CRAPPIE FISHING HOW TO: AUGUST GUIDE

We’ll break down crappie patterns to look for during August and detail how to catch the most fish this time of year.

Each month of the summer offers a unique fishing opportunity and unique challenges for crappie anglers. We’ll break down each month and help you find the perfect pattern for your preferred style of crappie fishing this summer.

August Crappie Fishing

By August, summer heat has taken hold across the entire country, and crappie anglers, no matter their location, are faced with similar situations.

Baitfish are abundant, water temps are at their peak, and boat traffic is at its zenith, making for extremely picky crappie.

Active techniques like casting, trolling and spider-rigging tend to be less effective in August because the majority of crappie are lethargic and unwilling to chase baits.

Vertical jigging, dead-sticking and dock shooting become the key techniques to give crappie the natural presentation that they prefer this time of year.

Small jigs tend to be most effective, particularly the 1.25-inch Itty Bit Series and 1.75-inch Live Roam’R. These jigs were designed to combat the toughest fishing conditions that crappie anglers face. Anglers from Minnesota to Mississippi continue to report that their most successful summer jig fishing comes with using these baits due to their excellent forage match and lifelike features.

August Crappie Baits

The baitfish that survived July begin to make their transition into fingerlings beginning in August. This gives anglers a few more size options to experiment with.

Jigs like the 1.5-inch Crappie Shooter, 2-inch Original Baby Shad, 2-inch Slab Slay’R, 2-inch Split Tail, 2.25-inch Baby Shad Swim’R, 2.25-inch Minnow Mind’R and 2.25-inch Mayfly are all great options for crappie anglers to have in their tackle arsenal.

That being said, crappie still tend to gravitate toward the smallest bait profiles during the summer months.

There are two main reasons for this:

• Forage Matching: If you use any electronic fish-finding devices made in the past 20 years, your graphs will probably show you a lot of bait in the water. Between aquatic insects, terrestrials and baitfish, there is more than enough food to go around in August. Most of these abundant forage species are less than 2 inches in length.
• Conditions: Water conditions are at their toughest, which makes crappie both picky and lethargic. Water also tends to be at its clearest in August, making bait profile and color paramount to coaxing bites from crappie.

Bobby Garland designed the Itty Bit Series to combat these decisive factors.

• Itty Bit Slab Hunt’R – 1.25-inch jig features a prop style tail for unique and lifelike motion, ribbing for natural vibration and scent application as well as a body design that excels across techniques. Comfortably fits jigheads with size 8 hook or size 6 sickle hook. Available in 25 colors. 20-pack MSRP $3.99.
• Itty Bit Slab Slay’R – 1.25-inch jig features a full ribbed body with concave spear tail. Great for dock shooting, slip-corking and vertical jigging. Rig concave side down for more tail action and slower fall. Rig concave side up for sleeker action and erratic fall. Comfortably fits jigheads with size 8 hook or size 6 sickle hook. Available in 8 colors. 20-pack MSRP $3.99.
• Itty Bit Swim’R – 1.25-inch jig features jointed tail with subtle swim paddle. Fantastic summer bait for crappie, sunfish and perch, especially in small water. Comfortably fits jigheads with size 8 hook or smaller. Available in 18 colors. 20-pack MSRP $3.99.
• Itty Bits Jighead – 1/48- and 1/64-ounce jigheads feature size 8 hooks and downward bait keeper for snug Itty Bit jig fit. 10-pack MSRP $4.99.

Jig Colors

• Understanding what crappie are seeing and how they are seeing it is important when selecting an effective color.

Shad in most environments appear chartreuse to crappie. Bobby Garland produces more than 20 colors with chartreuse as a primary color or accent color.

The clearer the water the deeper crappie tend to hold. Colors patterns with silver, white, blue, purple and chartreuse are most reliable in those environments.

In stained and muddy water, crappie have the easiest time spotting bright or dark contrasting color patterns. It’s important to give crappie a pronounced silhouette to key in on, no matter the water conditions. This is why laminate (top one color, bottom a different color) jigs are so effective for catching crappie.

