Fishing the Micro Light Spinning Rod



The blooming of the Dogwood Trees are always the sign that the crappie has begun to spawn here in the Deep South. I’ve been noticing the Dogwood buds but no bloom yet. That didn’t keep me from joining one of my fishing buddies the other day to test the waters for some slab crappie.

My 7 ½ ft. microlight spinning rod paired with the Pflueger President XT spinning reel is perfect to handle big crappie. I’m using 4 lb. test vanish line with a small curly tail shad jig to duplicate small minnows. The balance of this rod makes it effortless to cast for distance and accuracy. Using the micro light combo parallels the light 7 ½ to 8 ft. fly rods.

The dark male crappie is one beautiful fish in the early spring.  All the crappie today was landed using the micro. I had the 4 wt. fly rod with me but the wind was too strong to get a dissent case in place; in other words, my patience has worn thin dealing with the gust coming from all directions.

The in results, using my new fish cleaning table from Bass Pro Shops; these ten beauties yielded 40 mouth-watering fillets.

Landing Crappie in the Summer Months

I went on one of my classic crappie fishing trips this week in Mississippi with my brother. We were using the Spider Fishing technique, which my brother has perfected to the next level when it comes to landing crappie. We both thought it was going to be extremely slow, because of the time of year, because one doesn’t land that many crappie in the summer months. Fall, spring and winter are your better months.

This boat is the perfect vessel to spider fish from. Notice the rod holders in the back and front. For ease of fishing my brother added two high back arm rest seats that will enable you to fish all day without tiring. Four long 11 ft. poles out back and four from the front, all are rigged with the color jig that my brother has determined will attract the hit for this time of year. I have my own personal guide and get to fish from one unique boat rigged to the tilt for this type fishing.

First crappie of the morning on a black/purple tube jig tipped with a crappie nibbet, a killer combination. Notice the rods out front. This is the easier fishing I have ever tried; because all one has to do is sit and watch the tip of the rod. When the tip goes under you simple play the fish down and boat it.

Another nice slab on the purple tube jig; these fish are not only fun to catch, but the table fare is unreal.

The only crappie on the crayfish color, everything else was on the dark colored jigs. Yes color does make a difference especially on slow days in the summer.

The shallow part of this lake is still cover with lily pads all along the edges and in the back. The Legion spent 11,000.00 to eliminate the pads in the early spring with no success. They are discussing distributing a herbicide on the pads which is suppose to kill them for good.

These are part of the group of 16 we kept to dress for a big fish fry later in the fall. I think the crappie is best of the best when it comes to eats mixed with fries, slaw, hush puppies and of course ice cold tea or your favorite brew.

Crappie Fishing With My Brother Using Curly Tail Jigs

I made a trip to Mississippi on Tuesday for some crappie fishing on the new restructured Legion Lake. This is the same lake that was practically consumed by lily pads and coontail moss last year. This is my brother’s home lake where he fishes for crappie this time of year. Conditions were not the best considering the cold front that had passed through the day before I arrived. One can expect cold fronts, windy conditions, and bluebird skies in the month of March and this trip had all those conditions.

The reward for the trip was this nice catch using the following tube jigs loaded with nibbles. There were some nice slabs here.

Closed faced spincast reels with 11 ft. jigger poles rigged with 6 lb. test line are your best combos when Spider Fishing, because of the reach one can achieve with this type of pole.

My brother standing by his boat with 8 jigger poles set up ready for action fishing with the curly tail crappie jigs. Think of the amount of water one can cover when Spider Fishing

An image of what this lake looks like this past summer before reconstruction took place this year, notice the moss pads in the distance and all the growth around the edges, much cleaner to fish now. 

Orvis Fly Reel and Framed Streamers

I am sure all of you are familiar with the Orvis Battenkill fly reels. I have been searching for the Battenkill II Reel for some time at a decent price. Well, I found the reel the other day on Ebay for the unbelievable price of 65.00 used regular price 145.00 plus tax. Just goes to show if one has patience when shopping for fly fishing equipment, good things will follow. I bought the fly rod that I was going to used with the reel some months back when Cabelas had a clearance on their Redington Trout Classic fly rods for 75.00, regular price at 150.00.

With this 5 wt reel/rod combo I’m ready now for those 14” to 15” rainbows on the tailrace and some huge bluegills on the lake. 

  The Poudre Canyon Special & Yankee Smelt by Alan at Small Stream Reflections --Alan does a fantastic job creating fly patterns that he has tied. I gave my son these streamers for Christmas and he had all four streamers framed.

The Brown & Grizzly with the Red Baron both by Alan--Sorry for the distorted frame size in the image; I have big-time trouble keep the glare out of the picture when shooting anything that has glass in it--any suggestions how to avoid that? Many thanks to Alan for tying these great streamers--my son has a special place on the wall for them.

