As crappie begin moving shallow across Arkansas, many anglers rely on the old faithful offering of a minnow dangling from a size 2 Aberdeen hook.
No doubt there's nothing like a live meal to tempt fish, but many anglers do just as well using soft-plastic imitations.
South Arkansas crappie enthusiast Andy Yung often forgoes the minnow in favor of a plastic tube jig, although he'll be the first to tell you live bait always has a place.
"If you can't get bit on live bait, you usually can't get bit," Yung said. "But there are times when plastic baits are just as effective."
Yung, who happens to also be the fisheries supervisor for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission at the Camden regional office, said his switch to soft-plastics was more a matter of convenience.
"I really just wanted to skip the extra trip to the bait shop before fishing or dealing with minnows overnight and between trips," Yung said. "I can keep some jigs, curly tails, tubes and shad bodies stashed about anywhere and be ready to fish as soon as I get the urge."
Yung said there are times when artificial lures will out-produce live bait because they are more efficient. When fish are biting, baiting up with a fresh minnow can take much longer than simply dropping your jig back to the sweet spot of a brush pile or stump line. It's also one more distraction that can cause you to drift right into the fish, spooking them.
So what is the one soft-plastic bait Yung will never be caught without?
"Different lakes and water clarity may call for different colors and lure styles, but I've always got the most confidence in black and chartreuse and in shad-style bodies like Panfish Assassins and Bobby Garland Baby Shads," Yung said.
If Yung doesn't see success with the black/chartreuse shad body, he's also apt to try a Crappie Slider, especially if the water is clear and he's casting to spots instead of dropping straight down on the fish.
Above all, Yung says the key to crappie is to keep at it.
"Change up colors and keep plugging until you find out what they want for that day," Yung said. "It can be frustrating even to veteran anglers, but figuring out the pattern they want is one of the best feelings in fishing."
Sports on 04/24/2018