Bladed Jigs For Crappie
By Vic Attardo

A hook and a hunk of metal — that's the totality of most small crappie jigs. Of course, anglers adorn these plain Janes with plastic and live bait to make them more attractive to the crappie quarry, and the fish seem to thank them for it. The plastic adds color, buoyancy and action, while live bait is the real deal — something crappie can't easily resist.

But what if there was a way to make the package even more appealing, something that added flash and vibration to the jig and plastic, or jig and bait, or jig, plastic and bait?

There actually is such an item — it's the revolving blade. A blade connected to the jighead or the hook by way of a swivel makes the refined lure emit a strobe of bright flashes, send out a thumping vibration and generally adds so much appeal to a plain, ordinary jig that it elevates the lure into a new class — the bladed jig.

T.J. Stallings of Blakemore, the manufacturers of one of the best-known bladed jigs, the Road Runner, cites a few more positive aspects.

"The blades add contrast, which makes the bait easier to see," Stallings says. "And because the blade of a Road Runner is under the head, the flash imitates ‘gill flash."

Stallings believes that as fish feed, they flare their gills.

"To a predator, it says, ‘Hey, I'm busy feeding and not paying attention,'" he explains. "A prey's preoccupation interests a predator like a crappie."

While the theories on why bladed jigs work are fun and interesting, the important thing for anglers is how to select and use the assortment of bladed jigs that are on the market.

The main distinction in bladed jigs is the blade type. With the Road Runner, there are two blade designs, the Colorado and willow leaf.

"The Colorado is more of a cupped blade," says Stallings. "It's better for shallow water and slower presentations. Willow-leaf blades are useful for trolling deep water or in swifter water. With a willow-leaf blade, you sacrifice the thump you get with a Colorado, but you get more flash."

After blade type, the difference in most bladed jigs is a matter of color and size.

As for size, 1/32 and 1/64 ounce are standard for shallow-water fishing, while a 1/8-ounce bladed jig is useful for deep-water presentations or trolling.

Color can be a matter of personal choice and experience, but it also relates to water clarity, depth and the crappie's mood. Anglers and crappie seem to prefer a palette heavily tilted toward chartreuse, red, white and black, but wise anglers often stretch the canvas to include purple, blue, pink and others.

Road Runner Techniques
Bladed jigs are highly versatile and can be engaged in a variety of ways. The primary division is whether to use them vertically or horizontally.

On Alabama's Lake Jordan, Stallings often uses the Road Runner with a vertical presentation. Lake Jordan has semi-stained water, and crappie sometimes suspend over a 20- to 30-foot bottom.

"When the sun is up and the fish are suspending, a vertical jig is the best presentation," Stallings notes. "We use a 1/8-ounce jig and a curly-tailed plastic grub. The technique is a straight up-and-down jigging motion while we slowly drift across the surface."

But there is a little more to it than that, as there always is.

"The trick is a slow drop of the bait to the bottom and then a slow lift," Stallings adds. "Often we're lifting 4 or 5 feet at a time. It's a pretty simple technique, but if you're not doing it right, you probably won't catch fish."

Stallings has found that the best rod for this work is a short, ultra-light spinning pole. He prefers the Pflueger President.

"This is a sweet rod for a Road Runner," he notes.

Another important element in this technique is the line. Stallings uses a camo 6- or 8-pound test mono. He favors Triple Fish line.

In the darker water of Lake Jordan, Stallings favors specific color schemes for his bladed jigs. He uses chartreuse or red head in the dingy water. For plastic trailers, he chooses black, white or yellow.

Vertical fishing a bladed jig is an underrated tactic with a lot of versatility. In fact, the places where the technique is useful far outweigh those where it isn't.

"Where it is not good is over clear water," Stallings says. "The shadow of the boat spooks the fish. Other than that, it doesn't have a downside."

In addition to vertical drifting, bladed jigs are also useful for a number of horizontal presentations, including casting and trolling with spider rigs.

Working Lake Martin, which is another Alabama crappie haven, Stallings casts toward docks rather than just sitting beside them.

"Lake Martin has very clear water, and you wouldn't want to get too close to a dock and work the jig vertically because the fish would know you are there," he explains. "That's why we stay away from the docks and pitch under them."

Martin's best docks are made of wood and elevated slightly by pilings. The crappie don't hang on other surface-flat docks as they do on the docks that are 1 to 1 1/2 feet above the high-water mark.

In this situation, Stallings tosses the Road Runner under the high platforms and works it with a yo-yo movement over the bottom.

