Dorado

Smart!

LC silent 1.5 squarebills all the way! I started Squarebill fishing with KVD 1.5s but hated losing fish due to their shoddy hooks. LCs are factory equipped with better quality hooks, IMO, so they can be fished right outta the box! Black Moss, Pearl Threadfin, and any of the Bluegill patterns are dynamite for my waters. Excellent paint jobs too!

For numbers and size - the Ned Rig was solid this year and addicting. Love light line fishing too with light drag and finesse gear. Even caught a ton of nice cats fishing it at night from shore. Runner’s up - fished the Zoom Ultravibe Speed Worm for the first time this year and so happy I did. It’s one of the most versatile worms out there and covers all water columns effectively. From waking to dragging..... it’s action-packed. It’s a blast to use it as a “search bait” to cover a ton of water quickly. Cali 420 is a killer color for me!

Folks that do well at PIR this time of year do fairly well with Chatterbaits and Chigger Craws and Baby Brush Hogs. Have you tried tubes?

Focus on the Northern coves, especially Castle Creek. They will be in about 30-40 ft of water this time of year. I find winter to be the easiest time of the year to find them as the Shad all seem to migrate up north. Coles and Humbug are a couple good ones too. January is my favorite month to target stripers at Pleasant and I look for long points and around islands. Good luck!

What area are you referring to if you don’t mind me asking?

In my favorite Zoom color too ?

As always, solid response. Can’t wait to get back out there again. This is going to get addicting

Caught a couple of these guys while targeting slab crappies in open water from the yak. 2.8” Keitech FAT Impacts in Electric Blue and Chartreuse on a 1/4 Oz Roadrunner

@Team9nine Last outing, I could see my split shot rig appear as a solid line in my sonar (typically 15ft down). After strolling over schools of fish.. I would often see solid streaking arch-like lines immediately appearing to hone in extremely close to that line without getting bite. I only use artificials, so should I change colors first? Then size? Change from baby shad profiles to Grubs first then color?

In December, traditionally in AZ at night, when I mostly shore fish, the following have been consistent winners for our ponds: White Chatterbaits with pearl white fluke jr as trailers during streaks of warmer weather Black and Blue SK Bitsy Bugs with Toledo Bend Netbaits Paca Chunks around docks and sandy bottoms Drop Shot with 4.5” FAT Straight Tail worms in Desert Craw and SXE Shad where I know shad are dying off 3” White grubs on underspins slow rolled. 3” Kalins Grubs In Ron’s Craw or Berkeley PowerGrubs In pumpkinseed In mouths of coves or off channels especially Folks might be surprised how effective drop shotting can be at night. Just use a rod with a sensitive rod tip! This season, I’m going to really focus on the Ned rig and shakeyhead with Zoom finesse worms and Bottom Hoppers.

May someone post sonar pics of crappie schools? I kept graphing feeding fish the other day but I couldn’t tell if they were smaller Largemouths or Crappies. How do you distinguish? I found a couple schools of fish vertically stacked..... those were probably crappie this time of year right?

Recommend any good stick baits to troll with?

Welcome! Nice intro and great bass from Rosey! I live in Phoenix and am slowly discovering that AZ has some nice fisheries.

I’ll have to give that a try, Blue. I was throwing Yo-Zuri pin minnows and Rapala Countdowns all day until my wrists hurt from ashore.

Fathead minnows and crayfish make up the forage too

I do fairly well on the river chucking streamers with my fly rod for chunky brownies, but what do you guys use at the lakes on spinning tackle? Ive been chasing them for the past couple years to no avail. Big to me around here is anything bigger than 5lbs

Clear casting bobber with 24” leader to a Christmas-colored Pistol Pete..........shhhhhhh runner’s up- 1/4 Oz silver or rainbow-colored Kastmaster. Honorable mention- Berkeley Atomic Tube (grasshopper color please) 10” below a bobber. Pop, pop long pause..... repeat

Cool topic. Winter months, albeit not much of a winter in Arizona, the drop shot is by far my most successful technique with soft plastics. I did make a vow this season to fish the split shot rig more often with curly tails and finesse worms. @Mobasser did you discover a pattern where the split shot rig was more effective than Texas rigging?

