If you go fishing with crappie fishing expert and guide Todd Huckabee you can expect to be fishing with the new F2 Wooly Bee lure. Its size, shape, color pattern, and scented body make it the perfect lure to put on a jig head and put crappie in the livewell. You will catch crappie; in fact big slab crappie, but you will also learn plenty about the migration patterns, techniques, and fishing tackle used to catch crappie.

There are certain times of year that Huckabee, (405-520-8980) who guides on Lake Eufaula, Oklahoma, depends on a F2 Wooly Bee to catch crappie. “A great time to be fishing with a F2 Wooly Bee is from right now until spring.  The crappie are wanting bigger bait since most of the little shad have been eaten. That leaves just bigger shad left. Plus the water is a little more muddy so a bigger fatter bait works better,” explained Huckabee. While water clarity won’t stop crappie from biting, Huckabee will select which color F2 Wooly Bee to fish with depending on that factor. “In muddy water, I like to fish with black/pink (tail light); in stained water, I like the white/chartreuse (limesicle) or pumpkin/chartreuse (Dutchess); in clear water, I like a more transparent color like purple/chartreuse (perch) or pumpkin/chartreuse (Dutchess) color pattern,” said Huckabee.

You won’t be rigging up for crappie like you normally do when you fish with Huckabee. His technique requires more of a power fishing approach; in fact, he has his own signature series line of tackle including rods; in addition to using 10- to 12-pound AN40 Silver Thread

Huckabee will rig his rod with one or two jig heads with F2 Wooly Bee. If fishing with a single jig, Huckabee like to use a 1/4-ounce jig head. When using two jig heads, he will tie on a 1/8-ounce jig head on the top with a 1/8-ounce jig on the bottom. Huckabee will only use 1/8-ounce or 1/4-ounce jig heads. “Which size jig head I will use depends on wind because I fish straight up and down…vertically for crappie. If your line is drifting off the brush or standing timber you won’t get a bite or be able to feel it. A tight line down to a heavy jig will also keep your lure next cover,” said Huckabee. He also noted that fall rate of the jig rarely has any impact on crappie biting a jig because the presentation is to put the lure at the right depth and shake it once or twice. “It’s rarely casted for crappie, but there are a few exceptions to that rule depending on the lake,” said Huckabee. The lakes he was referring to are highland reservoirs found in the Ozarks renowned for their gin clear water. Although not an absolute most of the best crappie lakes have stained water making for Huckabee’s power fishing techniques to excel at.

The F2 Wooly Bee (www.lurenet.com) is super-charged with F2. F2 is YUM lures attractant that is infused within the plastic body of the lure. Attractants can increase the number of fish you catch in a day. “Crappie are sight feeders by that I mean they have to see a lure to strike it. The F2 attractant gets them to hold on to a lure longer letting an angler know they are getting a bite so they can set the hook on them,” explained Huckabeee. Other features of the F2 YUM Wooly Bee include an oversized tail and ribs that create a tremendous amount of water displacement.

Huckabee advises anglers to focus on the middle part of the water column since crappie are rarely located on the bottom of the lake. He also noted that the bigger crappie will be at the top of the other crappie. These are just a couple suggestions from Huckabee for catching crappie; however the best advice was that crappie can be caught all year long even in the winter months. So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and go crappie fishing.