 what's cracking y'all welcome all back to the channel you know what it is we're starting our morning here at the old Buckeys where many of my springtime mornings seem to start it's the little ice in this cooler right here maybe went a little overboard on the ice you definitely want to leave some room for fish they're gonna be going in there y'all have been on the road a bunch been filming a lot of bass fishing videos the Guggen squad I've been at the Bassmaster Classic and while I was at the classic talking to you talk to a lot of you so many of y'all are getting into crappie fishing love crappie fishing I mean it's probably now when I go to places and talk to people it's like 75% bass 25% crappie I don't know what it is but crappie you're in the air I mean they're in the water you know what I'm trying to say crappie fish let's just get more popular and I love it and talking to y'all at the classic about crappie fishing has got me itching it's got me itching to go now it's prime time and I'm yet to catch them good on the bank like catching them just I'm gonna get the boat loaded up here with some ice we're gonna try to get our normal five to ten good-sized crappie and just get on a good bank fishing pattern today's gonna be about bank fishing we're gonna be using the crispy collector and it's gonna be well used today going up into some shallow water I do believe where they should be this time here but we'll adapt and overcome and try to get these yappies into the boat learn a little something along the way thanks for being there y'all let's get it started we've made it to the reservoir fishing freaks launching that my feet are literally wet right now I launched in Crocs at first I had to put on had put on the boots the rubbers literally my truck the exhaust was underwater luckily I had the crispy I don't think any other boat could launch here it's that shallow even though it's windy today I'm glad I do have the crispy because we're gonna be going up into some shallows all right we're cranking graphs are working got rods in the boat all right guys they just sat down rig some things up so let's talk about the rigging here so the first thing that I'm I'm gonna rig up and use since we have a lot of overhanging cover we have a lot of this just flooded brush and things like that so I'm gonna use a cork rig a slide through cork that's got a stop on it the other thing I have rigged up is just just a standard little search bait just got a 16th ounce jig head a little underspin got that that saucy or that snacky swimmer on there and that's just gonna be my you know throw around anything that looks good I'm gonna just pitch that around I'm just I'm throwing this on the on an ultralight basically where I can flick it I can skip it up under cover this is my favorite way to catch them when they're shallow in the spring it's just casting a rod like that and just getting that dope and what they're doing right now is they're going in these creeks to spawn get a nice quiet place to spawn and then they'll hang around and they'll eat minnows and things like that live in this creek there's shad spawn that's that's happened in this time of year so they'll hang around in the creeks for a little while and we're in April right now which is just prime shallow fishing it's just the prime time that's where you want to go to the bank I'm gonna look for any little hard spot any kind of stump any overhanging tree any brush that's in the water that's what I'm trying to get my lure around something to think about when you're creek fishing is look at the water levels I can look on the bank and I can see the discoloration and the leaves and where the trees were holding water at one point and it looks like it's fallen so you got to keep that in mind the fish may not be on the shallow side of the creek if the water is falling it may go to that deeper side for more consistent water level it looks like we've had falling water so this shallow side may not be the ticket but try it out there's so much brush on it okay I just turned on the little black box and I am I'm seeing some shad and I'm seeing some crappie that are well doesn't look like they're in spawn mode it looks like they're in post spawn feeder mode hanging around these minnows there's definitely minnows and shad hanging around some of this brush so to me that says I need to get out my swimming and I just need to start cranking oh please smacked it there's a good one I mean just smack it guys oh yeah there we go look at that now this is kind of cool when you catch one like this it has this racing stripe down the back that is awesome I mean absolutely clobbered it clobbered it there's a couple more I see on the electronics but I think what they might be doing is spawning on that stump so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna get out that cork rig and I'm gonna throw that really milk that little stump that is our first one of the trip guys on our way to five to ten crappies we're out ate all the ones I caught last time catch good ones like that it just so much makes my day just gonna milk this see if there's anything else there's there's brush up here I don't know if they're that shallow it seems like they really wanted to be on the end of that stump or it was a little deeper so we got some overhangs some other laydowns those are gonna really be keys I think that was a carp this