Note whether landed fish have the hook in the lip or down towards the gullet. If the hook is in the lip continue to experiment with colors while you’re on active fish. If you catch more than one fish with the hook toward the gullet, stay on that pattern.

Clear Water: Natural shades work best. We recommend the colors Tadpole, Monkey Milk, Blue Ice, Blue Thunder, Natural Cricket, Mayfly, Bleeding Shad, Crystal, Purple Monkey, Patriot, Chartreuse Red Glitter, Hummingbird, Crystal, Pink Lemonade, Sandfly, Bone White Chartreuse and Pecan Cream.

Stained Water: Bright colors are most effective. We recommend the colors Live Minnow, Threadfin Shad, Cajun Cricket, Electric Chicken, Gumdrop, Hot Tater, Bluegrass, Cherry Lime, Sweet Tea W Lemon, BBQ Chicken, Bayou Booger and Mo Glo Green Lantern.

Muddy Water: Dark contrasting colors as well as orange perform best. We recommend the colors Blue Chrome, Black Night, Vegas, Blueback Shad, Grenada Gold, Fried Shad, Lights Out, Black Gum, Mud Dauber, Licorice Chartreuse Pearl, Horsefly and Black/Hot Pink.

Top August Picks

Best All-Around – 1.25-inch Itty Bit Slab Hunt’R rigged on a 1/32-ounce Overbite Sickle jighead. Best on medium-light action rod/reel and 4- to 6-pound test line. Add a medium-sized piece of split shot 12 to 18 inches above your knot for faster fall and jig control.

Clear Water Colors: Hummingbird, Monkey Milk, Glacier, Blue Ice, Purple Monkey, Blood Minnow, Coppernose, Bright White, Sandfly and Bone White/Chartreuse.

Stained Water Colors: Threadfin Shad, Pearl Chartreuse, Cajun Cricket, Bluegrass, Electric Chicken, Live Minnow and Green Lantern.

Muddy Water Colors: Fried Shad, Hot Tater, Horsefly, Lights Out, Grenada Gold, Mud Dauber, Bluegill Fire and Junebug/Pearl Chartreuse.

Best Vertical Jigging – 1.25-inch Itty Bit Slab Slay’R rigged on a 1/48 Overbite Sickle jighead. Best on medium-light action rod/reel and 4- to 6-pound test line. Add a medium-sized piece of split shot 12 to 18 inches above your knot for faster fall and jig control.

Clear Water Colors: Blue Ice and Bone White/Chartreuse.

Stained Water Colors: Cajun Cricket, Electric Chicken and Double Silver Rainbow.

Muddy Water Colors: Black/Chartreuse Silver, Black/Hot Pink and Black Cricket.

Best Pond/Creek – 1.25-inch Itty Bit Swim’R rigged on a 1/64-ounce Itty Bits jighead. Best on light action rod/reel and 4-pound-test line. Add a small-sized piece of split shot to the line a foot above your knot or clip on a small spring float for best casting.

Clear Water Colors: Blue Thunder, Crystal, Monkey Milk, Key Lime Pie, Glacier, Ice Out, Eclipse, Blue Ice, Mayfly, Chartreuse/Red Glitter, Ghost Sparkle and Pearl White.

Stained Water Colors: Bluegrass, Outlaw Special, Cajun Cricket and Electric Chicken.

Muddy Water Colors: Lights Out and Screamer.

Best Forage Match – 1.75” Live Roam’R rigged upright on a 1/24 Mo’ Glo jighead. Best on medium-light action rod/reel and 4- to 6-pound test line. Add a medium-sized piece of split shot 12”- to 18” above your knot for faster fall and jig control.

Clear Water Colors: Pecan Cream, Blue Shiner, Speckled Pearl, Monkey Milk, Blue Ice, Bleeding Shad and Blue Thunder.

Stained Water Colors: Cajun Cricket, Electric Chicken, Bluegrass, Live Minnow, Threadfin Shad and Double Silver Rainbow.

Muddy Water Colors: Lights Out. More muddy water colors coming in 2025!