Old Fashioned Crappie Fishing Success

“Hillbillies” is a self-proclaimed designation by Leon Adams and Gary “Blue Duck” Ingram. It’s in no way my description but is a title they wear proudly. These men live a few miles apart in the woods of northeastern Oklahoma, and both are can-do-anything guys, retired from hard-work careers. They’re long-time fishing buddies with stories as grand as their skills. Our by-chance encounter a couple of years ago turned to fishing talk, and we’ve shared a boat several times since.

I’ve learned that Leon and Blue Duck are big hearted, funny and excellent crappie anglers. Their skills have been honed over decades of fishing the abundant waters across their region, both from the bank and by boat. From my watching and visiting with them, I’ve uncovered six of their top basic crappie fishing practices that I believe can greatly benefit any skill level of fisherman interested in catching the species.

Leon Adams’ Tips

• Have a confidence bait and fishing style. Invest a lot of time fishing with one particular bait the way you like to fish best. Eventually you’ll have put that lure in every possible condition and scenario to gain a full understanding of what, when, where, and why. Confidence is key, and once you’ve established your own benchmark for repeatable success, it’ll be much easier to transition into other bait applications and techniques. Leon’s go-to bait is the Bobby Garland 2” Baby Shad, Crystal color, rigged on a 1/16-ounce jighead. His fishing style is to cast and then reel s-l-o-w-l-y. 
• Focus on your rod tip. Leon trusts his eyes most for getting the info he wants about what’s going on with his jig. The rod tip is the only place you can watch and see everything at the same time – rod tip, guide tip and line. If Leon’s lure is in the water, he is “feeling” it with his eyes.
• Keep your bait in the water. You must have your lure in the water for any chance of a catch, so consciously seek to maximize your fishing time and minimize downtime. Keep tackle handy and accessible, so you’re not wasting time on a scavenger hunt when it’s time to re-tie or change baits. Leon would rather spend more time thoroughly fishing and better learning one good productive area than running around and quickly fishing a bunch of places. 

Gary Ingram’s Tips

• Act like you’ve never fished before. Although it took a while for this one to sink in, I now think it’s brilliant. For a beginner, everything is new, and there’s an excitement and hunger to learn and get better. You’re focused and working hard to understand every aspect of the sport. With this “first time” approach, you’ll always find yourself appreciating the opportunity to be on the water and having the chance to learn.
• Use a jighead weight you can feel. Much like in the “Three Bears” story, the goal is to find the jighead weight that is “just right.” Too heavy, and you’ve likely impeded the lure’s action, possibly descended below the crappie, and could be hanging up a lot. Too light, and you probably have no idea where your jig is and what it’s doing. Bobby Garland jigheads run the gamut in sizes from 1/64 ounce to 1/4 ounce. The most popular size in crappie fishing is the 1/16 ounce, so it can be a good place to start. Adjust up or down from there to find the one “just right.” Lure size, line size, water depth, wind, and current can all be factors.  
• Take something to eat and drink. And give thought to what’s appropriate for you and your guests. The types of snacks and drinks can have a definite bearing on how participants feel and hold up during a full day outdoors. Water is typically the safest choice for proper hydration, whereas fruits and low-sugar snack bars are good for keeping energy up. Of course, there are times when a good ol’ sandwich and a cookie have their place.

Now let’s dive into the fishing trip these tips came from and how they applied during our day on the water.

A sandwich break, a move up the lake, and a couple of quick catches from an old spot changed our fishing day like a flip of a switch. I’m not sure exactly how it happened, or even if the others noticed. Nothing was said, but our afternoon fishing had a different feel to it. We caught crappie. We missed bites. We lost fish. We lost jigs. We laughed. We talked. We simply fished. We fished simply.

Here we sat, three 70ish guys in a boat on Oklahoma’s Fort Gibson Lake. Leon Adams and Gary “Blue Duck” Ingram have been fishing buddies for 30-plus years. I’m the newbie friend, connecting only a couple years back.

