I know I’ve said it 100 times lately, but what’s a guy to do? When spring has sprung in Idaho, it’s an all-out flurry of events going on. Spring bear and turkey hunting, mushroom hunting, crappie fishing, bear baiting and whistle pig hunting.
The problem is, the first warm day we think it all starts and really, the crappie fishing is a little later because the water has yet to warm up. To always be on time, you can’t wait until your outdoor activity has started or you’ll likely be too late. So, to be on time for the crappie fishing, you must start a week early so you’re there when it actually happens. Make sense?
The problem is, when you’re trying to do it all plus keep your job, there just aren’t enough hours in the day. I remember in 2005 we were bear hunting nearly every night until midnight or 1 a.m. and I had to get up for work at 4:30 or 5:00 a.m.
By the end of bear season, I was fried. And it’s semi the same crappie fishing if you catch a cooler full and have to clean them when you get home. It’s tough duty being an outdoorsman and trying to do your duty feeding your family organic meat.
So with the above said, I’ve gone out the last two weekends trying to catch the crappie, but the water is just a little too cool yet. Hopefully next weekend. But I have to help with the Scooter’s Youth Hunting Camp on May 6. But for those of y’all who can go, it should be getting hot any second.
The most favorite way to catch them is when they move up to spawn. There are a variety of ways to catch them, but here’s how I do it. Tie on a small jig head. I love the little plastics made by Lake Fork Trophy Lure Co. They have slots cut in the sides so with any water movement they display a lot of action.
I don’t know why it matters, but I like to use the little pencil popper bobbers. I catch a ton more fish on them than on a regular round red/white bobber. I put the bobber about 18 inches above the jig and flip it right up by the bank, within 1-2 feet. Just a slight movement of the bobber makes the LFTL tail wiggle, which prompts a bite.
If they are there, you should have a hit within minutes. If you don’t have a hit within a few minutes, move along until you find them. I like pulling up to some grass or brush but I catch a ton along barren looking rocky spots as well.
You may hook a worm on a bare hook or a jig and slap on a small split shot. I’ll throw this on the opposite side and pick up a lot of fish throughout the day. I also flip this out and bounce it slowly along the bottom and pick up a lot of perch and quite a few bass.
I caught a decent bass yesterday hooking a LFTL jig on a jig head and bouncing it along the bottom. Crappie are a schooling fish so if you catch one, anchor and see if you don’t get into a bunch. At the end of the spawn, if I’m having trouble getting into the fish I’ll troll along slowly with a Cotton Cordell Rattlin Spot and try to locate them.
If you’ve never eaten crappie, you may wonder why I’m so excited about them. Eat them once and you’ll see. They are a mild, flaky white fish. And in the fresh-water category, they are second only to walleye and maybe perch. I don’t doctor them up. I roll them in corn meal and fry after sprinkling with Tony Chachere’s seasoning. Cook twice as many as you think you’ll eat.
Well, they weren’t hitting yesterday so after a few hours I knocked off and circled by our feedlot and shot some pigeons with my new Benjamin Marauder PCP air rifle. After I’d whacked a few of them, I then went ground squirrel hunting with the Marauder and put the hurt on them.
It was a beautiful day and would have been great with just the fishing, as unproductive as it was, but throw on the pigeon hunt and the whistle pig hunt and it ended up being a great day. I got home that night and made some pigeon poppers, fried bass and blackened salmon. What a great dinner. Only possible in Idaho. Gee, I love living in Idaho.
Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.
