Crappie?

[Kawabuggy]

I went fishing at a new pond this weekend-no, not the one at the golf course!

I kept getting bites on my 4" Tiki Stick, but could not hook into whatever was biting. I was finally able to set the hook and real in a fish.. This fish could best be described as a bream like body, with a bass like mouth-only a little smaller than an actual LMB.

After i caught that one fish, I continued to get what felt like violent bites with each cast, but never did the line pick up and move. Just very hard "taps", and then nothing. I believe I found a pond loaded with Crappie. I thought about switching to smaller tackle just to see if I could land a few, but did not have any hooks smaller than 2/0 with me.

I kid you not every cast my plastic bait was getting torn up! The one fish I caught was just under a pound, and he hit the Tiki stick as soon as it hit the water. There are Bream in this pond as well as I was throwing out bread to attract them. Since there are Bream, and Crappie, there should be bass as well correct? There are also carp in this pond. I could see small schools of them moving in unison suctioning the surface of the pond.

My guess is I could have easily landed a load of fish had I been using a smaller hook, or a small jig head with a grub of some type. But I was really after bass. Since my bait could not sit still on the bottom without being attacked by the small fish, I don't think I had a chance of catching a bass.

[bassfisher02]

The fish you did catch, according to the given description, sounds a lot like a Warmoth bass.



Now not all ponds that are loaded with crappie and bream and all sorts of other panfish have to hold bass. Actually sounds liek there may not be many in that pond, since there is an overwhelming presense of panfish. But to be sure, try fishing deeper areas with baitfish imitations [no soft plastics] Try things like a ratLtrap and crankbaits. If no success, there may not be many bass in the pond, and it would be more fun to tie on a rooster tail and catch up some bream. [Note that bass will hit rooster tails as well, so you still have a chance].

[Kawabuggy]

I may have to try a rooster tail, once I figure out what it is

I might take my kids back to this pond because it seems like they could easily catch some fish, and help build their interest more in fishing.

I am going to go back and try a small jig with a grub trailer and see what kind of action i get first. Will probably hit it this afternoon on my way home from the office.

[wargoth]

Roostertail is an inline spinnerbait. Oldschool, and effective for sure.

[leroy]

Or



One is edible and the other is not...

[bassfisher02]

Warmouth is edible... Pretty good actually.

[Fishnfool4evr]

Up here in Md we call those things Red-eye Bassn Rock Bass in W.Va. n yur rite Bassfisher02 They are a very tasty treat.

[bassfisher02]

Thats your basic Rooster Tail.

[wargoth]

Warmouth is good eating, and, one hell of a fighter for it's size. They are essentially a hybrid of rockbass and a bluegill. In these parts, they are also known as mudbass. I have found that almost all of the panfish species taste good, though are often more hassle to clean than they are worth.

[ESipes_89]

Your almost positively catching crappie. If you wanna catch more try this: 2in. chartruese curly tail grub on an 1/8 oz. jig head. You'll be pullin' 'em in one after the other. You might even want to try one that's even brighter than the one in the image below. By the way, I caught several 4lb.+ bass this year on the same set-up.





-Eric

[robbor]

Noramlly crappie dont hit hard, atleast not to me. Id guess its a warmouth/greensunfish/gill. Id really recomend worms on a float although ive never use that for crappie. For crappie you never know if they will chase or not, I normally pound small white crappie jigs tward the bottem for them.

[ESipes_89]

The set-up I mentioned above works well for warmouth too, or any sunfish for that matter.

There is one thing I don't understand though. Why are warmouth sunfish refered to as rock bass or warmouth bass? They are a species of sunfish all on their own.

-Eric

[bassfisher02]

Warmouth are reffered to rock bass and other bass because they look similiar.