Catching Crappies – The Action Is On

I have found over the past years that the best bait for catching Crappies was the Gulp 2” Minnow on a Crappie Tube Jig Hook with a tube bobber. But could the ice fishing Rapala Jig work? Would it catch just a many Crappies, and would it out last the Gulp Minnow by hundreds of fish? Well here is what we found.

Jigging Rapala Catching Crappies

We took a tube bobber with 2.5 feet of line and tied on a Gold 1″ Ice-Fishing Jigging Rapala. I then made small slow retrievals with a pause between each. We were not surprised to find the Rapala Jig worked well and at first we were catching one for one against the Gulp Minnow. Within a few minutes however I started to fall behind and then the action really slowed, almost to a stop, why?

Jigging Rapala Gets Out Fished

First my wife and I located the Crappies and got our boat positioned so we could both start the competition at the same time. I gave my wife the Gulp Minnow with a white-silver tube while I used the Ice-Fishing Rapala.

Why the Rapala Came In Second

What we found:
The Jigging Rapala catch to bite ratio was much higher.
The Jigging Rapala did not take any abuse and would definitely catch countless Crappies
The Jigging Rapala’s multiple hooks and treble hook was difficult to remove
The Jigging Rapala harmed the fish to the point it would kill them if released
The action of the Jigging Rapala slowed quickly, increasing the time between bites
The action with the Gulp Minnow was faster, consistent, and continued beyond our fishing time
The Gulp Minnow was quick to remove, getting you back into the water quicker
The Gulp Minnow did not harm the fish or kill any fish
The Gulp Minnow would catch 50 plus Crappies before needing another one, but did require adjustments

Thumbs Up For Gulp Minnow

It was obvious the 1” Ice-Fishing Jigging Rapala did not perform as well as the 2” Gulp Minnow. The size of the Crappies were the same, but the action clearly was in the favor of the Gulp Minnow. Also the difficulty of removing the Jigging Rapala and the undesirable chance of killing the fish, it did not take me long to change over to the same bait my wife was using. Now if I were Ice Fishing straight down maybe the Rapala would out fish the Gulp Minnow, but that would be another fishing test I would need to do. Here the Gulp 2” Minnow Is The Winner!