1\10th ounce heads.
These are a tad heavier than my “regular” weight of 1/16th ounce. They will tend to run slightly deeper.
With long lining it is all just a crap shoot anyways. If you ask someone how much line they put out, they will tell you a good cast’s worth. Well that ain’t much help. I do not want to start using line counter reels as that is way too much hassle. If you put out more line the jigs will run deeper. Less line they ride higher. Go slow they run deeper. Run fast they run higher. More weight they run deeper.
So there are at least three variables involved, until you start figuring the amount of drag the jigs has. Well it is far too complicated for me to try to figure. The depth charts that get posted every so often are very specific, and will never match up with me, crank baits aside.
The saving grace for me is that my lakes are shallow affairs. Average depth I am trolling over is about 6 feet. I toss the 1/16th ounce jigs out a “good cast’s length”. Then I set out the heavier jigs which tend to run at a much different angle, not quite straight down but maybe 45 degrees. These get very little line.
I have a 2d sonar and only rarely glance over at it. I like to see bait balls, but pretty much everything else is weeds on the bottom. Like a giant salad bowl. No structures to dip, no docks to cast to. Just vast areas of weeds with bait balls here and there. So for me, it is all just a crap shoot. No. need to buy me no Death Scope. The fish hide in the weeds down bottom. Side scan might be of some use, but I suspect staring at the screen would annoy me. So I kind of point the boat and ride.
My thinking is to have baits at different depths, and different distances out and away from the boat. I mix things up some if they don’t seem to be biting.
I have six planer boards, the minis with the Sun logo on them, and they do fine for taking the jigs out and away from the boat. I thought that the boat would be scaring the fish and chase them away. Maybe so, but I no longer concern myself with that. I have caught too many fish right against the side of the boat. An old man told me he would hook them right next to the running outboard engine while he trolled. I suspect they do not flush as much as fish in deeper lakes because there really is no where to go.
I imagine that if I were a crappie, I would be pretty dumb. They have a lot to contend with actually. Water turkeys swimming round trying to bite them. Large bass and gar roaming around. Gators. There is a lot to be weary of if you are just a little guy.So they learn to dodge down into the weeds when attacked. Maybe try to out distance the predator. Look out- osprey. Like I said there is a lot to be weary of. It would be best to find one spot and learn it well and hide out. Problem is you got to eat, so you have to leave that safe area.
There are fat head minnows, bull minnows, various gamefish minnows, freshwater shrimp, lake fly larvae, and of course shad. In the weed shorelines a crappie can find both safety and food. One might think they would stay put back in there, but they don’t. I find fish scattered all over the lake. I have seen days when going from 5 feet deep to six feet deep made a huge difference. How so you ask, well I really don’t know why, but it is a thing I assure you.
I watched the game commission shocking fish for a survey. Their boat was parked right in the weeds and they were shocking right next to it. So my local fish don’t seem to be too frightened about boats over top of them.
So I have been making jigs in 1/20th oz, 1/16th oz, 1/10th oz, 1/8th oz, 3/16th oz, and 1/4 oz. I have to try to develop a method of organization and deployment that works