You certainly can. I fished it earlier this year and the bass were very finicky. Ton of Tilapia and Carp though.

From a kayak, I’ll paddle out to diving birds and watch my sonar for balls of Shad or “Christmas Trees” (name given to stacked Crappie during this time of the year). Once I see that, I stop paddling and let the current or wind drift me along naturally. What I’m going for is a painfully slow strolling motion. This is key. Before I discuss the rig, your line is vertically going down almost at a 90 degree angle. You want the Bobby Garland Baby Shad (BG) to have as little “moving” as possible. Think of the minnow as just levitating and suspending as long as possible In the strike zone. In other words, NO reaction bite here. In my experience, this excludes the spawn, the more ‘neautral’ the more the minnow appears completely oblivious to their surroundings. Crappie are constantly looking up to feed. Remember that. They get so easily seduced by a presentation that just hovers and let’s the natural currents slightly quiver the tapered tails of Shad-bodied baits or the tails of 2” Kalin grubs or smaller Keitechs The rig? 1/4 to 3/8 (mostly) to 1/2 ounce (windy days) split shot weight tied to a swivel. Use 18”-20” of #4 Fluro leader tied to a 1/16oz chartreuse or white Roadrunner under-spin. These give me a little more flash underwater and is a perk that I believe in, just my added touch Lastly, BS minnow gets tied onto the jig as straight as possible and i’ll drop that rig down a couple feet above where I’ve been marking my targets. I put two rigs out on each side of my yak onto rod holders and literally will put my paddle away. Now, my presentation is just tantalizing the entire zone with this unaware, unguarded , solitary Shad that just helplessly ends up “lost” around a pack of hungry hyenas What do you think is going to happen next? anyone who hasn’t used ultralight rods with #4 test line to catch slab Crappies is missing out on some addicting fun! Go get em! And last shout out to @everythingthatswims For guiding me into this technique that has seriously elevated my confidence and game! @JustJames You can still apply those same techniques mentioned above but from shore. Just use a slip bobber and apply the same concept. I never even pop my rod with minnow baits From shore with a bobber.

YES!!!! Game changer

Pm me..... I fish PHX urban ponds once a week and will give you so many tips it will make your head spin. I’m all about sharing secrets with BR members. Check out my profile and my pics...... all Phx urban bass. Forage is small so learn finesse fishing. Save the swimbaits for the trout stocking starting soon! Last thing, please don’t share with others because I don’t see a lot of catch and release around here and it infuriates me so I’m very tight lipped, but learn quickly learn the Ned Rig and finesse Tubes for the spring. PS the cats here love them too and there are some monsters lurking out there! Oh yeah, GRUBS! pumpkinseed and white colors in 3” with chartreuse jigheads. BOOM! Threadfin Shad and tiny craws make the forage base here. Bluegills are summer and most get devoured by cats and bass by the time winter hits. Orange is killer for imitating craws along with black and blues at night White and Shad-colors (grayish) will suite your colors so don’t go over board

I love crappie fishing from a kayak! I got advice earlier this year from @everythingthatswims And it changed my life lol! I won’t share his secret but Bobby Garland Baby Shads and 2.8” Keitech Swing Impacts mated with Roadrunner jigs have now put me into the slab arena. For numbers, 2” grubs are a staple here in AZ and slip bobber rigging Powerbait Atomic Tubes around submerged trees make for action packed days. During spawns, slow rolling gold bladed beetle spins get viscious strikes that make it feel more like bass fishing than conventional panfishing. Lastly, when they are shallow, drop shotting 2” Gulp Alive! Minnows (Black Shad please) with long leaders feels like you’re cheating at times. With all all of these artificial options, I could never go back to the hassle of fishing with live minnows. Just me personally. Power to the crappie!