"The key is to lift and let it fall, lift and let it fall again," he says.

For this technique on the clear waters of Lake Martin, Stallings prefers a 1/8-ounce chartreuse Road Runner with a curly tail of chartreuse or watermelon.

Another of Stallings's Road Runner techniques is trolling with a full spider-rig set. With a complete array of 16 rods set from bow to stern, Stallings likes to set the bladed jigs where they will get the most motion from the slowly moving boat. Typically, this is on the corners of each quadrant of rods. However, he sometimes loads the two stern quadrants with additional bladed jigs.

Next year marks the 50th anniversary of the Road Runner, which was designed by Bert Hall. Hall's main objective was to have the turning blade under the head. With that prerequisite, one thing or another lead to the unique horsehead-shaped jig. To mark the anniversary, Blakemore is selling a Road Runner with an 18-karat gold-plated blade — it's Anniversary Edition. Whether you stash the gold-plated bait away as a collector's item or use the bladed jig for actual fishing is up to you.

Slider Bees
Connecting the blade to the head of a jig is not the only concept in bladed jigs. Another place to add a blade is on the hook bend, similar to the position of a trailer hook.

The Whirly Bee, made by Slider, incorporates a slim-headed jig with a swivel and blade at the tail. The swivel, like a trailer hook, is kept from moving up the hook point with the addition of a plastic stopper.

Overall, the Whirly Bee is a narrow bait with the tail-positioned Indiana blade causing the lure to appear like an active minnow.

"Down on Pickwick, Wilson and Wheeler (the Tennessee River chain), the Whirly Bee is a good producer," says Slider's owner Charlie Brewer. "Those lakes have clear water with a green or blue tint, and you can see down about 4 or 5 feet. In those conditions, a jig with a blade really works."

Brewer often uses the Whirly Bee as a locator lure.

"The hardest thing to do is find the crappie," he notes. "A bladed jig enables you to make a lot of quick casts and cover water. Once you find the fish, you can continue to work the structure with the blade bait. Basically, I like to fan-cast the area and pick up the aggressive crappie."

Brewer describes his style of fishing as a "one-pole, one lure" technique. Rather than cruise through an area with a lot of dangling baits, he prefers to pepper a specific target with the single bait.

As for working the bladed Whirly Bee, Brewer simply casts it out and winds it back or "pulls and drops" the bait in deeper water.

The Whirly Bee, like all bladed baits, works best with a rumpled surface.

"They seem to like the bladed lures when it's choppy, not when it's calm," Brewer stresses.

Brewer theorizes that when there is chop and the sun is shining on the water, the bait gives off a flashy reflection.

"Chop from the wind seems to make them bite better all around," he says. "Maybe the chop makes the minnows more active, and maybe it adds oxygen to the water. It's tough to say, but I know it's a good time to fish."

The flat-sided head of the Whirly Bee aids the lure in moving smoothly through the water, as the bait doesn't roll or spin when cast or trolled.

"It keeps the lure on a flat plane," Brewer adds.

The Whirly Bee also has its line-tie position on the top of the head as opposed to on its nose.

"With that position, you can vertical jig the bait if you want," Brewer explains.

When casting the Whirly Bee, Brewer uses a light-action 5-foot rod.

"I like the lighter rod because I enjoy seeing the bend when a fish fights," he says.

To cast even the smallest 1/32-ounce version of the bait, Brewer uses 4-pound test line. He has also returned to fluorescent-colored line so he can locate the line and thus the bait.

In addition to the Whirly Bee, Slider also manufactures the Charlie Bee. This bladed jig is in the tradition of the Road Runner with the blade beneath the head of the jig, at what entomologists would call the thorax area of an insect. The Charlie Bee features a round head and a paddle-tailed grub. It comes in both 1/32- and 1/16-ounce models.

Brewer finds the Charlie Bee useful on Alabama's Coosa River chain of lakes.

"It's another good locator lure," Brewer says of the Charlie Bee. "And when I locate them around structure, I again like to fan-cast to the area with the bait."

In addition to that simple technique, Brewer will also place the Charlie Bee under a cork or slip-bobber. With this tactic, the bladed jig is set about 18 inches below the float.

"You can throw it shallow and then barely twitch it along," he says. "What this allows you to do is keep the lure in the same area where the fish are. This is great for attracting crappie that are tight to the banks or around docks."

Indeed, the appeal and effectiveness of bladed jigs can make you want to run right out and connect a blade to everything.