A Proven Tactic That Will Catch More Crappie

My lake trolling has been strictly for crappie, using jigs and small, neon-colored, adjustable corks. With my 16-foot jonboat, I use a 40-pound-thrust electric mounted on the transom.

Three trolled lines has proved optimal with one straight behind the motor and two rods projecting port and starboard. Four rods can turn into a mess real quick, especially if the wind is blowing the boat around. Ideally, you want a calm day where the boat will coast to a stop while you battle or reel in fish.

According to my records, we landed 202 crappie in eight trips last winter, using cork and jigs. After using “peg” corks, I won’t go back to clip corks, which won’t adjust without some handiwork. Mine were 1.5 inch, bright orange, oval peg corks. They are easily adjusted for depth, and if you snag something, a lightly pegged cork can be reeled down to the snag and the jig jiggled loose.

In five trips after extensive trolling, even among hidden, underwater sticks, we lost exactly two jigs. Peg corks, orange or yellow in color, are almost impossible to find in the big box stores. I found them online and ordered a bag of 20 for $6 at www.bottomdwellerstackle.com. Note: Each cork had a thin film inside the hole that had to be punched out with a toothpick.

Brightly colored corks show up so much better on the water, and reduce eye strain. You want those corks with jigs underneath to skirt any mats of vegetation, so steer the boat accordingly. Or reel in briefly when passing through tight spots.

Crappie easily pulled these corks down, but glancing for bent rod tips is the best way to notice a bite. Sometimes we’re alerted by a splash astern when a fish jumps. To expand our spread of baits, I used PVC elbow joints and then a foot of hand-cut two-inch PVC pipe sticking out over the water. This extends my longest rods up to nine feet on either side of the boat, which was sufficient. My vertical rod holders mounted on the sides of the boat are matching, 2-inch PVC pipe about 14 inches long. You want a spread of corks back there to cover more water.

If we pulled in a double-header of fish, we dropped anchor and made a few casts.

In prior years, casting and working a cork and jig slowly across the water required light jigging action. Even splashing the cork. Last January, for the first time, that didn’t work. I finally cast and reeled the cork, making a steady v-wake just like it was being trolled. To our amazement, it worked and we caught plenty of fish making long casts. Getting the most fight from every fish.

Limp, 6-pound line got the most action out of our 1⁄16-ounce jigs. Eight-pound line was more practical at dropping the jig and cork straight down into the “bonnets,” or lily pads, where each fish has to be horsed out.

We’ve had multiple good trips of trolling around small islands of bonnets. Just when things were getting predictable with trolling, the crappie overnight all ducked inside the bonnets for cover. We caught only a few trolling, mere feet from cover, but it helped pinpoint which floating bonnet island we should probe. We had more losses of jigs and a cork or two from snagged bonnet stems and leaves, but also dragged out a lot of big, female crappie full of eggs.

On one day 30 big females from 1.2 to 1.9 pounds, all released. When the bonnet bite stopped, it was back to trolling. It was fun to catch these fish using two different methods on the same day.

That particular weekend in January, every boat I talked to caught limits. Even a little 14-foot jonboat carrying three people and an offshore cooler that would easily hold a dozen grouper. It’s easy to see why Florida’s crappie lakes have their on-again and off-again years, following a heavy harvest during spawning season. I still believe a 25 fish a day bag limit is excessive. Wouldn’t 15 fish per angler be enough? Word travels fast these days with every boat carrying a cell phone. That day, I counted 38 boats around me, some from neighboring Georgia.

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• This article was featured in the November 2024 issue of Florida Sportsman magazine. Click to subscribe.

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