Crappie Ammo

Give these colored and scented ‘BBs’ a shot

After one bait was put on the market in late January, people who go after crappie won’t be fishing for the tasty panfish so much as hunting for them with Crappie Ammo.

Clyde Folse of Raceland, the man who 2½ years ago gave the world colored and scented Crappie Psychic Crappie Trailers and Trout Trailers, has done it again with colored and scented BBs called Crappie Ammo.

Six months in the making, they are sure to start bagging hungry crappie.

The 54-year-old Raceland outdoorsman, an avid sac-a-lait fisherman and artificial lure manufacturer, designed Crappie Ammo to be used with the trailers that have been so productive since hitting the market.

“They’re about the same size as a BB, seriously salt-infused, which allows that BB to be more porous and absorb Psychic sauce,” Folse said.

The Crappie Ammo bag says the BBs are “loaded” with the sauce. Crappie will get the point.

“When people start using them with the trailers, they’re going to be amazed,” Folse said.

Crappie Ammo BBs serve a few purposes. In addition to color and scent, Folse said they “keep the trailer from sliding up the hook to the barb, keep it up against the skirt.”

It has been a whirlwind winter and fall getting the new product ready from mold to prototype to shelf.

At home, Folse gets plenty of input in the business and help from his wife Janelle; his 20-year-old son Caleb, a student at Louisiana Technical College in Thibodaux; and his 18-year-old daughter Kamri, a senior at Houma Christian High School.

The Folses were well aware of similar crappie attractants in jars, many of them shaped like small squares and such. The family was looking for something to complement the company’s extremely popular trailers, something other than the multi-colored, scented pellets already on the market.

“We decided to come out with our own,” he said. “We decided to make a BB. We started thinking BBs and said, ‘Hey, let’s call it Crappie Ammo. Bang. Bang.’”

Folse said he called Josh Clark in Horton, Mich., who makes the molds for the Crappie Psychic Crappie Trailers.

“I got on the phone and told him we wanted it in a pull chain (a string of 10 BBs), like a pull chain on a light bulb,” he said.

Of course, he started using the first prototypes. He was impressed with the results when added to a Crappie Psychic.

“I went on a trip with my wife, and we both used them about two weeks ago,” Folse said. “We caught 50 slabs. That was in about two hours.”

Prototypes also got around in North Louisiana, where Brandon Jennings of Winnfield found them after fishing on the lake next to an angler putting fish after fish in the boat while he struggled.

After locating Folse on the internet and getting some prototype Crappie Ammo, he gave some to Stuart Baum of Columbia.

Jennings, who works at a chemical plant and has been crappie fishing 20 years, and Baum rode those BBs to lofty finishes in a Bayou State Crappie Association tournament at Black Lake in January.

Jennings, Bayou State Crappie Association founder who fished with his wife, Amy, was unable to start fishing until midday but finished third with six fish — one short of the limit.

Baum, a barber and part-time crappie fishing guide, finished second while fishing with his grandfather, James Stuart, with a seven-fish limit weighing about 10 pounds.

Stuart caught their biggest crappie, a 2.12-pounder, on a double-rigged B&M Minnow Rig.

“We had those hooks covered with Crappie Psychic Crappie Trailers and Crappie Ammo,” Baum said. “I’m telling you, he’s putting out some really good products. He’s helped us out fishing up here a lot.”

He gave some details about why he so likes Crappie Ammo.

“They’re real versatile, with different colors, and tough,” Baum said. “We tested them for him the last three months. We probably caught 10, 12 fish on one. It’s a tremendous scent, a tremendous product.

“I’m going to say most of the time they make a big difference in my fishing, and I fish across the country.”

Jennings agreed.

“I really believe in this stuff,” he said. “I believe you have to have confidence in your bait. I know if a good fish is there, I’m going to get bit.”

Because of their scent, the BBs give him more hookups than misses. He said that split second in which a crappie sucks in his bogus meal, realizes it and spits it out doesn’t happen with Crappie Ammo and Crappie Psychic Crappie Trailers.

Both Baum and Jennings the prototype color is earthworm, so they can’t wait to get his hands on pink flamingo and chartreuse versions. Other colors are white and fluorescent yellow.

Folse noted the Crappie Psychic trailers are being sold in approximately 500 stores across the U.S.

For more information go to thecrappiepsychic.com or call 985-790-0862.

About Don Shoopman 553 Articles
Don Shoopman fishes for freshwater and saltwater species mostly in and around the Atchafalaya Basin and Vermilion Bay. He moved to the Sportsman’s Paradise in 1976, and he and his wife June live in New Iberia. They have two grown sons.