We had spent our morning navigating to GPS waypoints and using forward-facing, side-scanning and down-scanning sonar to influence our crappie fishing decisions. Now, we’re fishing atop a place pulled from the memory banks and approached using landmarks.

Leon and Blue Duck have a fondness for the river section we were cruising, mostly due to familiarity from their years of living nearby on its east side. Leon interrupted our ride by gesturing with an index finger pointing right and tapping as if on an invisible wall. I throttled to an idle. “Right there, start there at that little green weed and we’ll fish up to that brown bush,” he instructed. Blue Duck piped up, “I remember this spot!”

“We used to catch ’em here,” Leon continued. “A hundred years ago we sank trees and limbs all along this ledge. It wasn’t easy fishing from the bank. We’d lose some jigs but also caught a lot of crappie.”

His lure hit the water, I messed with the trolling motor, and Blue Duck rigged a bait. Leon’s “Come on in here,” got our attention so we could watch him lift a 10-incher aboard. By his next cast, Blue Duck’s was alongside. The two hooked up almost simultaneously. Leon landed a short crappie. Blue Duck had a dandy, but it wiggled free. “Want me to teach you how to land those?,” Leon poked. Blue Duck chuckled. I sat. I watched. I listened. I got it.

No longer were my boat’s high-tech electronics driving how and where we fished. In fact, everything was turned off now except for my front unit, now basically serving only as a depth locator. My attention was on Leon and Blue Duck.

Leon is one of the best at keeping his bait in the water. Nearing a spot, his lure is the first in. At the spot, he’s always fishing. When it’s time to move, his bait’s the last out. His downtime is minimal. Jigheads and lure choices are close and handy.

Leon volunteered that if had to pick just one bait, it’d be a Bobby Garland 2” Baby Shad, in Crystal color and rigged on a 1/16-ounce jighead. “I’ve just caught too many fish on this bait over the past 20 years to make me think there’s anything better. Then he explained why he was using something different that day.

“Just a gut feeling,” he explained while straightening a Bobby Garland 1.75-inch Live Roam’R rigged on his 1/32-ounce Mo’ Glo jighead. “Chilliest morning yet, finicky bite – this little buddy just might trick a few more.” He fished it on light action 7 1/2-foot Fenwick spinning rod paired with a spinning reel loaded with 4-pound-test. He believed the combo to be just right for the day’s depths and the light wind and little current.

The Live Roam’R has a symmetrical shad-shaped design to allow rigging either upright or flat, for two totally different looks and actions. The bait’s flexible, forked tail also reacts according to rigging orientation. Upright in natural swimming mode, the tail vibrates tight and quickly side-to-side. Rigged flat, in bait-dying mode, the tail quivers up and down when moved.

Leon is a bona fide rod tip watcher. “I trust my eyes the most to tell me what’s going on below.  The rod tip is the one place I can watch everything at the same time – rod tip, guide tip and my line. I’ve seen my tip quiver many times there’s been no other indication of a strike otherwise. Although I once doubted what he was saying, I’ve since personally seen firsthand how a fine-wired strike detector can highlight a bite that occurs with no other indication at all. I’ve even videoed and watched in slow motion, just for my own validation.

Once Leon’s lure hits the water, his eyes are focused only on his rod tip and he’s reeling s-l-o-o-o-w-l-y. He varies reeling speed according to jig contact with cover. If it bumps too much, he speeds up. When contact wanes, he slows. His goal is to have his bait naturally tracking along the face of the cover or drop off. His hookset is quick and tight. If a miss happens, he knows his jig is still near the strike zone and ready for another opportunity. His best lure colors were Blue Ice, Electric Chicken and Cajun Cricket.

Leon’s remembrance of this spot is quite remarkable. No doubt all of the time and effort that he and his wife, Phyllis, and a few close fishing friends spent adding and securing habitat to the edge so long ago are still paying off.

