It’s quite possible that you have never given thought to vertical and horizontal crappie fishing approaches and how they differ. They differ in values and appeals, though, and each has its place.

Personal technique preferences certainly come into play, and either a vertical or horizontal technique can work well for many crappie fishing situations. However, some fish can be targeted far more effectively by working straight up and down or conversely by moving crosswise. Understanding the benefits of each type of technique can help you select the best strategy, which can lead to catching more crappie.

Vertical Crappie Fishing

Vertical crappie fishing encompasses any technique where the bait remains beneath the rod tip and bait movement is primarily vertical. Popular vertical techniques include jigging, dipping, ice-fishing and drop-shotting. Stationary float fishing techniques, where a float and jig or minnow are cast to a key area and left there until fish bites or the next cast is made also qualify because the jig is straight beneath the float and isn’t being worked horizontally.

Whether you’re holding a bait dead still over a brushpile, reeling slowly beside pole timber or jiggling a bait enticingly beside a dock, vertical approaches keep baits in a key zone. Precise control of locations and the capacity to keep an offering in front of fish are key benefits. Vertical presentations excel when the crappie are congregated and when they are positioned close to cover or structure, whether in the form of a brushpile, weed edge, tree trunk or dock. These techniques also work well when the crappie are all using a specific depth zone.

Vertical bait movements can be slight, triggered by jiggles or taps of the rod, with the depth kept constant, or they can be more decisive. At times reeling slowly and steadily to raise the bait in the water column is the key. Occasionally the best approach is to hold the rod still. For most vertical presentations, if you’re able to land a fish without turning the reel handle, that allows you to return the bait to the exact depth that just produced a fish.

Horizontal Crappie Fishing

Horizontal presentations of crappie baits include most casting and trolling strategies. With either, the line runs at least somewhat horizontal to move the bait sideways. Some casting retrieves certainly involve swinging the bait gradually deeper to match a slope or lifting and dropping baits as they move through the water. However, the bait mostly stays on the move, and the movement is generally horizontal.

Horizontal approaches come into play when fish are more widespread or when you don’t know specific holding areas. Long-line trolling, as an example, allows you to follow a creek channel edge or work a broad flat to find active fish. By casting and retrieving a crappie jig, you can work a row of docks, a stump-studded flat or the top of a submerged weedbed from all different angles and at different depths until you find the key spot or zone.

Horizontal approaches generally move baits more than vertical approaches, and when crappie are feeding actively and the baitfish are more active, that can be important for triggering strikes. When the crappie must chase minnows and shad or ambush forage on the move, a bait that that just hangs in the zone is more apt to spook them than to trigger a strike.

Best of Both Worlds

Suspending a crappie jig beneath a float and working the float rig slowly truly blends aspects of vertical and horizontal lure presentations and provides some “best of both worlds” benefits. That is true whether the jig is only a foot or two beneath a set float or is several feet beneath a slip float.

Whatever the depth of the jig, the line goes straight down from the float to the jig, like other vertical presentations. It allows you to keep the offering at a controlled depth and slow the presentation. That said, when you reel or drag the float or the current or wind moves it, the bait also moves horizontally, allowing you to cover water, instead of just fishing a spot, and sometimes creating the motion needed to prompt strikes.

Pitching a crappie jig parallel to a dock edge or over a brushpile and letting it swing to a fixed depth straight beneath the rod tip also blends horizontal and vertical movement benefits. The swinging bait moves down and crosswise simultaneously. The presentation then becomes fully vertical for as long as the bait is held in place, jigged or lifted and dropped until the next pitch.

Tails Have It

A crappie bait’s tail design tells a great deal about its primary intended function and the types of tactics for which it will tend to excel. That isn’t to say there isn’t a significant crossover. There is! Some crappie anglers like the same bait for all types of presentations and do extremely well that way, while others excel by flopping norms with their preferences. That said, considering tail design is a helpful way to choose a crappie bait that’s well suited for the way you want to fish.

Horizontal presentations, including pushing and pulling trolling approaches and most cast and retrieve strategies, lend themselves to baits with active swimming tails. Baits like a Bobby Garland Stroll’R, Slab Hunt’R, Hyper Grub or Swimming Minnow need a bit of movement to get the tail action engaged, but that action is strong, creating vibration and prompting fish to attack.

Vertical presentations like jigging and dipping tend to match better with wavering tail designs on bats like the Original Baby Shad, Slab Slay’R, Mayfly and Minnow Mind’R. These baits’ tails move almost continuously with action triggered by only the slightest up-and-down movement, but the tail action is far more subtle

Baits like the Baby Shad Swim’R, Live Roam’R and Slab Dockt’R offer elements of both primary tail types, which adds versatility, along with making them extra well suited for approaches that hybridize vertical and horizontal presentation strategies.