benefits Alone Not To Mention The Outdoor Opportunities For This Area Would Be Phenomenal , Most Fishermen And Ladies ,Campers And other Outdoors Folks Don't Realize How Lucky To have A Sardis Or Ross Barnett Reservoir , , I Keep Hopeing The Highschool /College Fishing Sports and EEN Open Membership Clubs Will Grow and In some Way Sway Those who Oppose The Lake , Fishing Tournaments Can be A Big Draw For Spectators And Contestants That Means A Economic Boost For The Area , Hotels, Campgrounds , Restaurants , Tackle And Bait Shops Would All See The benefits , AND VERY IMPORTANTLY That Lake Project Would Relieve A huge amount of Fishing Pressure From these Shallow Water Oxbows On The WMA, What The Hell ALSO While I'm rambling on I Personally Would LOVE TO SEE A Slot Size 10 Inch Crappie IN this Southern Zone That MIGHT Boast The FISH Numbers Back Up On The WMA , Lakes That Are NOT Pressured Or NOT ACCESSABLE Hold A Fishable Crappie Population Some better than others ,But Those That Are In High Pressured Areas Unfourtunatly It's Gotten Almost Impossible To Go And Catch A Few ,I'm Going Thru Each Of These Lakes One By One If They're Still Here I'll Find Em Somewhere ,I Think Some SERIOUS Restocking And A Slot Size And Per Person Limit Is Gonna Have To Happen At This Point . Crappie Fishin The PRWMA IS A REAL CHALLENGE NO Doubt About That , For Anybody Who Wants To Try Their Skills Out Come On Down , ,

[@crappieconnection]

Have you talked to your local biologist for those lakes ?

[@donniedickerson8077]

@@crappieconnection As Far As I know we don't have a Local Biologist , Being A WMA Fishin Has Never Really Been A Priority , At One Point Some Restocking Of Bream, Bass , And I Did See A Few Catfish Restocked , But That Was Over 20 years Ago At This Point , There's Always A Number Of People That Complain About Lakes Being Fished Out ,I've Seen And Heard That Over And Over Thru the years and I was Catching Fish While they complained lol, But I'm Seriously Concerned At what I'm Seeing At This Point , Im Not Gonna Say Fished Out Is the Problem , Buut I Do know The Pressure These Lakes Sustain , And 99,9% Catch and Release in the Grease if you know what I mean , There Is A Couple Of Lakes Just North of here ,Lake Perry And Turkey Fork that I've seriously Considered But Dang There's No Excuse For The States Fisheries Dept. To Overlook And Ignore Such A Valuable Natural Resource For The Sportsmen And Women Of Our State Who Depend On Places Like This For A Place To Fish , Anyway I Ran Across Your Video , Many Good Points I've Seen Myself Happen Over the years , Understanding Crappie Movement In Many Places Is As Simple As Following The Shad , Where The Shad Go Crappie Are Soon To Follow , Other Fish Species As Well , I don't even see alotta Bait Or Forage Fish In The Lakes Now Which could easily be the answer , I guess I'll keep looking , I'm not one to give up but after a few Trips Of Literally Blanks When your Trying Every trick that ever worked to locate Them And Even Now With Some of the best electronic Equipment money can buy and I can't find Crappies ,Its Gotta Be Something SERIOUSLY Astray Here , This is gonna be the reason I gonna Have to Go all the way To A Livescope , I really didn't think I would need it after the results of the Sideview ,Along with 50+ years of Fishin Experience and a good understanding of what crappies And Other species do and when , what water temps they do it at and where , The Three Main seasons For All Fish Species Especially Crappies Is #1 Prespawn , #2 The Spawn ,, And #3 Post Spawn ,, Learning what they do in those three Curcumstances Is the Key To Finding them , Add the Bait Or Forage Fish Movement To That And Guarenteed IF THEY'RE BITING, You'll Put Em In The Boat , But they gotta be there FIRST and foremost and I don't think many of these places have em at this time , Y'all keep it Reelin 💦🐟🎣🤠

[@crappieconnection]

Thank you for commenting

[@rodneyburkett4325]

These Crappie probably know that winter isn't done yet. Later than usual Easter this year (April 17th). They know this and more than likely will be a little later spawning as well. Just something to think about.

[@donniedickerson8077]

@@rodneyburkett4325 Definitely Gonna Be A Cold Snap Around Mid April, Easter Snap , AND , It thundered here Two Different days the first week of February And Again about mid February , I know ya wondering what's that got to do with anything lol,, My Grandpa Was one of those old timers that Followed the Almanac And The Signs I learned Alot of those when I was a kid about 45 or so years ago , I Heard That Every Year He was alive ,"If it Thunders In February , It'll Frost In April" ,,, Now Over the years I've watched that old tale and more times than not he nailed it ,So I'm banking on a Cold first week of April and about mid month, Easter , We'll have another Front Drop The Temps , Water is Warming Up But still Plenty Cold ,Even in the deeper spots which ain't Many in these Oxbow lakes I Just don't Mark Many fish , a few Catfish Or maybe Bass , Not Alot of Forage Fish or bait fish to speak of either , not enough to sustain a Healthy Crappie population in my opinion Anyway , another thing is I have a couple of Friends that fish Private Oxbows , Same Situation and area just not Public Pressured That's Catching Fish , Same General Area , Water Depths , Same Fish And Habitat Scenario , MINUS The Public Fishin Pressure , It Leads me to believe They're Simply Over Fished With No Restrictions On Creel limits Or Slot Size , My opinion the whole State (Mississippi) Should be Using a 10" Fish Rule At Least A 9" Slot Size , A Spawning Size Mature 2 Yr old Crappie , Now That's According To The Fisheries Biologist Is 9 To 10" / 2yrs Old , Now It's A Given Some Of The Bigger , Deeper Maintained , And Managed Lakes May need to Manipulate The Creek Or Slot But These Public Access Lakes That Are Literally Unregulated Are Getting Pounded By A Huge Portion Of The Local Sports People And Those From Other Places That Fantasize About The Big String Of Crappie They're Gonna Catch Outta These Lakes ,it's just that ,A Fantasy lol , it's not gonna happen , One Thing is Sure I'll Keep Searching But ,They Got Me Stumped At This Second lol ,, But I Guess That's Just Fishin 🎣 , ,, Tight Lines To Ya

[@tonyedwards9972]

Fishing ain't Fishing no more, it's come down to " how much can I sell you" I've been Fishing over 50yrs, there's no challenge when electronics are involved...js