I’ve been using a slip-bobber for many years. Like all things fishing, time passes, and with it comes new and better techniques. Slip-bobber fishing is no exception. The single most aggravating aspect to using a slip-bobber is getting the line to slide through your bobber. Thankfully, with the popularity of slip-bobber fishing, companies are finally listening to hardcore crappie anglers about designs to make them work better and catch more crappies.

As an outdoor writer, I’m fortunate to not just meet some of the best crappie anglers in the country, but also fish with them. At a recent Brushpile Fishing Academy on Green River Lake, I met Chris Kleva, owner of Stan’s Slip Bobbers. Chris has developed the perfect slip-bobber for serious crappie anglers. With metal inserts in each end of the bobbe,r line slips through effortlessly, eliminating the frustration of the line not getting pulled through the bobber. The insert also has a small-enough hole so that the bobber stop doesn’t require a bead that often keeps your line from sliding freely. Stan’s Slip Bobbers has a balsa wood model that floats well and allows for a heavier weight.

I was excited to fish with Stan’s new bobber at the Brushpile Academy and spent a day fishing with Kent Driscoll, slip-bobber fisherman extraordinaire, and B‘n’M Fishing Pro Staff manager. Even after many years fishing with slip-bobbers, we all learned a lot on this trip.

There are several different ways to rig a slip-bobber, but when fishing deep water, there are a few things to consider. Getting your bait down 20 feet and deeper requires a heavy sinker. If you try to fish with your normal shallow-water setup—using a small slit-shot—your bait can drift off target before it gets to the desired depth. Also, the line will struggle to glide through the bobber the deeper you fish. A 1/4-ounce sinker is best suited for deep water slip-bobber fishing.

Over the years, I have used a split shot when slip-bobber fishing. These split-shot sinkers have worked, but I learned a new way to rig with a slip sinker. A slip sinker has three distinct advantages; the one that I like most is that they won’t harm your line like a split-shot. When crimping a split-shot onto your line, you will inevitably weaken your line at that spot. This is especially true when using light line that is vital when fishing clear water. By sliding a sliding sinker up your line, you eliminate this weak spot. A sliding sinker can be a barrel sinker or a bullet weight, often used when fishing a plastic worm for bass.

Another great slip-bobber angler who I learned a lot from is Corey Thomas. Corey is known for big crappies; he calls them “Mondo Crappies.” Corey makes his living guiding on Dale Hollow Lake. He has perfected slip-bobber fishing in clear water. Corey explained how he fishes sometimes 30 feet and deeper using a bobber, and how important light line is to get more bites. Corey uses a rubber bobber stop beneath his sliding tungsten sinker, but not on top. This allows the sinker to slide up. Corey explained that this lets a crappie swim up with your bait without all the weight of the sinker pulling against it, which can make it spit out your bait.

When fishing this way, the bobber will only rise in the water. This can be difficult to detect until you catch a few yourself. Stan’s Slip Bobbers even added a contrasting black mark around their bobbers to help with detecting these subtle bites. The black painted ring around the bobber rises when a crappie swims up, and this helps to see this type of bite. Corey told us that black crappies are notorious for swimming up. These big black crappies are Corey’s favorite Mondos to catch and he has been perfecting his slip-bobber rig for years.

Another technique is what Kent Driscoll uses, but he may use Corey’s method in the future when the bite is so light that any pressure felt by the crappie will make it drop your bait. Kent pegs his sliding sinker either by wrapping the line through the sinker several times to hold it, or by using a rubber bobber stop below and above the sinker. This can help keep your sinker from sliding up on your line during the cast as well, potentially fouling your rig which prevents it from pulling your line through the bobber.

When you rig your sliding sinker to be stationary, you will have a more pronounced visual indication of a swim-up bite. When a crappie takes your presentation and swims up with it, even slightly, the bobber will lay over on its side. After a few crappies are caught this way, you will begin to set the hook when you see your bobber tilt ever-so-slightly. As my dad told me as a kid fishing, “Son, those fish don’t have any hands. Set the hook as soon as you see a bite because you know it’s in their mouth.”

If you use forward-facing sonar like Livescope, you can watch your bait sink into your target area. This is a very effective way to fish brush and other crappie-holding cover. When you locate a brush pile, you can see how deep it is and how far it lies from your boat. Cast past the spot 10 or 15 feet. This allows for any drift from the wind. Normally, you will be casting into the wind when anchored, so cast past the brush and let the wind push your bobber into position. With Livescope, you can see this clearly.

So much media is focusing on forward-facing sonar these days, but I was using slip-bobbers in deep water long before Livescope was available. You can locate brush with regular sonar and set your bobber stop at the depth you need to keep your bait just above the fish. Kent uses a marker to mark different lengths on his rod so he can adjust depth quickly. Sometimes, you must get your bait into the brush and set your bobber stop deeper. You might get hung up some, but sometimes, those crappies will not leave their brush pile.

When marking brush with sonar, remember that there is a slight lag in the image. When you see the brush on your screen, the brush is slightly behind you. This can vary; shallow brush does not create much lag, but with deep brush, it could be 5 to 10 feet behind you when you see it on screen. Newer models are much faster than they used to be, and chirp technology is the fastest return. But even then, throw your marker a few feet back and you will find those crappies quicker when you decide to fish the area.

There are so many new ways to catch crappies with a slip-bobber, and fishing in deep water is only one. Get some of Stan’s Slip Bobbers and use these tips and techniques to increase your crappie catches this winter. Remember that fishing is fun, so have fun with it and learn your own techniques. I promise that you can extend your crappie-catching season because slip-bobbers aren’t just for springtime anymore.