Best crappie bait

What is the best crappie bait for may in Ohio or whatever state your in. I use a leader with a minnow tied to it and a split shot above it and fish it with a minnow. Is there anything better and what do you use.

fathead minnows in a blue bucket.

fathead minnows in a blue bucket With no handle.

Blue and white tube jig and a blue bucket to throw your crappie in or sit on if the fish ain't biting.

I haven't done crappie fishing in years.

But when I did....

I started with minnows, but they are a hassle, gotta always buy some or catch them (done both), keeping them alive is an issue, and a bucket of minnows is heavy.
I ended up using a fly rod with a tiny fly that was a copy of a freshwater scud. about 1/4 inch long. The fly was cream colored and showed up against the dark bottoms in the clear lakes I fished.
So it was easy to see, I could watch the fish slowly swim up to it and suck it in. All I needed was my rod and this tiny fly. I could fish as much as I wanted when I wanted with no more effort than picking up my rod and off I'd go.

I also found that this fly was more productive than minnows.

Of course situations vary and every dog has his day. But it worked for me, was easy and productive.

when I fished for them in Crappiethon tournaments it was minnows on gold hook OR trolling 1/32-1/16 oz jigs in a variety of colors, and WHEN you catch em on a certain color or 2, switch ALL jigs to those 2 colors.

These are my favorites


Puddle Jumpers

The largest fatheads you can find.

I like using the same things I use for ice fishing. Minnows, small jigs like shrimpos with wax worms. Mini mites.

A double tailed jig carved out of beaver tail fat and soaked in salmon oil.

Live minnows

Like most responders, I like fathead minnows best for crappie too.

Keith

Small curly tail jigs under a small bobber. Just twitch it.

Lively "speck minnie". If none were at hand, a "pinky" Jig about 1 1/2 or 2 inches long. These tiny lead-head jigs were pink with white feathers/marabou for a skirt. For decades these were used by the vast majority of central or northern Michigan crappie chasers, that most folks would refer to as "specks".....like Canadians do Brook Trout. It was short for speckled bass, another local name. We have both White and Black Crappie in Michigan, but Whites aren't found in most inland lakes. I have never caught a White Crappie in my home state.

I'm not much of a tube jig kinda of guy.. Haven't had much luck. Curly tail grubs and double paddle tail scrubs have worked the best for me. Kalin's crappie scrub, specifically the chartreuse with a little white on the body has always worked wonders. Paired with a 1/16 oz chartreuse jig and a powerbait, fish go nuts. Caught 16 crappie and 1 gill 2 days ago within 2 hours. Good luck and happy fishing!

Minners work pretty good and some curly tail grubs in black and blue with chartreuse tail.

Puddle Jumper under an adjustable casting float hooked on a 32nd ounce jig so they hang horizontally. Keep it moving slowly. Deadly in these waters.

As a kid, we always used live crickets with excellent success. Been 40 years since I caught a crappie.

Very nice catches.Way to go.

Road runners ,,they pound em.

We would catch the first one by any means then just cut strips of skin off the bellies and use them. Worked great.

And totally illegal in some states where using game fish or any part of a game fish is prohibited

Not illegal in ALL states.