willow tree right here should be loaded with bluegill little things fall in the water a little fish to eat oh god smashed good crappie oh yeah I mean they thrashed that chick suspended wanted it swimming okay noted he's not even as big as I thought it was just on that ultra light just smashed it smashed it I found that usually if I'm throwing a moving bait like this something that is aggressive what's coming out and eating it is usually a good one don't get a whole lot of tinies I get the tinies when I'm just dead sticking a brush pile or just oh you get a tiny a lot of tiny ones on live minnows too which I don't throw a whole lot of but you throw a aggressive artificial like this it's usually gonna be a keeper at least not a hammer I want another bite like that that was incredible this seems to be postponed behavior so far they're not on the bank like I want them to be this is good this is a challenging situation we both can learn from do no skip up under here that's what I really like throwing the 16th over an eighth to is you can skip it really well all right let's try something dangerous this could end very badly throw it all the way up under there barely see my cork through the limbs and we have a branch it's that magical time which time to come out of the bids yes warming up or is it 64.5 big mid right now things are not quite like what I thought they were going to be there they're there I think from the recent rain that we had probably pushed some fish off the bank and we have crappie that are suspended some of them are right on the edges of this cover that's where I've caught the last two some of them just in open water but they are feeding they're chasing around minnows and that is good so I'm gonna keep throwing a moving bait I just got a bite and some shallow brush shallower brush it's only like three feet down there that's good I want that I really want them to be just all up in this cover I don't think they're quite ready for that yet but they could be this afternoon water 64 right now oh why do I love crappie fishing so much this is just it's really fun for me to try to figure these things out spent so many years doing it with bass a thousand patterns bat and crappie is new to me over the last few years like really digging into it sinking my teeth on it and I just I really like it I'm still learning all the patterns the seasonal patterns and how they change and crappie behavior I get 10 bites in this creek today with them not being up on the bank spawning I'll be pretty happy with that there's one oh you're not that big there that's one of those little guys you're a little little guy I'm sure he'll keep not happy with him they did it no I got it okay new lease on life new leaf on life that's another thing about crappie that unless you get into it you don't really understand is casting accuracy it's just most of the time they don't want to move they don't want to move from their their post so you really have to make a great cast to get it next to the cover and when you're throwing tiny jigs that could be difficult something like that big tree ought to have one have a big nasty crappie sitting on it there he is oh my gosh it's a spawning one look at the color difference in this guys this is how you can really tell they're spawning I mean that fish look black and just like I was talking about I threw to that right side nothing I threw the left side had to put it right on it boom got that fish in this this fish is so colored up you can tell this one spawning versus the other these other ones were just feeders it's one male starting to color up a little bit but so there could be another one on this stump right now when I see one colored up like that and it's coming off a piece of cover telling me he's probably guarding a nest could be a few in here if you guys never experienced spawning crappie they're like really voracious but that was the shallowest bite I've had and that one being colored up makes sense there we go there's a good one oh oh that was the biggest one of the day just touching the little brush tops you guys see all the brush tops out here there's more that you can't see under the water and I'm just slowly swimming that one it all feels different on this little rod to it's awesome put some 10 pound braid on an ultralight get dunked all right so we're not finding any big groups of crappie but I am getting on a consistent little pattern here that's probably my fifth or sixth bite I've got three on the stringer and we're working we're adding up hooked up underneath the willow look at that rod been baby come here just switched up baits went to the old school chubby grubby yes sir I needed a bite put a little stale for a minute we're well on our way to five nice one right there there's a little bit of current right here could have something to do with it these are just feeding crappie I was hoping to get on spawners but that is not happening this little area that I found it's a stretch where the water is pretty warm but it's not too dirty got some clarity and it has bait it has I see little minnows I see shad jumping around and if you've never seen a crappie feed it's real subtle they'll kind of come up to the surface and it's like a small little boil you don't really see crappie jumping out of the water pot you know hear that big pop like a bass it's not really like that I did notice a little bit of