Essential Bank-Fishing Tackle Pack
This selection of gear carried in a handy satchel will help you tackle any fish
Tackle box: Tackle Logic Day Tripper System with a soft-side
carry case, five laminated zip-seal bags and a hard-plastic StowAway box with divided compartments that will carry everything for a day of bank-fishing (www.tacklelogic.com)
Three boxes of hooks: 50
Tru-Turn Blood Red Aberdeen Panfish Hooks, Size 2; 50 Tru-Turn O'Shaughnessy Catfish Hooks, Size 2/0; and 50 Tru-Turn Bronze Aberdeen Hooks, Size 6 (www.
truturnhooks.com)
Sinkers: Water Gremlin Pro Pack with 63 Snap-Loc sinkers and removable split shot (www.watergremlin.com)
Floats: Thill Gold Medal Float Kit Assortment with seven different balsa floats, five bobber stops, 10 red beads and six silicone sleeves (www.lindylittlejoe.com)
Lures: Beetle Spin Strip Pack with 10 Beetle Spin lures (www.johnsonfishing.com) plus
a selection of Rebel's perfect-
for-panfish "creature lures,"
including the Big Ant, Bumble Bug, Cat'r Crawler, Crawfish, Creek Creature, Crickhopper Popper, Hellgrammite, Tadfry and Wee
Frog (www.lurenet.com)
30 innovative tactics to help you catch more trout, white bass, bullheads, crappies, yellow perch and sunfish.
Jun 3, 2004
Crappies
Many bank anglers consider crappies special prizes because they're relatively abundant and always ready for a
tussle. It doesn't hurt that, when rolled in cornmeal and deep-fried, crappies are also delicious. Fortunately, in spring and autumn, when water temperatures are moderate, crappies invade shallow cover in ponds, rivers and lakes-brushy tops, stump fields and clusters of standing snags-putting them within easy reach of bank-fishing enthusiasts.
7 Don't Move: It helps to know one special quirk of crappies: They sometimes can be caught on moving baits, but what they really like is food that's doing nothing at all-just hanging there in one place, immobile. Making a presentation in this fashion takes patience and practice, but do it and watch your catch increase. Live minnows and small jigs are unbeatable enticements for this approach. Use a thin, sensitive bobber to detect delicate pickups.
8 Use a Bright Bobber: It helps to use a bobber with a brightly colored tip. Keep your eyes locked on it. If the float tilts left, a crappie has taken the lure from the right side-vice versa if it tilts right. Set the hook, even on suspicion.
9 Skip the Small Fry: Small crappies are good practice subjects, but if you start catching runts and you'd rather be landing slabs, move to another bank-fishing location. The little guys are fun, but big ones aren't likely to be among them.
10 Stay Shallow: Most anglers fish deeper water when big crappies don't turn up in the shallows. Deep water has a certain mystique; we believe it's where the lunkers lurk. But when it comes to crappies, more often than not you'll find Mr. Big in shallower water, not deeper-a boon for shorebound anglers.
11 Work the Banks: Search for bank-fishing locales with access to the backs of out-of-the-way coves, shoreline reaches of flooded willows and other shallow water. Or simply get repositioned so you can cast your bait toward the bank instead of away from it. Wall-hanger crappies might be found in water that is barely deep enough to cover them.
12 Mark the Spot: Remember the precise locations where you catch, lose or see big crappies-the specific stump or the particular bush, for example. A return visit could turn up the big slab you missed before or another trophy that moved in.
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