Landing Huge Crappie Using the Spider Fishing System

I got back into the Spider Fishing this week at Legion Lake in Winona Mississippi, my brother's home lake. This lake is roughly 80 acres super clear and has a lot of slab crappie. We worked around thunderstorms on Wednesday and Thursday with periods of on and off crappie bites. My brother managed to land the largest crappie ever using the Spider set-up system. When the fish are scattered and the bite is off you need every advantage one can get. The Spider system will give you that edge. It enables you to cover large amounts of water at different depths using different jigs. We found out early on that the best color for the past two days was an orange/chartreuse tube jig tipped with a white or chartreuse nibblet. We were using six 11 ft. jigger poles and two 9 ft. rods which enabled us to cover a lot of water. Numbers were not the winner on this trip but rather quality fish made the difference. As always the food was a winner as well, featuring homemade peach cobbler, chicken pot pie, baked chicken, and of course homemade rolls and cornbread from the local buffet line in the local supermarket.

Working all those jigger poles

The tube jig even landed a large Shellcracker not to mention numbers of bluegills

Bobby with the largest slab of the day a little over 2 lbs--this type of fishing is sooooooo easy it makes you feel sorry for the fish!!

Using The Micro Lights Rods and Jigger Poles For Super Size Crappie

In most parts of the country, Dogwoods blooming triggers crappie season. Crappie usually starts the spawn when the water temps reach the upper 60’s. This is when the fish start to move into the shallow areas of a lake. These areas could be the back of nooks or even flats next to the water's edge. They seem to prefer areas with cover such as submerged brush or anything that will hold cover for them to feed on small baitfish while the spawn is occurring.  One of my crappie fishing buddies went with me yesterday on Smith Lake. I had a couple of my microlights in the 7 ½ ft. lengths with 4 lb test line rigged. I also had my long jigger pole in the 11 ft. length with me. This length rod works well when you want to put the jig right in the face of the fish. Another great advantage with this rod is the vertical fishing one can do, meaning raising the jig up and down. Sometime the crappie will hit the jig on the downfall, especially when the bite is really slow. I like to use the microlight rods to search for the fish and once the bite slows using the microlights, then switch to the long rods so you can bring the lure even closer to their mouth. Crappie has a tendency to bite really well for 15 to 20 minutes and then turn off. When this occurs the fish usually retrieved back into the cover where they were holding when you first located them. Placing the jig using the long rods right in their face at this time will continue to help you get hits. I will discuss the types of reels, jig, lures, and rod brands in future post.

First Crappie of the day using a white curly tail jig --a lot of fun on the microlight rod. Notice the dark colors

Different colored jig --we manage to land 6 along with a number of bass and a couple of bluegills--all on curly tail jigs. I kept all the crappie, because they are beyond good when deep-fried. I know it would have been a better day for the crappie if it had not been for the crappie tournament they were having on the lake. It felt like we were picking up the last few in each nook that the tournament fisherman had either overlook or missed.

Reversing a Slow Day on The Lake

The closer it gets to cold weather here in the South the harder it is to find and land a quality fish on any body of water. That was the case Monday when I ventured out on Ryan Creek which is one of the main creeks that Smith Lake possesses. I was going to fish for crappie under the docks in water 30 to 35 ft deep using a small spoon jigging it up about two feet and letting it flutter back down, but that proved useless. The only thing I landed was a small spot that hit the spoon on the fall. So I decided to change tactics and go with the 5 wt. fly rod, which I had rigged with the 6 size Boogle Bug. This setup was the only thing that saved an otherwise slow day. I was fishing right before a cold front that was pushing through that night so there was a bit of top water action for a couple of hours after lunch.

This will be my last warm water fishing trip for this year. I will retire my bugs and rods until next spring. I intend to continue my trips below the dam for trout, so keep an eye for those post. Have a great weekend everyone.

Still after the Boogle Bug even in water temps 70 degrees

This Spot inhaled this Bug as if it was Spring Time--I need to work on building up my right arm because I know come Spring I will be landing Spots larger than this guy.

The weather was even warm enough for this guy to get some sun.

Why Didn't I Catch Fish The Last Couple of Days???

I spent the last three days this week in Mississippi, crappie fishing with my brother. The fishing was tough to say the least. We fished for two days using the Spider method, and were able to land only five crappie.  For those of you who not familiar with Spider Fishing check out the link for a trip I did with my brother back in the summer.

When one makes a trip like I just made and only lands a few fish in a number of days it makes you wonder why wasn’t the fish biting? Well there are lots of factors that can affect the fish bite, and usually it is not the lure alone. Wind out of the east, high barometer, lake falling, approaching cold front, and cold water temps and last most all the fish were under lily pads located all around the lake and covering the back area. So when some of you guys are out on the water and not landing any fish, you might want to consider some of the factors mentioned above before blaming it all on yourself.

