Like all fishermen, James Morgan has favored equipment upon which he depends to consistently catch enough crappie to feed himself and many of his friends.
Here are his go-to crappie tackle choices:
• Rods — Morgan depends on an 11-foot Lite Action Ozark Jigging rod for his single- and double-pole fishing in the spring.
When he does use rod holders and spider rig, he goes to a 14-foot Ozark Pro Troller.
• Reels — Most of his reels are Shakespeare light-action open spinning reels. Morgan likes them because they are dependable and have smooth drags.
• Line — Surprisingly, he isn’t a light-line guy, spooling most of his reels with 20-pound Power Pro Braid. He likes the better feel the line has. He does uses lighter 18-inch-long mono leaders tied on with a barrel swivel.
• Terminal connection — He attaches all his jigs with loop knots so the lures swing naturally in the water.
• Jigs — He paints his jigheads in one of five colors: black, pearl white, red, chartreuese and hot pink. Hot pink is his favorite, and he mostly uses 1/8- and 1/16-ounce jigs.
• Jig dressings — He adds plastic skirts to his jigs. Colors include bluegrass, black-and-chartreuse, double silver rainbow and Cajun cricket. In clear water, he likes monkey milk. He never puts one in the water without adding a crappie bite. He uses chartreuse nibblets most of the time, but when using the Bait Pump to push bites up in tube jigs, he switches to sparkle silver because it looks more like fish scales.
