Todd Huckabee doesn't just fish for crappie. He fishes for BIG crappie. And a major part of Huckabee's big-fish strategy involves picking the right lures.
Huckabee's go-to crappie lure is a 2-inch YUM Wooly Beavertail, which is a ribbed bait that has a split and flattened "beaver tail" and is notably larger than grubs often used by crappie anglers. The specialized tail displaces a lot of water, which Huckabee believes is a big part of what makes it so attractive to slab-sized crappie.
"When people first look at my bait, with it rigged on the 1/8-ounce Crappie Pro jighead I fish it on, they think it looks really big," said Huckabee, a tournament crappie pro and fishing guide on Oklahoma's Lake Eufaula. "It doesn’t look nearly so large in a 2-pound crappie’s mouth, though, and it only takes about two crappie of that size to convince a fisherman."
Of course, Wooly Beavertails aren’t the biggest baits that Huckabee uses for crappie. Through the heart of spring and on into summer it's not uncommon to see him trolling Bomber Fat Free Shad crankbaits or dragging a mojo rig with a 3-inch YUM Dinger on the end of it for crappie. He actually discovered the value of Dingers as crappie lures while bass fishing.
Huckabee also targets large fish through the spots he fishes. Or, more accurately, the spots he doesn't fish. Unlike most other crappie fishermen, Huckabee does not look for brush or other cover. He believes that large crappie are much less subject to predation than their smaller cousins and that they often stray away from cover.
Huckabee does catch a lot of fish along ledges and other structural break lines; however, he believes that has more to do with the baitfish’s travel routes than with the crappie’s affinity for structure. Huckabee believes that finding concentrations of shad is a real key to catching big crappie.
Once he finds baitfish, Huckabee works vast areas quickly and efficiently by pitching Wooly Beavertails 8 or 10 feet out from the boat, letting them fall to the bottom on a tight line and then bringing them up to pitch again. Often, he’ll work with a 10 1/2-foot Crappie Pro Ground Zero crappie pole (Todd Huckabee signature series) in each hand, pitching baits to both sides of the boat as he goes.
Each line actually will be rigged with two Wooly Beavertails, and double hook-ups are quite common. In fact, on occasion, Huckabee will end up with two on each rod -- that's four big crappie at one time!
BLACK & PINK
Todd Huckabee will start the day using a variety of colors and let the crappie show their preferences. However, his No. 1 crappie-producing color pattern is black with a pink tail, and he virtually always has at least one black-and-pink Beavertail rigged up. In fact, YUM begin producing a black-and-pink 2-inch Wooly Beavertails at Huckabee’s request.
For more information, go to www.toddhuckabee.com.