An important part of fishing is preparing your bait for the success of your catch. A lot of us fishermen have used live bait to entice our fish, and if you’re aiming to catch some crappie, you’ve probably heard about crickets. But should you consider fishing with crickets for crappie?
Read on as I show you how crickets can make great fishing bait!
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Fishing With Crickets For Crappie
Crappie doesn’t only consume smaller fish species, but various insects and larvae. They have a large appetite and would eat the most edible things they see, which is what makes them a great catch. But are they selective when it comes to eating crickets?
Crickets are overlooked as fishing bait, with fishermen opting for more conventional bait like worms, grasshoppers, or minnows.
Fortunately, fishing with crickets for crappie is a great option! It’s one of the best especially when summer comes, as they are a natural food source for many fish species as the temperature increases from late summer to fall. However, even ice fishermen have success when fishing with crickets!
While they aren’t as common as a food source compared to grasshoppers during the summer, they are still considered a delicacy for crappie. It’s best to use crickets nearshore when crappie is spawning.
The only problem is, using crickets may be a bit of a hassle to deal with if you don’t know how to use them as bait correctly! They are quite jumpy and won’t last as long once hooked if you use them as live bait.
Do you still want to learn more about using crickets as bait or crappie? Check out this informative video:
How to Fish With Crickets As Bait
As mentioned, crickets are great when fishing for black and white crappie, especially during the months in spring and summer. You can also try to use them during the fall, but you may not be able to find crickets as much at this time.
The main primetime when using insects like these is during the spawning season. For crappies, spawning season happens most likely during spring to summer, depending on your region. You’ll be able to find a ton of crappies feeding by the shore, ready to feed on your bait.
When using crickets, you’ll want to get your bait down by the mid-levels of water columns. This is where crappie would usually suspend, which is why you can use a larger hook size, between a size 3 to 1.
Besides this, you’ll want to also attach single slit shots, so you can descent your crickets quickly in case other types of fish try to steal your bait. Try to use a single cricket in dock pilings or from submerged timber for better results.
The depth of the waters also better, and when fishing from shallower areas, there may be more bites from fish that hide under bushes and rocks. You may create brushes before spawning season and cast your line with the crickets, using them as live bait.
Read More: Crappie Fishing At Night In Winter – Expert Guide and Insider Tips
Getting and Using Crickets For Bait
Now that you know how beneficial fishing with crickets for crappie is, how can you catch crickets and use it for bait? Here are the tips to follow:
1. Where to Get Crickets
Getting crickets is easy, you can either purchase them from your local fishing store as bait or find them yourselves. You can easily find them and catch them by hand or by using a small bait net.
One can catch crickets by using a bait made of granulated sugar and unflavored breadcrumbs. Sprinkle the mixture on areas where you find crickets usually congregating, then cover it with one layer of newspaper. Do so at dusk, as this is the time nocturnal crickets come out.
Prepare a large jar with a tight lid to capture the crickets, poking holes on the lid to keep them alive after catching them. Now, lift the newspaper and sweep your caught crickets to the jar. You can keep them fed with more sugar and unflavored breadcrumbs until such time you need to use them as bait.
2. Bating Crickets On Hooks
When placing the cricket on the hook, you will need to pierce them, with will put a hole on its exoskeleton. This has them lose motion and they will die right away after they lose all their internal liquid.
Hook a cricket through its thorax, which is behind the head. This is the optimum place to hook it to have a secure hold, though they won’t live long afterward.
If you want to bait crickets without piercing it, then you have to use a special bait thread, which will wrap the cricket in place without having to use a hook. You may also try looping some bait thread to avoid fish from detecting that the crickets are used as bait.
3. Artificial vs Live Crickets?
Did you know that stores also sell artificial crickets from pet stores?
In my experience, I always highly recommend using live crickets over artificial ones. But if you want to save the hassle of using live and jumping crickets, you can still get success with artificial cricket baits. After all, crickets can be a bit difficult to handle as they are loud and there’s the possibility of crushing it while trying to get it to your hook!
If you choose to use artificial crickets, be sure to get one from trusted brands and what fishermen most recommend.
Wrapping It Up
Who knew how insects like crickets can be enticing enough for crappie to bite? As long as you use them as bait correctly, you have more of a chance to go home with a huge catch! Just remember to also take into consideration other aspects when catching crappie, from when and where to find them, down to the fishing technique you use.
I hope that this article on fishing with crickets for crappie informed you how to use such live bait. So don’t wait any longer and start prepping your bait and other fishing equipment now!
