Crappie guys advise please!

[thebassoutlaw]

Spinning reels and 10-15# braid tieing to 1/16-1/8th jigs. Leader or tie straight to the braid?

[Les Young]

I use 15lb hi viz yellow diawa j braid x4 or berkley x9 in crystal & tie about a 2 foot leader of 10lb mono simply because at times you'll definitely catch way more in clear water with clear line. If fishing dirty to muddy water & i break the leader off i just tie straight to the jig head because it really doesn't matter then in my opinion. In clear water i've had my buddy be smoking me with straight clear mono & me switch to a leader & catch them the same as him so i started tying a leader using a double uni knot but any knot that will hold up will work just fine for crappie in my opinion because my buddy being a life long linemen ties some of the craziest knots ever & they work just fine.

[Rob4AU]

I use 6# braid with 6# flouro leader. The smaller diameter braid will cast much farther than the larger and the 6# leader will break when hung before the braid if you don't jerk it. I don't like to tie the braid straight to the jig for the sole reason when you get hung and need to break it, it breaks anywhere between the jig and the reel and you lose too much braid.

Spinning reels and 10-15# braid tieing to 1/16-1/8th jigs. Leader or tie straight to the braid?

[DaveBrabec]

4lb mono. I’ve landed 15 lb Catfish on the Crappie rod with it.

[1Holeshot]

Winner Winner! Chicken Dinner

[Kbob]

10 lb yellow braid and 8 lb fc leader.

[TDobb]

4 lb mono tied straight to the jig. I wrestled this beastly carp out of docks and brush with 4 lb mono on my crappie rod. There is absolutely no reason to ever go higher than 6 lb for any crappie setup, anywhere in the country. I personally will never go higher than 4 lb.

[dragon1]

4 lb mono tied straight to the jig. I wrestled this beastly carp out of docks and brush with 4 lb mono on my crappie rod. There is absolutely no reason to ever go higher than 6 lb for any crappie setup, anywhere in the country. I personally will never go higher than 4 lb.

What brand/model mono? Manufacturers have different diameters and true break strengths for same line ratings.

[brushsjigs]

4# mono is all you need, never had that to break even with 40# cats. Ande mono. . If you just gotta use braid, tie directly to the jig. Good luck with the wind knots.

[Jig_Man]

When I do crappie fish it is no leader and straight 10# white braid.

[TDobb]

What brand/model mono? Manufacturers have different diameters and true break strengths for same line ratings.

https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/crap...s-fishing-line

This stuff right here, the Crappie Maxx Super Vis Mono from Bass Pro / Cabelas. It says .203mm diameter on the website. I have tried a bunch of different mono lines for crappie fishing in the 4 lb range, and bought a spool of this stuff cause 3000 yards for 9 bucks is a good deal, but I got it for 3 bucks a couple years ago during a sale. From ice off til Mother's Day weekend, we are on the water 3-4 times a week chasing crappies. With my spooling station setup I can respool line on a spinning reel in about 5 minutes so I figured if it got stretched or developed twist, I would strip it and spool up fresh line. So far I have been very impressed with this line for the price. I run high viz line on all of my panfish setups and pitch jigs without a bobber about 99% of my time, tightline swimming a jig back to the boat. I can see the line jump when a fish eats the bait, and even with light mono and 30 yards of line out I can still feel the bite thru the rod. After doing battle with that carp, estimated at 15-18 lbs, 29 1/2" long, the line was stretched and I did swap it that evening. That sumbich had me wrapped around about 10 different dock posts thru the battle and there was definitely abrasion on the line, but it held up fine. Cheapo Shimano Sienna on that rod too, not the greatest drag.

[Wackyjig]

99% of the time I just drop the leader from 10# to 8 on my medium shaky head rod with 20lb braid mainline and don't have any issue.
On the off chance I load a crappie rod it's just 6lb mono on an ultralight.

Zeke Anderson was on BTL and he uses surprisingly heavy line. I can't remember the exact weights but it's worth a listen.

[Les Young]

Zeke Anderson was on BTL and he uses surprisingly heavy line. I can't remember the exact weights but it's worth a listen.

On one 13 footer i've got 40lb. hi viz diawa j braid x4 to keep it from wrapping around the rod tip when vertical fishing works well & you sure ain't breaking off.

[thebassoutlaw]

Couple tied to braid and a couple tied to leaders...we will see what happens Sunday!