Fantastic Crappie Fishing Trip With my Brother-Bobby

I just got back yesterday from the best crappie fishing trip I have ever been on. My brother and I fished the better part of three days on Legion Lake in the Northwest section of Mississippi. The heat and humidity was a big factor in keeping us off the water for the better part of all three days we fished but we still managed to land some awesome crappie spider fishing. Yes, I said spider fishing, which is something I had never done and found out that if you want to cover a lot of water and catch a lot of fish this is the ticket. For those of you who don’t know what I am talking about, here is the scoop. First of all, you need to either make or buy four-pole stands that will handle at least 8 crappie poles, ranging in length from 9 to 11 ft. We used six 11 footers and two 9 footers. All the rods need to be spooled with 4 to 6 lb test line and have a good drag system. Four rods need to be positioned at the front of the boat and four rods at the rear of the boat: covering different points in the water, in other words, you don’t want to be fishing the same areas as your buddy in the front of the boat. This arrangement will ensure you cover the maximum amount of water and both individuals catch fish. Jigs are as important as the rods because you are trying to attract the attention of the fish and once you get the attention you use the crappie nibblet to entice the hit. Some fishermen like to use minnows which are fine but the nibblets are much faster and you don’t have to worry about keeping the minnow alive. Having a good depth finder is a must, because you are constantly watching the depth finder to see what depth the fish are feeding. All the fish we landed were caught in water 11 ft. and deeper. You are always checking to see if your tube jig is at least 2 ft. above the crappie, because crappie feed looking up. An absolute must is to have the lure tipped with a crappie nibblet, because most of the time you will never get the hit without the nibblet.
I guess the one thing that got my attention about spider fishing aside from the amount of fish you catch and lose is the leisurely way you do it. You are not casting, but merely sitting and watching the tips of the rods for a hit. Sometimes it can be a very light tip of the rod and other times the entire tip of the rod goes underwater. Of course, when this happens you set the hook and play the fish down with the long rod. It kind of reminds me of landing a fish with a long fly rod. I was really looking forward to this trip and my brother Bobby really showed me the ropes when it comes to this type of fishing. He had been telling me about him and his fishing buddy Joe catching numbers of crappie spider fishing over the past weeks and I am glad I got to see it first hand.  I can't close without mentioning my sister-in-law's Mamie's chicken and dumplings, which was delicious, and of course as always the buffet food. Both made the trip.

The unique thing about this boat is the versatility---it is equipped with the crappie stands and bluegill pole stands to fish on the bottom with live bait. Notice the long rods extending from the stands.

Nice slab under the umbrella, that sun is a killer without the shade of the umbrella

Watching those rods and waiting for that hit!!!

One of three groups we landed and dressed for a huge fish fry later in the fall.

One of the many nooks we fished, the water was super clear and the surface temp was at 90

The crappie is one colorful fish, some are darker than others

We used a variety of jigs to land all the fish we kept. The tube jig was the main lure, in different color patterns. The brighter the colors the better attraction.

Another group fresh out of the ice chest, with the fillet knives ready. Expect to lose as many fish as you catch, why because of the hook set. You lose a lot of the fish that is hooked on the side of the month which is a paper-thin membrane. The top part of the mouth is the perfect hook set, which is the toughest part of the crappie's mouth.

Nice female taken from a creek channel, landing a fish like this on the long crappie pole is a blast.

The top photo of the underspin reel and the long rod is ideal for this type of fishing. Also pictured is one of the micro-lights we use in the spring and fall with curly tail jigs. Just another way to catch this awesome fish.

I just had to show you some of the cattails on this lake, they were in full form. We ended the trips cleaning over 45 slabs for the big fish fry. Sorry for some of the blurred images, I am still getting used to my new camera, my last one got dumped in the Sipsey River the other day trout fishing below the dam.

My Best Crappie Fishing Trip on Smith Lake EVER!!

Not a fly fishing report sorry to say. The fishing trip started off today as being a bass fishing outing using topwater lures at daylight. Fishing the Rapala one of the oldest topwater lures was the choice at daybreak. Things started off slow and didn’t improve until the sun came up and 3 Kentucky Spots were boated, with the Rapala. If you haven’t used this lure it is deadly when worked with a slight jerk imitating a wounded minnow. This jerk motion is what produced the BEST crappie fishing trip I have ever had on Smith Lake today. 10:30 is when I spotted some tiny minnows skipping across the surface in the back of a nook just off the main body of the lake. By 10:30 on any Saturday fishing Smith you have got plenty of big ski boats churning and steering up the water to the point where you have dingy water mixing with the super clear water. This situation will cause the small minnows and tiny shad to ease into this type of water and try to hide in the dingy water from the bass that is chasing them: and this you might say is what produced the best crappie trip I have had on Smith Lake. Before today I had never caught more than 3 or 4 crappies on this lake. The first cast I made into the dingy water I thought was going to produce bass, but instead, produce huge crappie on the Rapala. I knew when I landed that first fish they had to be more where that one came from and as I suspected there was, to the tune of 18 in this little nook with a few brush piles for them to trap the minnows in. The 18 was caught in 1 ½ hours, which seems like a long time to land 18 crappie, but consider the conditions, wind 10 mph, out of the east, heavy boat traffic producing huge wakes and last the lost of my trolling battery trying to contend with the wind and boat traffic; but with a trip like today, I will count my blessings.  

