I fish a system of lakes that all have crappie in them, with one lake with the largest Florida strain bass in it having the highest population of crappie (correlation?).  The lake is relatively shallow (with the creek bed never being more than 40 feet down and the average depth of probably 10 feet) and stained (from 1' to 5' visibility depending).  Has anyone had success with a crappie swimbait in places where they are part of the main forage of the bass (there are no shad in the system of lakes)?  Hard or soft body doesn't matter, just something that has drawn strikes.

http://www.mattlures.com/bluegillswimbait.htm

Mattlures Baby Bass might interest you. Another

that I am currently testing is the Keitech Swing

Impact Fat 4.8"

8-)

JSJ Makes an awesome crappie/bluegill hard bait.

Mattlures Baby Bass might interest you. Another

that I am currently testing is the Keitech Swing

Impact Fat 4.8"

Really impressive looking! However, why would you want to rig it with the weight ahead of the body, as opposed to rigging with weight underneath, as with standard swimbait hooks? I think this rigging, portrayed in the video, actually detracts from the action. But that could just be me?

8-)

I have tried it both ways and weightless.

T-rigged transfers all the energy to the tail.

The body wiggles more than I like with the

weighted hook.

-Kent

I have tried it both ways and weightless.

T-rigged transfers all the energy to the tail.

The body wiggles more than I like with the

weighted hook.

-Kent

Exactly!

Rigged on a belly-weighted hook the tail wags-the-dog and looks very phony.

I rig the 5.8" Keitech fat swing impact on an Owner sled head (4/0 hook)

which funnels incredible throbbing into the paddletail, while offering bass a stabilized, realistic-looking target.

Roger

Shoot...Thanks Roger...How could I overlook

the jig head? That might be the best of all

presentations.

:-[

Shoot...Thanks Roger...How could I overlook

the jig head? That might be the best of all

presentations.

:-[

Maybe I'm getting lazy Kent, but I like the convenience of a self-contained jig,

which can also be worked in heavy vegees without any sinker to peg 

Roger

here are a couple of hard swimbait crappies

the top one is a tylures crappie and the bottom one is a Mattlures hard crappie

Castaic Original Hard Headed Baby Crappie:

http://store.castaicswimbait.com/Product/111/Hard-Head-Originals/

Mattlures and JSJ are my favorites. I have heard good things about the baitsmith madgill but I have never personally thrown it.

Can't wait to try this one:

http://tackletog.com/news/2010/02/21/new-spro-bbz-1-micro-2-5/

I'm sorry, but that Castaic looks to wierd, compared to the others..

I'm sorry, but that Castaic looks to wierd, compared to the others..

Yeah, it's basically a shallow diving crankbait with a lively tail.  I've caught some big fish on that.  One thing about Castaic though, one has to test it in the water first.  Their quality has been shot to heck since they sold out. 

storms definatley. Oh wait wrong crappy. Sorry

  -gk

I'm sorry, but that Castaic looks to wierd, compared to the others..

Yeah, it's basically a shallow diving crankbait with a lively tail. I've caught some big fish on that. One thing about Castaic though, one has to test it in the water first. Their quality has been shot to heck since they sold out.

Castaic has been worthless for awhile .....

storms definatley. Oh wait wrong crappy. Sorry

-gk

hahahaha

for fishing crappies, i usually crappie tubes with jig on it, jig it through rocks and such and, you'll get the crappies hooked on. I also apply Berkley powerbait for crappies waxies, they are pink color.

Good luck.

I'm sorry, but that Castaic looks to wierd, compared to the others..

Yeah, it's basically a shallow diving crankbait with a lively tail. I've caught some big fish on that. One thing about Castaic though, one has to test it in the water first. Their quality has been shot to heck since they sold out.

Castaic has been worthless for awhile .....

Their customer service is pretty good and their catch 22 and hardbaits haven't been an issue for me. I had 3 catch 22's destroyed by gar last year and they replaced all three for free, including shipping. It was a good experience, and I still think back to the days they first came out and their quality was solid. I need to find a new swimbait brand to throw because they're so iffy right now. What would you suggest? I've heard Mattlures, but am cautious about trial and error with $20+ lures. Also, I need something where the whole body moves water, not just a paddle tail. This muddy water sucks, I miss Western Gin Reservoirs and small fish being 3+ pounds.

I like to use Bass Assassin 1.5 inch Shads. They come in a variety colors, but the Black Shad color seems to be my favorite. We use a 1/16 or 1/32 size jig head.