[Arley]

what they said. 4lb hi-viz mono. I do use 6lb on occasion.

[steve1206]

Hey man...here's the deal...straight braid, no leader...I have become almost a full time crappie fisherman, LOL.... I have set ups with 4lb. fluorocarbon, 6 lb. fluorocarbon, and 10 lb. grey Seaguar Smackdown braid....anyway, I have a lot of experience with this and what most people on here are missing is the fact that light braid, for panfish, has NOTHING to do with its strength regarding the ability to land fish. We've all landed big fish on small mono. It is completely irrelevant to this conversation. Completely. Light braid can be awesome for panfish, crappie specifically, for 2 main reasons....

1. The ability to fish all day and never retie, as well as being able to straighten light wire hooks on cover. It is also more sensitive detecting bites.

2. The #1 reason 90% of touring bass pros use braid main line-fluorocarbon leaders for spinning reels is line management and the braid limpness/lack of twist... and how that translates to spinning reel use. Same with your crappie reels, where although line is smaller, so are spools, so twist is a factor. Small braid on panfish reels also allows you to not change line for many years, if you desire....

This said, there are some negatives...

1. If you use a fluoro leader (shouldn't be needed for line shyness as crappie seem to not care), you may lose the ability to straighten hooks. You also lose time retying leaders when they break up high.
2. Braid has a ton of drag in water as well as in the wind. If you are trying to fish deep and/or are fishing in significant wind, it can be hard to get a jig to depth.
3. We lose crappie due to the papery, soft tissue in their mouth...the no-stretch braid does not help with this..

I don't think braid is optimal for every panfishing method, but it does have its benefits in certain situations...I usually have 2 braid set ups of my 6 or 7 main combos in the boat. It has its applications

[TDobb]

#2 and #3 of your cons list are two huge factors. Depending on how you fish for crappies, your line preference will vary. For me, I am about 99.5% pitching light jigs, and swimming them back to the boat with soft plastics. I can throw a 1/64 oz jig with a homemade plastic on it a good 60 feet, and a 1/32 oz jig with the same plastic I can get out to 75-80 feet. Thin braid digs into the line on the spool too much, and in my opinion doesn't lay on the spool as nice as 4lb mono. Reeling in thin braid without a fish, the line goes on super loose, and when you reel it in with a fish it digs into the loosely laid line from previous casts. In my experience, this resulted in much shorter casts and terrible line management issues, and it is compounded if you use small reels. In the past I have used everything from 500 series Shimanos up to 1500 series reels. The last four years or so I switched up most of the combos to 2500 sized reels and it increased my casting distance and eased the coiling memory from the mono. My girlfriend has a crappie rod that she wanted braid on, and we ran it with a mono leader for about 3 months before she grew frustrated and asked me to put straight mono on it to match her other crappie rods.

If you fish a lot of timber and primarily fish 100% vertical, braid may be a good option. If you spider rig, braid is probably a good option. But in my experience and opinion, if you are primarily casting to fish, 4lb high vis mono can not be beat.

-edit- I forgot to mention, contrary to your point #1 about not needing to retie all day, I actually prefer to retie about once an hour or more frequently depending on if I get into any pike accidentally. One thing I pay VERY close attention to is the angle at which my knot is positioned on the eye of the jig. With mono, you have some stretch so you can tighten that knot down and actually stretch the line a bit, which will hold the knot at a desired position on the jig eye. With braid and no stretch, the knot will slip after just a few casts and get to the point very quickly where it will no longer hold position. The reason this is important is the position of the knot on your jig will change the action of the jig in the water and the way it falls and swims. If the line comes off perpendicular to the shank of the hook, the bait will fall horizontal as the drag on the line will pull up on the line, whereas if the line comes off at a 150 degree angle to the shank of the hook, the jig will fall tail down and swing more. Depending on the mood of the fish, either presentation can be more effective, but being able to control which one you give them can make a difference in your catch rate. With mono, after every fish caught, I adjust the knot to where I want it to be based on the mood of the fish, and it will hold in that position until I hook the next fish.

[Wilyums]

I crappie fish and use both. I use braid for casting and jigging. I use mono on my bobber rods. I don't retie very often because I almost always use loop knots. The loop knot lets the jig hang level when fishing vertical and doesn't restrict it's action when retrieving. I rarely use a leader.