I don't have to tell you how good these fish are when fried or baked. I was lucky and may never catch this many carppie again in one place on this lake. As a matter of fact, you might say that this catch today was truly by accident---but that is what makes fishing so interesting to me, you never know what you are going to encounter when you hit the water. That is why I love it so.

Fishing for Crappie After a Cold Front

Well I have been in Mississippi for the past couple of days fishing with my brother.  We were fishing Legion Lake for some of the spawning crappie. Thursday was slow because of a cold front that had passed through on Wednesday. The water temperature was showing between 59 and 62. Most all the crappie was caught in 5 to 6 feet depths. The lake was falling because of all the heavy rains which along with the cold front made it tough to land many nice fish. The hits were extremely light and soft. We were both using micro light 7 ½ ft. rods with 4 lb. test light. The lure for the day was a 1/16 oz. curly tail jig retrieved slowly with the tip of the hook baited with a white or chartreuse nibbet. The nibbet makes a difference on the slow days. The weather turned cooler as the afternoon approached and cause the bite to pretty much stop. As we were leaving the water I wanted to try the black gnat on the crappie using the fly rod. I landed a couple of nice black crappie with the gnat retrieving it slowly. This was my first crappie that I had ever caught on the fly. I know that those couple of crappie won’t be my last. This was not only a great fishing trip but as always a nice visit with my brother and his wife. As always the food was exceptional.

The Black Gnat also scored with those two large bullgills.  

The Black Gnat is quite possibly the best wet fly I have ever used. The slow drift and and fall make it deadly for trout, bluegills, bass and yes even crappie.

Landing Crappie Fishing a Cold Front with my Brother

 If you have ever fished after a cold front, then you will understand today’s post. I just returned from Mississippi where I was crappie fishing with my brother Bobby, the past couple of days. We fish a couple of hours late Wednesday afternoon and a few hours on Thursday morning and manage to land some quality crappie the hard way. We were battling a cold front on Wednesday and Thursday, and the fish was far a few between. Wednesday’s trip produced some nice slabs, and Thursday’s trip was shorter because the weather just didn’t cooperate at all. We were fishing with the wind at a time out of the east ( wind out of the east the fish bite the least) and the temps dropping most of the time.  But what can one expect this time of the year? The water temps were fluctuating between 59 and 61, not uncommon for this time of the year, which is ideal for wintertime crappie fishing. The tackle for the two days was the 11 ft. jigger poles and microlight spinning gear. The jigger poles were rigged with tube jigs and tipped with a pink or white nibblets. The nibblet was the attractor that help get the hits on both slow days. The other set-up was the microlight reel and 7 ½ ft. spinning rods. The microlights were rigged with curly tail jigs tipped with a nibblet pulled slowly over the brush piles. These are excellent casting systems for crappie and bluegills, because of their sensitively and light action. We were fishing water depths of 10 to 12 ft moving the jigs over the brush piles. Bobby and I drop all the brush three years ago in 12 different places on the lake. The key was getting the jig just above the crappie where they were suspended at the top of the brush. It worked both days but it took some patience and lure switching to land some of the slabs we brought to the cooler. Wednesday’s trip produced more using the 11 ft. jigger poles. The jigger pole or crappie jig pole is excellent on slow days when the fish are embedded in the brush and not moving to feed. This set-up will enable you to place the jig right in front of the crappie’s mouth. It can be an awesome way to land huge slab crappie, especially when you know where the brush is located. Both set-ups can produce large numbers of crappie. I have been fishing this lake with my brother for years and we know not to let a cold front dampen our spirits. We been there and done that before. I can't begin to tell you how many fish this one lake has produced for both of us. I will be heading back in December with another report. The following pics summed up the trip.

Nice slab to start the action

Landed using the Micro Light

The key to the catch--under that indicator is where some of the brush was located

Another slab --this one with jigger pole

Anything with red seemed to trigger a hit

Both jigger poles are 11 ft. long and excellent at getting the lure in the face of finicky crappie Both rigged with 4 lb. test line

The jigs for this trip--next trip or next day could be different