Heard the crappie bite will pick up after dark so I hit Pineview with my son late Saturday afternoon. Marked plenty of fish and had decent catching until dark. After dark the bite dropped way off but still marked plenty of fish. About the same time it started snowing, so it could be weather related, but I am curious about crappie's night vision. How well can they see? Should I have switched to something that glows? Any insight into these tastey devils is greatly appreciated.
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Crappies have great vision, and sight feed a lot, but they are pretty deep, and the glow in the dark jigs really seem to help.
They bite all night for me, as late as I have ever stayed. But, sometimes you need to spend a little time getting prepped and set up before dark, including a lot of other holes drilled nearby, because I do a lot better if I am willing to move from hole to hole if I'm not getting frequent bites. Often the hole that does best in the afternoon, is not the one I get them in at dusk, which is not the one(s) I get the most bites in well after dark.
Also, I don't know if you have electronics or not, but I have had them change depth on me. Like, biting inches from the bottom as the sun went down, but having better luck 3-5' off the bottom later on. Or something like that.
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Last Thursday, the crappie showed up about 7 pm. We were fishing in 41 fow and they were layered between 33 and 36 feet. Pretty good bite for a couple of hours.
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Thanks for the info. We did try different holes and the electronics showed where the fish were but we just couldn't coax them to bite. Sounds like I should have some glow jigs for the next trip.
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Yes, absolutely. And I often bring them up just to charge them, and hmget a bite once I get to the depth I wanted again.
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So not to question your fishing ability, but were you using a spring bobber? I was there Friday and Saturday and have never seen a bite so light. In some cases the spring bobber never moved until it made a very small move upward. For me both nights the bite did not start until dark. Just asking.
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The bite was very lite and the spring bobbers were the only way to see it. Most were a small hit or lift and gone but the bite rate definitely changed after dark for us. Still learning how to consistently catch these guys.
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we used to use green underwater lights back in midwest to draw them in at night , not sure if thats legal here in Utah tho
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nothing against lights in Utah (last I checked). Something to consider if there's a light-post by a dock. Or by shore.
The light draws the plankton, the plankton draw small fish, and then come the crappie. You can get submersible lights, even the light glowing down from your own tent can draw night fish.
Recall enjoying the show from a bug-zapper hanging over the water by a restaurant in Door County. Bug's would zap, fall, and the water would boil. NOTHING to do with ice-fishing.