I know big bass on my lakes love crappie and I often use black markers to make cranks more crappie like.  Any one else do this or am I the only crazy person?

 

 

This is an Oyster Red Eye Shad that I did a 'Snow Tiger' style modification and I feel this does a nice job mimicking a fleeing juvenile crappie in cold muddy water.

 

Id like to see more crappie patterns from all manufacturers!

It's not crazy when it works ~ 

A-Jay

Looks great. I've always thought there should be more crappie patterns.

As I said in another post, my favorite crank color that I have caught hundreds of fish of different species on is a crappie pattern by SPRO called Cell Mate.  It’s got more than bone and black colors, it’s got some green, a red chin and a slightly irradecent sheen to it.  

These have worked well for me

5 hours ago, TOXIC said:

As I said in another post, my favorite crank color that I have caught hundreds of fish of different species on is a crappie pattern by SPRO called Cell Mate.  It’s got more than bone and black colors, it’s got some green, a red chin and a slightly irradecent sheen to it.  

That's a beautiful river minnow pattern. 

I think just throwing a bold black stripe down the back of most pale shad patterns really nails the look of the hybrid crappie you see in some lakes!

 

 

A super pale body with just a bold black stripe absolutely nails these very unique looking fish!!!

@Pat Brown I had to post that species up here to get the low down on them.  Also some have a black speck on their lip.  The SPRO crank I posted has that black stripe down the back.  

Comes down to Crappie species, Black Crappie have specks and White Crappie have faint bars, not sure about the black back stripe?

My preference for Crappie colored lures is dots-specks because our local Crappie have them.

Tom

@Pat Brown I completely agree about crappie being a staple on the bass menu.  I love dirty jigs crappie pattern mixed with a d-walker silverside.  Great match to our black crappie, and a big bass magnet.

 

  I've always wanted to check these out, but haven't pulled the trigger yet.

https://crankwraps.com/3-4-red-eye/

 

scott

 

 

@WRB Tom I had to google it a couple of years ago because I also had never heard of it.  
 

Black-nose or black-stripe crappie are black crappie that have a recessive gene causing a black stripe from the dorsal fin down to the lips. The recessive gene may prove to be an evolutionary change, helping the crappie to see, as well as providing better camouflage when stalking prey.

Bagley’s original Small Fry series Crappie look as real as a live Crappie, shape and coloration. Oddly the most realistic was on a pearl background but the chartreuse background coloration caught more bass where I fish in clear what....go figure. My guess is the brighter color stood out from all the real crappie.

Tom

One of my best big fish producers in my homemade bladed jigs is my crappie pattern.

The crappie on our clear shallow rocky pond are so black and very chartreuse.

 

On 1/22/2024 at 1:20 PM, WRB said:

Bagley’s original Small Fry series Crappie look as real as a live Crappie, shape and coloration. Oddly the most realistic was on a pearl background but the chartreuse background coloration caught more bass where I fish in clear what....go figure. My guess is the brighter color stood out from all the real crappie.

Tom

 

That series just didn't work well for me except the small squarebill bluegill ones. For small lakes and ponds that I know bluegill is the main forage that little square bill really catches them.

 

Allen

On 1/22/2024 at 1:20 PM, WRB said:

Bagley’s original Small Fry series Crappie look as real as a live Crappie, shape and coloration. Oddly the most realistic was on a pearl background but the chartreuse background coloration caught more bass where I fish in clear what....go figure. My guess is the brighter color stood out from all the real crappie.

Tom

I’ve still got a few I play around with from time to time…the top 2 are “on white” and the bottom one is “on chartreuse.”

 

I agree there should be more crappie patterns and have often wondered why there aren't. For skirted baits it's pretty easy to make one with the right skirt, but for hard baits it seems like a missed opportunity. I'd love to hear Frank scalish thoughts on that. 

 

That crappie you posted has really cool color and markings, so defined! I catch them with a lot of black but never chartreuse, that's so cool!

Siebert makes a Fogy that has a close resemblance to crappie, my dad and i were fishing one of the top crappie producing/state record lakes in PA (although we were there for bass). He didnt really know how to fish for bass so i let him use that bladed jig, he caught his first walleye, several crappie and a few bass on it. It doesnt seem like many manufactures are making newer baits crappie inspired but they absolutely should. Same thing with rainbow trout painted baits in the northern part of the US, ive been wanting to make a rainbow trout swimjig and bladed jig for awhile but havent order the right colors yet.

Around here they have 2 names:  Arkansas short nosed and Arkansas black nosed.  They are common in the James River arm of Table Rock lake.

I dont paint my crank baits but I do tie jig skirts to look like crappie.  I have one tied on most of the time.