5 Ways to Catch Summer Crappie

Use small crappie baits and these five proven crappie-catching techniques to continue catching crappie all summer.

Crappie anglers who slow their fishing or even stop when the spawn ends are missing out on one of the very best and most predictable times of the year for catching crappie. By four to six weeks after the majority of spawning is done, crappie have recovered from the rigorous period and they’ve settled again into comfortable confines that they’ll occupy for a while. Their places of preference are much more patternable than during spring’s rollercoaster of temps, wind and water levels. Plus, the fish are hungrily feeding again.

One angler who passionately fishes for crappie year-round says that when the calendar page turns to June, he knows “right where they are and how to catch ’em.” Fortunately for us, that angler, Gary Rowe, is also great about sharing his knowledge and tactics for success. Below are his five proven summer tactics that consistently drive his catching success on nearby Oklahoma lakes Fort Gibson, Tenkiller and Lake Eufaula. We’re confident these will work for you, too.

“You don’t have to give much thought about what’s the most available food source to crappie this time of year – fry and fingerlings, and insect hatches,” Rowe noted. “I mean, just about all the warmwater species have been busy in recent weeks spawning – crappie, bass, perch, shad – along with mayflies and lots of other bugs. Food is everywhere and the common factor among all is size … ‘little.’ That’s why the Bobby Garland 1.25-inch Itty Bit baits have become my go-to lures. They perfectly ‘match the hatch.’”

Rowe, a longtime student of crappie fishing, has tried it all – jigging, casting, spider rigging, dock shooting, trolling, etc. He’s not a guide, nor is he active on the professional crappie tournament trails – although he’d be good at either. Without these pressures, he gets to fish exactly the way he wants on every outing. For him, it’s using a single spinning rod in his hands with “a jig or two” tied on.

“I like to feel my jig and I love to feel the bite, so I’m always going with a technique that lets me do those two things.” In no particular order, here are Rowe’s favorite rigs for summertime fishing with an Itty Bit.

Drop-Shot

The crappie drop-shot rig borrows a popular approach used by bass anglers, mostly for when they’re fishing deep. It relies on a sinker tied to the end of the line, and a bait being affixed directly to the same main line, above the weight. Rowe opts for a simple bell-style sinker as the bottom weight, usually either a 1/16- or 1/8-ounce size because he rarely fishes deeper than 20 feet. For him, the rig is ideal when wind or current requires the additional weighting for line control and the “feel” he relies on so much.

For the jighead, he uses a 1/48-ounce Bobby Garland Itty Bits tied directly to the main line with a loop knot, about 15 inches above the bottom sinker. Lure choice is usually the Itty Bit Slab Slay’R because of its subtle design.

“I might shake the rod tip a little, but that’s about it. This lure represents many different food items crappie feed on in and around brush piles, and I don’t want to overwork it,” he said.

Rowe typically positions his boat directly over the cover, often a brush pile, and fishes the drop-shot rig vertically. “I’ll start at the top of the brush pile, stopping at different depths from there on down until I determine the best depth.”   

In addition to fishing brush piles, the drop-shot rig is also effective for targeting points, ledges and drop-offs.

Double Jig

Fishing two crappie jigs in tandem on the same line is nothing new, but how Rowe arranges them might be different from what anglers would expect. The changeup is that he puts his lightweight Itty Bit jig at the end of the line and a heavier jighead above. “By doing this, the bigger jig – usually a 1/6-ounce Crappie Pro jighead – provides the necessary ‘weight’ for line control and also lets me use something totally different in bait size, style and color, from my Itty Bit below. I use a loop knot to attach both jigheads.

Rowe’s preferred baits are a 2” Slab Slay’R on top and a1.25-inch Itty Bit Swim’R underneath. When the combo is freefalling with the reel’s bail open, the heavier jig leads the descent as the tiny jig trails behind. Upon stopping line payout, the bigger jig is the deeper one until the Itty Bit continues to fall past it and eventually bottoms out.

