The Best Crappie Fishing Lure is the Blakemore Road Runner
This article will detail the best crappie fishing lure. Crappie are one of the most popular freshwater game fish species. Many anglers choose to fish for them using artificial lures. There are many lures that will fool them. However, there is one lure that is particularly effective when crappie fishing.
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The best crappie fishing lure is the Blakemore Road Runner. It is an extremely versatile and productive bait when fishing for crappie. The Blakemore Road Runner combines the bulk and action of a jig with the flash and vibration of a spinner. They are available in a wide variety of color combinations and several different sizes. Road Runner lures are effective, versatile, and economical.
Jigs have long been used by anglers to catch crappie, and for good reason. A jig is basically a hook with a lead weight molded at the head and dressed with a soft plastic or hair body. This lure has an erratic action in the water, particularly when falling. It can be fished at any depth effectively.
Spinners have long been used by freshwater anglers to catch crappie and other species. The rotating blade adds both flash and vibration, imitating wounded bait fish. The genius of the Blakemore Road Runner is that it combines both of these highly productive crappie fishing lures into one unit.
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Best crappie fishing lure varieties
Road Runner are available dressed with hair, mostly marabou, and with soft plastic grub tales. Each have advantages and disadvantages. Marabou dressed to jigs are very effective and extremely lifelike in the water. The natural hair dressing undulate seductively in the water with even the slightest movement. These jigs come in many different color combinations.
Many anglers prefer the soft plastic tails for their versatility. Anglers can quickly and easily change the color and action of the jig by simply changing the grub body tail. Also, the tails are easily replaced if they get chewed up or the curly tail is bitten off. Either way, anglers can’t go wrong choosing the marabou or soft plastic tailed Blakemore roadrunner lures.
Best crappie fishing rod and reel
Anglers fishing for crappie with Blakemore Road Runner lures mostly opt for light spinning tackle. Given that crappie average a pound or so, for pound or 6 pound light spinning outfits work very well. This outfit will work well whether casting lures, vertically fishing, or even trolling. Anglers fishing for larger crappie around heavy structure will have to bump it up a bit.
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Choosing the best color and size for crappie fishing
Blakemore Road Runners are available in many different colors and several different sizes. As in all fishing situations, anglers fishing for crappie should match the lure to the current fishing situation and conditions. Water clarity, water depth, current, forage size, structure, and fish size are all factors that should be taken into account.
The 1/8 ounce size is an excellent all round size for most crappie fishing situations. It is small enough to catch average sized fish while large enough to attract trophy crappie. In darker, tannin stained waters, bright colors will be more productive. Pink and chartreuse are the top colors in stained water, with white being a another good choice. In clear water, white works very well. Chartreuse is the most popular color and works well in all conditions.
Crappie fishing techniques
One of the key elements that makes the Blakemore roadrunner the best crappie fishing lure is its versatility. These lures can be cast out and retrieved, fished under a float, trolled, or even used to present a live bait.
Casting the best crappie fishing lure
Casting and retrieving the roadrunner is a very effective technique. This is most often used in shallow water were anglers want to keep a distance away from the cover being fished. The lure is cast out, allowed to sink, then reeled back in. In most cases, a slow steady retrieve works best. This is a very effective technique to use over submerged grass beds as well as around structure such as docs and fallen trees.
The Blakemore roadrunner is very effective when fished under a float as well. This serves a couple of different purposes. Allows anglers to suspend the lure at the desired depth, usually over submerged vegetation or structure. It also gives anglers a visual reference when a strike occurs as the float will disappear or move, indicating a strike.
In deeper water, anglers can vertically fish the Blakemore roadrunner quite effectively. This is a very efficient technique when crappie are located over deeper structure such as channel edges, creek beds, artificial reefs, and submerged timber. The bait is dropped down to the bottom and jig subtly. After a few moments, the angler reels up a few feet of line and repeats the process. This is an excellent way to catch suspended crappie, which can be difficult to catch at times.
Trolling for crappie
Trolling is a very efficient and effective way to locate and catch crappie. Trolling is simply the act of slowly moving the boat while pulling lures behind. This also allows anglers to present multiple baits at various levels at the same time. The roadrunner is an excellent lure to use when trolling for crappie as the combination of the flashing blade in the action of the lure body combined to attract fish.
Trolling for crappie can be as simple or as complicated as an angler desires. In its easiest form, a couple of lures are simply trolled behind a slowly moving boat while the angler holds the rod in anticipation of a strike a couple of anglers can easily troll for rods using rod holders or just holding them.
Many anglers have taken trolling for crappie to a much higher level. A special technique called spider rigging is used by serious anglers. This involves the use of multiple special rods that vary and length up to 16 feet or more. It is usually done from the bow of the boat. This is a bit complicated as anglers have to constantly monitor many different rods and lines.
Using the Road Runner with live bait
Anglers fishing for crappie can even use Road runners to present a live bait. This is an option as the roadrunner is available bear, ready for a soft plastic grub body to be attached. This makes the lure an excellent choice when fishing with live bait, as it has weight, a hook, in the flash of a spinner all in one tidy little unit.
Live minnows are the most popular bait used by anglers fishing for crappie. A 2 inch minnow hooked through both lips from the bottom works very well behind a roadrunner. Anglers can certainly use other baits such as nightcrawlers or worms as well.
Best ice fishing lure for crappie
The Blakemore Road Runner is also very effective when used through the ice as well. As mentioned above, the Road Runner is an excellent lure when presented vertically. Obviously, anyone ice fishing for crappie will be doing so in this manner. All of the techniques and tips mentioned earlier apply to ice fishing. The combination of flash from the blade and bright colors and action of the body combine to make it quite effective when ice fishing. A live minnow can be added to increase the attraction.
In most cases, the best ice fishing for crappie will occur in slightly deeper water over structure or cover. Submerged timber is a top spot, as are channel edges and intersections of tributary creeks. The 1/8 size works well for crappie in deeper water. Fish will often be suspended over these areas. If the bite is tough or if panfish are also desired, dropping down to 1/16 ounce is a good move.
More productive crappie fishing lures
While the Blakemore Rd., Runner is the best crappie fishing lure, there are certainly other baits which are effective as well. Several of these will be listed below.
Rooster Tail inline spinners
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Inline spinners are effective lures for just about every freshwater species, and crappie are no exception. The Worden’s Rooster Tail line of in-line spinners are very productive crappie fishing lures. They are available in many different color patterns, with the 1/8 ounce size being the best all round choice. They produce best with a very slow and steady retrieve. These lures can be cast out as well as trolled.
Mister Twister grubs
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Mister Twister pretty much invented the curly tail jig back in the late 1970s. These lures revolutionized soft plastic baits. The 2 inch Mister Twister continues to be a very effective lure to this day. It is most often fished on a 1/16 ounce or 1/8 ounce jig head. It can be productive and every crappie fishing situation and is fished similarly to the roadrunner. The primary difference is that it does not have the flashing blade.
Rapala Husky Jerk
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The Rapala Husky Jerk in the 06 size is an excellent crappie fishing lure. It is a shallow diving plug that realistically mimics a wounded minnow. This lure floats on the surface and dive down several feet when retrieved. It works best in fairly shallow water and is an excellent choice for anglers targeting larger fish. Silver and gold are the top color patterns.
In conclusion, this article on the best crappie fishing lure will help anglers catch more of these desirable freshwater fish!
