5 Crappie Night Fishing Secrets

If you've never gone fishing for crappie at night... you are missing one of the coolest adventures you can have out on the water with family and friends.

Plus, if you follow these 5 secrets... you can catch 2 or 3 times MORE crappie than you can during the day... including a few 3-4 pounds monsters. I'll show you where to go...what techniques to use... and how to fish 'em.

First you gotta make sure you've got the basic equipment. If you're already a seasoned crappie guy, then you've got all you need. But let's make sure.

Whatever rod and reel you usually use is good, but for your fishing line you must use a microfilament line, or a braided line.

For your hooks, I recommend #1 size hooks along with 1/4 ounce sinkers with snap swivels. You can even use 1/4 ounce jigheads.

1 huge tip is to bring along a "plankton" fishing light. This can really bring in the bait, which will attact the crappie.

For bait...aside for the usual minnows (preferably natural live minnows you catch yourself out of the same water you're fishing), frozen anchovies (of all things) have worked extremely well!

Other pieces of equipment that will help you is an LED headlamp so you can see what you are doing.

Night Crappie Fishing Tips

It's best if you avoid the full moon. Actually, even better...don't night fish for crappie for 2 days BEFORE and 2 days AFTER the full moon.

And for best results? Make your night crappie fishing trip as close to the new moon as you can get.

Another tip is to cut your anchovies into small pieces...no more than an inch in length. This will trigger more crappies strikes.

This is an important lesson: the bigger the bait, the less strikes you'll get, but the bigger average crappie you'll catch. The smaller the bait the more strikes you'll get, but the less average crappie size you'll catch.

During night fishing, you may have to fish deeper, unless you're using a fishing light. I also recommend you fisih off docks, piers and banks...in shallow areas with lots of cover as well.

If it's legal, cast out with several lines at different depths with different baits to find out where they are and what they want.

If it's hot, like in the summer, they'll probably be more shallow at night. Cold winter? They'll be deeper at night.

Carry an electronic depth finder so you have a better shot at finding the biggest schools of crappie.

Best areas to target: structure, including rocky embankments, weeds, the bases of trees, etc.

Try some very slow trolling, and some verticla fishing for some productive tactics in most night fishing situations.

You can also try drift fishing with several lines and baits out at different depths.

Just keep in mind your visibility is limited compared to day fishing, so take proper precautionary methods such as having good lighting, etc.

This is some of the most rewarding crappie fishing you can do. "Night time is the right time for catchin' crappie!"

Get out there and give it a shot...