that and I've gotten my most bites in this area so I'm gonna work it pretty good this shallow brush that's on the shoreline that stuff comes out another probably 10 feet or so and most of my fish have either been in that or up under willow trees like I have back here they're just suspended up under them the best bite that I found just fan casting it's around cover but I'm fan casting so I'm gonna stick with these this electric chicken chubby grubby for a minute here we go using that brush it's good it's one of those racing stripe ones look at that almost on 11 so he is a keeper now in Texas you can keep on most lakes 25 that are 10 inches long most of these are well over that 10 inches but I don't keep many if you guys watch my videos by crappie videos you know I don't really keep that many it's pretty that's a lot that's a lot that's more than I can eat and I don't like to freeze crappie they are the best when enjoyed fresh so that is our five I'm gonna keep going though I want a couple more a little shallower you're definitely coming home with me after that head contusion 10 to 12 incher that's just the perfect eater amazing eater I'll eat 14's to and when they're that big you can do a little bit more with them you can you can put them on the grill you can blacken them these little ones like this there we go well he was almost done in the boat pretty close to the transition area where it starts to steep it up again so I've got a little something going on look at this it's like a bite mark on it so try to get it I've only got two more spots on my stringer and we have to start double clamping them I don't think we'll do let's go with what we got hang on I just noticed the stick out here in the middle oh there's crappie on it there's crappie on the stick out in the middle there's one right on it got him oh he's not that big there was another big one in there look at that though just suspended on a stick sticks not even touching the ground all right back on the casting game looking for one more diesel one cranked yes oh no come on no I still got come on baby oh it's a catfish oh no wonder it felt so big yeah you up here doing a little spawning huh about the size that will stick you good little spot right here goes up to the real shallow brush flat and right here just is a transition area from the channel oh my gosh that one cranked it that's got to be a crappie good one right here boys good one yes sir great one to fill the stringer go just smashed it that one might be the biggest of the day it's probably 13 not bad oh yeah all right that fills my little stringer it ain't so little that's a pretty good eating stringer right there oh but man do I oh gosh such a good spot do I keep just throwing that right here to try to get a big girl got to make another cast you know it oh yes guys it feels good it's been a been a steady little grind but it's been good god leave those crappie thump it catfish think a catfish it's hard when a good crappie sucks that jig into the back of their throat hmm only thing better is a long no bass eating a half ounce jig oh cranked oh gosh good one oh yeah yeah we out here cranking them boys cranking them okay we've already filled our stringer I'm gonna let you go feels bad but letting you go well y'all stringers full I might fish around and get a few more thumbs but this is what we ended up with this is what we were taking home to the family dad right there man that is awesome this is what a lot of people refer to as crappie season but really crappie is it's year-round thing it's just this time of year is when you get a lot of people that will catch them really shallow and you can you can just walk the banks on lakes and creeks ponds and just catch these crappie right up on the bank but you don't have to throw minnows yes minnows hands down that's gonna be the ultimate crappie getter always but minnows are kind of you know a pain to drag around you got to deal with keeping them alive and all that stuff and if you want the thump the thump and I'm telling you guys when you get a good crop you get a good 12 crappie over 12 inches smacks a jig it is you'll you'll think it's a bass you'll think what is that and then you'll see the crappie come up my mark gosh they just smoke it it's so fun the chubby grubby that was really good the snacky swimmer as always Guggen Squad.com there's a crappie section on there there's a link down below and you can save 10% at checkout on any of our crappie baits and anything on the site when you use my promo code LFG and if you're brand new to crappie fishing you want to get into it don't want to spend a ton of money on on gear great news about crappie fishing you can use a flimsy little pole you can go get a cheapo pole just something really light get an ultra light or a light that you can cast these small jigs with reels are not expensive and you can get out there and just have a good time with crappie I just I just love everything about it and I'm gonna be on a little crappie mission this week I'm gonna try to get some where we're gonna be eating some this week and getting some more since the crappie fishing is really heating up so if you guys want to stay tuned for a catch and cook keep it locked right here on the channel subscribe and thank you guys for being here on all these outdoor adventures with me I'll see you on the next one. Go get bent. Get that thumpin!