live crappie bait

Old School Crappie Fishing Family Secrets

Crappie Fishing With Live Bait

Rigging Crappie Live Minnows

You want the crappie to think your live bait presentation is a wounded minnow and a easy meal, so it is important that your crappie live bait set up is done correctly. It is also just as important to hook your crappie minnow correctly. You want the minnow hooked in a way that minnow can stay alive and swim freely. I am going to show you how to make a crappie minnow rig that has proven successful for me. I also would like to introduce you to a little used crappie jigging technique that is rarely used these days.

Making A Three Way Swivel Dual Crappie Minnow Rig

You can purchase these rigs commercially but if you want to save a few bucks here’s a step by step procedure to make your own.

Step#1 You will need to have some 8-20lb fire line. For comparison, the dia. of the 20lb test is the same as 6lb mono-filament line.

Step#2 You will want your crappie minnow to swim as freely as possible so you will need to get some 3 ways swivels. The swivels will enable the minnow to swim in 360deg circles driving the crappie crazy!

Step#3 Get some 1/4oz egg or as they are commonly called “bass sinkers”.

Step#4 Take some fire line off of your reel spool, or from the line container and cut 2 pieces 10” long, then tie a crappie hook to the end of each piece.

Step#5 Repeat Step 4, but cut 2 pieces 12” long.

Step#6 Open the bail on your fishing reel, make sure you have your fire line going through the eyelets, now pull enough line out so you can work freely while your assembling your crappie live bait rig. Pickup one of the 3 way swivels and tie it to your line that is coming from your fishing reel.

Step#7 Tie one of crappie hook leaders you made in step 4 to the open eye on the 3 way swivel that is 90 degrees clockwise. There should be one open eyelet when you get done, that is pointing strait downward.

Step#8 Tie one of the 12” pieces of fire line to the open eyelet of the first 3 way swivel. Then tie the other end to your second three way swivel. Make sure after you tie both ends that you have approximately 6” between the bottom eyelet of the first three way swivel and the top of the second 3 way swivel.

Step#9 You now need to tie one of the 10” crappie hook leaders to the open eyelet that is 90degrees from the top eyelet of the three way swivel you just tied in step 8. If you do this correctly, there should be one open eyelet left, and it should be located directly below the top eyelet of three way swivel you just tied.

Step#10 Pick up the last 12” inch piece of fire line you cut in step 5, then tie one end to the last remaining open eyelet of the second 3 way swivel. Now pick up your 1/4oz Egg or Bass sinker and tie it to the other end of the 12” line.

Step#11Remember we want your crappie live bait rig to look like wounded crappie fishing minnows swimming around in circles, so to complete your setup you need to hook your minnows either in the back or front of the dorsal fin on both crappie hooks.

Here’s Your rarely used crappie jigging technique.

Kill one of your crappie minnows and hook it in the left or right gill. Drop your line and start jigging the minnow. This will make your minnow appear to be wounded as it flutters down in the water.

Well folks that concludes this article I hope this will help you when you are using crappie live bait.

Mark is a dedicated fisherman who has published 100’s of fishing articles. Check out his website to get some amazing fishing information and fishing articles loaded with fishing tips that really work! Also don’t forget to get your free copy of “78 Fishing Discoveries Unleashed” At: http://www.oldfishinghole.com Get Your Free Fishing Tips About crappie fishing rigs Here!

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 at 1:08 pm and is filed under fishing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.