Blue Duck also likes to cast and reel. On this outing, he, too, went little, but his choice was a Bobby Garland Itty Bit Slab Slay’R. The diminutive 1.25” Itty Bit Slab Slay’R has a solid round body and a cupped tail that flairs a little wider than the body before it flattens and tapers to a point. His reason for the selection is the same one that makes this lure a top favorite of mine. “It’ll catch anything that swims,” he said, “and I like ‘catching.’”

He informed us his Black/Hot Pink option was the same as had been working for him elsewhere. “It’s been catching ’em for me at Spavinaw, and what works there is often good for Gibson, too.” He proved his point with continual good action from crappie and bluegills. Like Leon, he later turned to Cajun Cricket color.

Blue Duck consciously keeps his rod tip held high, in the 10:00 to 11:00 position. He explained that doing so optimizes his hookset, in contrast to one at a higher or lower angle, which takes longer and more arm movement to execute. “I know it’s not always the case, but I like to think I’m always ready to react quickly the instant a strike occurs,” he said. He further elaborated he believes “quick” to be more important than “powerful” for hooking crappie, noting the fish’s “paper” thin mouth sides as part of the reasoning. “Getting a hook to stick isn’t usually the issue with the species, but keeping it pinned in place and not pulling free can be. I still miss a lot of bites,” he confided with a grin.

Blue Duck also went with a 1/32-ounce jighead. Even with the light heads and small baits, hang ups occurred, which was further testament to how the supplemented cover had withstood the test of time. Blue Duck switched to the 1/30-ounce Bobby Garland BrushOff jighead, a Mo’ Glo head with the added feature of twin light-wired weedguards. The design allows the angler to spread the wires to personal preferences for effectively deflecting cover, but not the hookset.

As I watched Blue Duck reel, it seemed he was winding faster than Leon. Yet, his lure wasn’t returning any quicker. I realized he used a smaller reel. The speed of line retrieve, usually specified as inches-per-turn (IPT), is based on each full rotation of a reel’s handle. Crappie-designated spinning reels, with their downsized bodies and spools, usually don’t vary much from one brand to another because their physical size is the limiting factor. However, the IPT can be as much as 10 inches difference between, say, a 75-size crappie reel and a still relatively small 200-size all-purpose spinning reel. That’s why some crappie anglers opt for size 100 and 200 spinning reels for their fishing, and especially the casters and dock shooters, for the quicker line gathering and smoother reeling. Regardless of reel size, the spool’s diameter, depth, and fullness of line can also influence IPT, as can line type, diameter and test weight. The point is, don’t rely only on the visual perspective when trying to mimic a buddy’s retrieve speed because he’s catching more fish. You must understand there can be more involved in a lure’s return than just how quickly the hand is turning the handle.

Leon broke my thought with, “If they’re here, I’ll bet they’re also at Two Trees.” Blue Duck nodded and added, “And maybe Cable Hole?” It was time for a move.

“See those two trees (there it was – the source of the Two Trees name), that one right there and the other down the bank just a ways,” Leon said. I eyed the couple hundred yards, as my buddies grabbed rods and moved to fishing positions. They used their same baits as before and were casting blindly in every direction. The cover was scattered across the bottom and deeper, mostly in 16 to 22 feet, so it took more time and patience for the lightweight jigs to get there. As with the previous river stops, success came in the form of a mixed bag of crappie, bluegill and white bass.

We then moved to their Cable Hole, clearly named in honor of some old dock anchoring remains of concrete and cable above the shoreline. It resembled our first stop, and once again Leon directed our position. Results were comparable, too, as we caught crappie, got hung up a lot, and rolled with laughter. Our intentions were to keep only a few crappie from the day, just enough fillets for a fresh meal. Those went onto ice immediately at the time of catch, not into livewells. Leon and Blue Duck always have an ice-filled chest on board, regardless of time of year, because they have the greatest appreciation for what proper fish care means in the way of awesomeness at the table.

But fish care and some good ol’ fashioned cast-iron skillet frying tips are for another story coming soon. Watch for it!