# Night Crappie Fishing



## srconnell22 (Aug 27, 2007)

Planning on doing some fishing this winter in the evenings after work at some local lakes near me. 

Running a Frabill flipover, with a lowrance 67. Have a decent jig assortment (need to find the Ficious website so I can add to it). 

Some Questions: 

Will I get more action with the light down the hole or will the lantern in the shanty provide enough light to do the trick?

Do you run exclusively glow jigs after dark or do you run normal jigs too? Plain hooks with minnows? Hali's or Jiggin raps? 

Vertical or horizontal jigs? 

Any help you can provide would be great. Thanks guys!


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## wally-eye (Oct 27, 2004)

Just the light from a lantern and glow jigs with a minnow has always worked for me........keep it simple...


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## deep6in (Feb 18, 2008)

I've had some luck with ultra small trebbles and a minnow. If you are seeing them on the lowrance and they are not biting try adjusting the lantern it seems to help - some times lower light some times more light.


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## northlyon (Dec 27, 2009)

I have never fished at night, so heres a stupid Q. If the night bite is good, why use a light? lol had to say it.


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## gaustin (Jan 14, 2009)

I don't use a light at night to attract the fish. The fish are on the feed, I run LED lights in my shack for seeing and a Buddy Heater for warmth. Everything you mentioned will work. Small trebles (size 10 & 12) work great for minnows. Experiment with different jigs and baits till you find out what they may want. Night fishing is my favorite way to fish. Go out and give it a try you will thank yourself.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## srconnell22 (Aug 27, 2007)

northlyon said:


> I have never fished at night, so heres a stupid Q. If the night bite is good, why use a light? lol had to say it.


attracts the micro organisms which set off the food chain (hopefully with Crappie at the top, well, below me I guess!).


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## Shoeman (Aug 26, 2000)

Does it work in the shallows (less than 5 fow) ?


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## northlyon (Dec 27, 2009)

Ok, bugs to a light. Makes sense. Thought maybe to site fish.


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## deep6in (Feb 18, 2008)

Shoeman said:


> Does it work in the shallows (less than 5 fow) ?


 I have caught crappie in as shallow as 3 fow while ice fishing at night.


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## JClark23 (Dec 15, 2010)

Never really had any luck at night but i did notice that the drunker i got, the more i didn't care if i caught a fish or not. Thats the year i decided to hook up a TV in my dads shanty.


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## Lerxst (Feb 2, 2008)

Like was said have an assortment of horizontal and vertical jigs, I use mostly glow jigs but not all the time scent will attract them too. I always bring hali jigs too especially for deep water presentations. I even put some hali chains on ficious jigs.......the zitz lites and baby zitz lites. I'm hoping it will give it even more of a finesse presentation than a standard hali but still get me down deep fairly quickly. Crappie are typically in neutral or negative moods during winter so finesse presentations usually work better. That's where a hali chain or a lighter jig may work better as it tends to float down at a slower pace to trigger strikes more often than a heavier presentation.

Experimenting is the key though, I'll be fishing crappie tomorrow evening and I am going to experiment with the hali's on ficious jigs for the first time and using an assortment of plastics and live minnows. I think I'm gonna give the plain #10 or #12 trebble with a minnow a try I keep hearing a lot of guys talking about how well it does.....we shall see. Here's the Ficious website http://www.ficiousjigs.com/zencart/


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## Shoeman (Aug 26, 2000)

deep6in said:


> I have caught crappie in as shallow as 3 fow while ice fishing at night.


with lights?


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## newaygogeorge (Aug 16, 2006)

what works for me, night time love it 6ishpm till 10:00pm killer time. deepest hole could be large area or small depends on pressure. anything with a minnow or bare plastics. key for me is get them to chase if you have a graph what a kick to watch them chase upward and hammer.
good luck


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## deep6in (Feb 18, 2008)

Shoeman said:


> with lights?


 Not underwater lights just a lantern.


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## Banditto (Jun 9, 2000)

We fish 5-8 fow using a lantern. I do own an underwater light but can't really say it helps at all. I have the most luck with minnows on a treble, using the sonar to set the correct depth. once you have fish interested dart up a foot then slowly return.

if you find fish mark the spot as it is likely to produce fish night after night... when only a few feet away no fish are found.


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## Molson (Apr 18, 2003)

Lantern & headlight w/ battery

fished deep and fished shallow -- 20 ft or 3 ft 

I believe it helps. Although there always seems to be that "magical time" 30 min, 45 min, etc when everything seems to go right.

Because it gets dark so early in Jan, I think its a great way to extend your evening fishing.

The lantern can make for a comfortable evening in the shanty.

A flasher is very valuable when fishing deep due to suspended fish.

It comes down to "how much stuff do you haul".


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## slabstar (Feb 25, 2009)

srconnell22 said:


> attracts the micro organisms which set off the food chain (hopefully with Crappie at the top, well, below me I guess!).


a lot of the crappie lakes I fish are spring fed and tanic, so the water is usually more murky than most lakes. The lantern light, which imo should be subtle, also helps siloutte the bait since crappie feed up. Its rarely a matter of-turn on the light and fish jump out of the hole!lol
Cut many holes in the ice before the sun gets below the trees. I try to focus on deep coves and humps just of the breakline, not midlake,(until midwinter).
Usually, I will start my bait a foot of bottom, jig for a few minutes, if nothing, reel up four cranks, repeat until 3' below surface, go to nxt hole! When I find a productive hole, I shanty up!
I prefer fuzz-e-grubbs, smallest northland glow spoon tipped w/real minnow head, and tiny glow jigs tipped with glow wax worm or live minnow. Mostly stick with green or orange in color. Almost always 1/16th or 1/8th oz. Imo real minnows trump plastics most days.
Goodluck!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Huffy (Jan 19, 2009)

Small jiggin rap with a waxie or minnow and a lantern for light has worked descent for me in the past.


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## NEW HUDSON WALT (Jan 11, 2009)

a lot of great info has been given.....i also jig spoons with rubber beads..


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## lreigler (Dec 23, 2009)

We usually fish around twenty feet of water, about ten to twelve feet down or right on the bottom. minnows on a treble and patience is all you need.


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