There are times when crappies bury up in thick brush or hug a stump extra tight. You can see them on your graph, or you caught them there the day before, so you’re pretty sure they’re there. Here’s what to do when the crappies don’t bite.

There are many reasons that crappies don’t bite: Barometric pressure, muddy water, cold water when they just don’t have to feed all day long. Fish just don’t bite all the time, but there are ways to trigger strikes from reluctant crappies. You still won’t catch as many as when they are biting well, but catching a few on a day when you were going to catch none is a great day. Check out these options for crappies that don’t bite to put more fish in your boat.

Cold front crappies

A cold front will shut down the crappie bite quicker than anything. Wintertime cold fronts affect the crappie bite just like as any other time of year. When the water temps drop just a degree or two, crappies tend to seek cover and tend to have the proverbial lockjaw. During this time, even live bait sometimes won’t entice these crappies to bite. But one thing will. The secret ain’t that dramatic; it’s just your regular old crappie jig. By utilizing a technique with your crappie jig, you can make crappies bite with a reaction strike.

A jig can trigger strikes from reluctant cold front crappies when nothing else will. When crappies cling to thick cover, they’re usually not feeding. They use brush to wait out a cold front, or they just are not feeding and want to feel safe while they rest. 

One great way to catch a few of these crappies is by lowering a jig into the cover. As one old timer once put it, “Knock on some wood.” This old timer, and a couple others, convinced me that this technique worked when crappies don’t bite and are buried up in thick cover. 

Crappies in brush

The trick to knocking on wood to get crappies in the brush to bite—or react to your presentation—is to lower your jig into the cover with the crappies. A good fish finder will help you stay on top of the cover. When your jig is in the cover, raise it up until you feel it hit a piece of it. When you feel it hit, then lower the jig back down, then quickly bring it back up to the piece of cover you felt before. This will tap your jighead on the piece of cover and create a ticking sound. This will trigger reaction strikes from crappies. I guess that the noise created by the jig drives them crazy and they just want to shut it up. 

Color can make a difference, too. Change up the color of your jig to see what the crappies want that day.

I’ve seen this crappie technique work as deep as 30 feet and as shallow as 2 feet of water. To fish for crappies in the brush that don’t bite, you need a jig that will get down to the cover quickly. A 1/8-about jig is perfect jig for this presentation. The marabou tail collapses on the fall and has very little drag during the fall. This, together with the heavy head, will get your jig down quick and straight. The marabou will pulse in the water even when deadsticking the jig after knocking on the wood. This gives your jig just enough action to trigger the reaction you’re looking for.

It ain’t as easy as it seems

Knocking on wood ain’t as easy as it seems. It took a while for me to get proficient at it without getting hung. But those old timers gave me a couple tips for fishing brush for crappies that don’t bite. They told me to use a heavier jig. The initial thought is to downsize to a small jig when crappies aren’t biting, especially in cold water, but for this technique, you need a heavier jig. The weight helps the jig to drop straight down into the cover. It also helps you feel the brush once there.

The other tip was to use a dull hook point. Crappies get the nickname papermouth for their soft mouth. They are known to rip open and come unhooked. Using a dull hook will still stick a crappie and help keep you from getting hung as much. If you do get hung, the dull point will make it easier to work it loose. Also, the heavier head helps to dislodge your jig hook when it hangs up; just give a little slack and jig the rod tip. 

The point here is to not disturb the brush or whatever cover you’re fishing. Getting hung and pulling on the cover to break off runs the crappies to another brush pile, ultimately leaving yours all together. The heavy head will also emit a loud knock when you’re “knocking on wood.” This technique takes practice, but once you master it, you will be able to catch a few crappies, even when they don’t want to bite.

Rattling in crappies 

Another way to create reaction strikes from crappies that don’t bite is adding a rattle on your jig or hook. Even when using live bait, a rattle can sometimes entice lethargic crappies into biting. Rattles that are made specifically for inserting inside tube jigs are a great way to add a rattle to your presentation. Insert the glass rattle inside the soft plastic bait to create a rattle that might get you a few more bites.

Another way is to buy jigheads with the rattle built into the head. Rattles are a great way to get a reaction strike from crappies that don’t bite, whether in thick brush or open water. The best way to fish a rattle jig is with a sharp jigging motion, causing the rattle to send out the obnoxious sounds that crappies want to kill. Locate shad and or crappie schools. Ease the jig into the school and sharply snap your jig, or slap the back of your rod handle to impart a shock wave down to your jig, to get their attention.

Sometimes, you find yourself on the water and crappies will not cooperate. A lot of times, this happens on bluebird days in February when you just can’t resist going fishing. Try these tips to get a few bites, stay out there, and enjoy the day with a few fish in the livewell for dinner.