Fishing for Crappie - Easy to catch & cook - the perfect fishery for kids by Rivermen Garry Elgear.
The preferred gear for crappie fishing is an ultra-light rod, roughly five to six – feet in length, a perfect size for young anglers to handle. Don’t cheap out on your line selection either, 50 percent of your castability is in your line selection. I recommend four pound Trilene XL or P Line FluoroClear. These lines are limp and supple, which helps making casting easier for young anglers. The tackle that is used is quite affordable. You need a selection of small jig heads, preferably glow heads in pink, chartreuse or white. Crappie prefer small grubs in chartreuse, yellow, pink and white. Small tubes in the same colours can be used as well. To aid in casting, you can use a small float or adjusta-bubble to detect bites, as well a few split shots to get your presentation out to the fish.
If young anglers prefer to fly-fish, they might like to try one of my nieces favourite flies like the small Gardy’s Grunt, flashback pheasant tail nymphs or micro leeches in #12 and #14 size hooks. Line choice for crappie fishing is based on water depth. An intermediate sink line is a good standby because it can reach most depths. Your leader should taper down to two pounds as most crappie do not break the one pound mark. That said, in some lakes and sloughs I have seen a few around two pounds.
There are prime times during which crappies become very aggressive on the feed. When the water warms up in the spring, crappies start to feed on the same insects as trout. Chironomids, leeches, and all other trout staples are on the menu. The best time to fish for these quarry is when the trout are off the bite, which is perfect because all the kids are out of school and ready to fish. When the water temperature drops they become very lethargic, hardly moving except to intercept food.
The Fraser Valley offers many places to target black crappies. Some good places to try are Whonnock, Silvermere, or Pitt Lake, or Sturgeon Slough. My favourite is Whonnock Lake because it has healthy populations of rainbow trout and a wild strain of cuttthroat trout native to its waters. This pretty little lake is nestled deep inside Whonnock, just off Lougheed Highway and 272nd. When driving through this picturesque town, your thoughts go back to simpler times when people still waved and said hello. There is no overnight camping at the lake, but there are picnic spots available with BBQ pits and tables. The lake has two docks, an undercover sight for BBQ’s, a concession stand, boat rental, a swimming area and a great playground for kids with a short attention span.
In my experience, kids enjoy eating what they catch. Cleaning a fish doesn’t have to be disgusting. My nieces find it interesting to see the different organs – especially the stomach contents so that they can match their fly selection to what the fish are eating. Who knew education could be so much fun?
Cooking crappie is simple too. I fillet my fish and remove the skin with a sharp fillet knife. Once this is done, I soak the sweet white flesh in a milk bath for one hour. In that time I prepare an egg wash by beating two eggs and adding salt, pepper and two dashes of Worcestershire sauce. Next, I take Premium Plus crackers and make a powder crust by crushing the crakers and adding salt, pepper, dried pepper flakes and two teaspoons of dry garlic powder. Dip the fillets in the egg wash and coat with the cracker concoction, then heat a frying pan to medium heat with olive oil. Brown both sides of the fillet and enjoy!
I hope this brings as much joy to you and your youngsters as it has me and mine.
Written By: Rivermen Garry Elgear
If young anglers prefer to fly-fish, they might like to try one of my nieces favourite flies like the small Gardy’s Grunt, flashback pheasant tail nymphs or micro leeches in #12 and #14 size hooks. Line choice for crappie fishing is based on water depth. An intermediate sink line is a good standby because it can reach most depths. Your leader should taper down to two pounds as most crappie do not break the one pound mark. That said, in some lakes and sloughs I have seen a few around two pounds.
There are prime times during which crappies become very aggressive on the feed. When the water warms up in the spring, crappies start to feed on the same insects as trout. Chironomids, leeches, and all other trout staples are on the menu. The best time to fish for these quarry is when the trout are off the bite, which is perfect because all the kids are out of school and ready to fish. When the water temperature drops they become very lethargic, hardly moving except to intercept food.
The Fraser Valley offers many places to target black crappies. Some good places to try are Whonnock, Silvermere, or Pitt Lake, or Sturgeon Slough. My favourite is Whonnock Lake because it has healthy populations of rainbow trout and a wild strain of cuttthroat trout native to its waters. This pretty little lake is nestled deep inside Whonnock, just off Lougheed Highway and 272nd. When driving through this picturesque town, your thoughts go back to simpler times when people still waved and said hello. There is no overnight camping at the lake, but there are picnic spots available with BBQ pits and tables. The lake has two docks, an undercover sight for BBQ’s, a concession stand, boat rental, a swimming area and a great playground for kids with a short attention span.
In my experience, kids enjoy eating what they catch. Cleaning a fish doesn’t have to be disgusting. My nieces find it interesting to see the different organs – especially the stomach contents so that they can match their fly selection to what the fish are eating. Who knew education could be so much fun?
Cooking crappie is simple too. I fillet my fish and remove the skin with a sharp fillet knife. Once this is done, I soak the sweet white flesh in a milk bath for one hour. In that time I prepare an egg wash by beating two eggs and adding salt, pepper and two dashes of Worcestershire sauce. Next, I take Premium Plus crackers and make a powder crust by crushing the crakers and adding salt, pepper, dried pepper flakes and two teaspoons of dry garlic powder. Dip the fillets in the egg wash and coat with the cracker concoction, then heat a frying pan to medium heat with olive oil. Brown both sides of the fillet and enjoy!
I hope this brings as much joy to you and your youngsters as it has me and mine.
Written By: Rivermen Garry Elgear