Sabiki Rigs for Crappie

[papaperch]

Have started tying up a few Sabiki rigs for crappie. Since Ohio regs limit to three hooks on line. I tied only three flies per line.

Rig is mostly used in Saltwater fishing to catch baitfish. apparently it does this job very well. In Ohio some Lake Erie perch fishermen have been using it with success on the yellow perch.

Being the curious dabbler that I are. I tied one up with " gummy minnow ".
Also one with three plastic tails and finally a version with reds woolies.

If I ever get some kind of decent weather to fish I will report on effectiveness on crappies.

 

[quivira kid]

I always thought it would be fun to troll one through a school of white bass!

 

[eyecrosser]

Sabikis could work quite well where legal. Have used them a lot to gather bait off piers and boats in salt water. They are very effective. I have even caught some decent mackerel on them but usually they chew right through the leader before you get them up. Only allowed max of 3 poles per person here in Kansas, but could see a definite application for using Sabikis where spider rigging is legal. Good luck testing them and let us know how the new system works???

 

[Hawnjigs]

Multi dropper rigs are actually more efficient for vertical jigging pan fish, especially in deep water where a heavy sinker gets down far quicker than a light jig.

 

[papaperch]

Here is a pic of the three I created. Tied on main line 10# power pro. Used 6# test on " arms ". Tie each fly about 8 to 9 inches apart on about 5 inches of the 6# leader. Swivel snap on terminal end with 1/8 oz bell sinker with a barrel swivel on top of the rig.

All flies are weightless and they really dance when jigged just slightly. The one on left has " Red Denmark " inspired flies on it. Middle is the plastics and the gummy ones are on the right.

 

[CrappieHappy]

looking good, let us know how they work....

 

[Fatman]

Good looking rigs!!!!!

 

[StumpHunter]

Nice looking rigs. Have used sabiki rigs for catching shad. Look forward to hearing how they work out for you.

 

[Ron Don]

Will definitely work well! Something else for you to try is getting some drop shot hooks (vmc spin shots are great) and just nose hooking some plastic baits.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Yup, nose hook plastics work fine.

Personally, I preferred hooks on short legs off the main line to minimize the annoying tendency of hooks to attach to each other or wrap around the main. The main trunk line had small dropper loops tied into it and the flies/hooks & bottom sinker were attached on separate loop+leg lines which allowed mix & match switching. By keeping the hook & sinker legs lighter than main a snag wouldn't necessarily destroy the entire rig.

Also preferred Mason hard mono which maintained trunk loops perpendicular to the vertical main with proper dropper knots

 

[papaperch]

First update on the Sabiki rig. Went to a tough local pond that receives heavy fishing pressure. Only took one rod and one rig with me. The rig I used was the one with the white plastics I tied up. First the bad thing weeds. When hooking a big gill they ran me into the weeds and defoilage the rig was a bit of a pain. The good thing was the gills loved it It fished well without tangling. I was vertical jigging off of dock in about 7 foot of water.

Rarely did the rig have a chance to hit the bottom. Six other people at the pond just stood and watched me put a demo on how to catch gills. After the first 20 fish they all asked what the heck are you using. The gills sizes ranged from barely visible to some real lunkers. Often had two on at same time. Did not keep count but probably caught and released 60 fish in a little over an hour. If I sold my stuff I could have sold these rigs to every one of the six guys who were watching me.

Going to do some night fishing for crappie tonight. Hopefully the crappie find them as appealing as the gills did. Should have taken a few pix as several of the gills looked to be in the 11 inch range.

 

[Fatman]

PP - Great report on the rig!!!!!!! Hope it does as well on the crappie!!

 

[Hawnjigs]

Sounds like your rig is TOO effective. If everyone used it I'd guess that dock might be cleaned out in a coupla days.

Geez, 11" is as HUGE as those SoCal brutes.

 

[Jig Man]

Great report...

 

[papaperch]

Well for the first time out the sabiki rig was a total flop on the crappie. But then every artificial I tried failed. Those things wanted MEAT. Minnow meat to be exact. I caught over 200 fish but most were white bass. They ranged in size 6 inch to 14 inch. The other fish I caught were walleye and crappie. None of the walleye were keepers all under 15 inch. I did manage about 12 keeper crappie between 10-13 inch. What was extremely puzzling was the white bass not jumping all over my other jigs . I did manage two white bass on Red's wooly jig but that was it.

After I ran out of minnows I tried for an hour or so and got not one strike. White bass are excellent fighters for their size but poor table fare. So while the constant action was enjoyable it was a mixed blessing. Guy on shore was watching me and yelled out that I looked like a fish catching machine.He couldn't believe I was releasing all those fish. In the dark he couldn't tell what they were. Told him they were white bass and he understood.

One other disturbing thing was the average size of the crappie. I have never caught so many small crappie in Berlin in my life. Of the dozen keepers I kept I released probably about 40 well under 10 inch. Hopefully this is a fluke and not a sign of the crappie population heading in the wrong direction. Several years ago the state instituted a 9 inch limit on crappie with a 30 fish a day limit. So far I have to say the regulations seems to have had an opposite effect of its intention.

 

[Fatman]

Well not really what you wanted but you were catching!!! White bass are not a real fav for me either but when we do catch some to keep they get soaked in buttermilk overnight, drained then in egg cornmeal and deep fried. Good for a fish fry for the family and friends when the others are cooperative.

When you say several years ago they instituted the change, could be alot of people stocked up BIG!! before the new rules went into effect, I know not scientific but just because I've seen it before.