“The combo gives me two very different bait profiles and sizes, and lets me vary colors, too. I’m always paying attention to which it is the crappie are hitting best so I can finetune my selections even more. I use this tandem rig a lot when fishing vertical timber in summer for crappie suspended at different depths; also, again in winter for the same reason.” Rowe noted that nearly 90 percent of his catches with this rig come on the slower-falling Itty Bit.

Clam-Shot

“The best way to describe my clam-shot rig is to liken it to my double-jig setup, but using a clam shot in place of the heavier jig so it becomes my ‘weight’ instead. And I position it closer to my lure on this rig, within 6 to 8 inches, so the two move through cover together.” Rowe said you can do the same thing with a traditional split shot, but he’s found the streamlined clam doesn’t hang-up as much.

His bait of choice for clam-shot rigging is the Itty Bit Slab Hunt’R. “It’s true to the 1.25-inch length of others in the Itty Bit series, but has a bulkier minnow-shaped profile, and a totally different tail and action. The tail resembles a two-bladed boat prop and it’s always enticingly on the move. For rigging, he goes with the Bobby Garland 1/48-ounce Itty Bits jighead.

Rowe fishes the rig by making a short underhand pitch past the cover so that on the fall the combo naturally pendulum-swings through the top of brush piles or alongside them, as he slow-reel retrieves. He’ll also use the same rig for targeting open-water roaming crappie with forward-facing sonar.

Dock Shooting

“I find some don’t believe me when I tell them the limit in my livewell came by dock shooting with Itty Bit baits, but it’s true! Again, think about all the little minnows and bugs crappie are feeding on around docks in summer. So, what better way to catch them then to put these lifelike miniatures in dark spots where crappie hide?” For the rig, Rowe first does a slight modification to the Crappie Pro Head Dockt’R jighead he prefers.

“The 1/24-ounce jighead is the weight dock shooters like best because it skips well and descends slowly. The Head Dockt’R has a strong, quality hook that fits the Itty Bit well, but its baitkeepers aren’t intended for the little lures I’m using. I easily trim their circumference down in a couple seconds with a hook file.”

To “shoot,” Rowe holds the jighead’s hook between his thumb and ring finger and pulls the jig back to flex his rod tip much like an archer draws the string with arrow on a bow. After “aiming,” he’ll release the hook and line at the same time so that the bait shoots and skips its way in and under dock openings where other techniques can’t reach. “Then it’s all about patience in letting the bait slowly fall to crappie lying in wait for an easy meal. It’s a super fun way to fish, and it can be a top producer technique during some of the hottest days of summer.”

Rowe says isolated docks with some depth underneath, and especially those near channel swings and ledges, are often the best at holding crappie.

Classic Jigging

“Good ol’ fashioned crappie jigging is, to put it simply, FUN! The only weight on the end of my line is the jighead and an Itty Bit, so I’m in full control of the presentation. In summer, I like fishing logs and laydowns on flats in about 6 to 10 feet of water, and this rig fits the application to a T.”

Rowe prefers a Crappie Pro Overbite Sickle Jighead for this fishing and selects either a 1/32- or 1/48-ounce for his Itty Bit lures. This head’s sickle-style hook is a good match for the little lures. And he likes both the Itty Bit Slab Hunt’R and the Itty Bit Slab Slay’R for the purpose.

“The two baits are quite different, and I’ll let the fish tell me by mood which they prefer on a given day. The Slab Hunt’R style has the more action of the two, thanks to its unique tail. The tiny Slab Slay’R has a lively cupped-tail, but a different action. Its design affords more of a darting, flitting type of action that imitates what little shad are doing this time of year. Sometimes the choice doesn’t matter, but crappie can be picky and I’ve definitely seen a preference at times for one profile over another.

Rowe will make a short cast or pitch the jig beyond the targeted cover, and then slowly reel the Itty Bit along it.

“Classic jigging is truly one of my favorite ways to catch crappie, and especially on an Itty Bit.”