If a crappie misses my jig, will it come back — and do they ever hit at the surface or under the hole?
Often, yes, as long as the fish was not pricked. Crappie feed in schools and competition works for you: after a missed bite, stop the jig and hold it still just above where the bite came, or let it fall slowly again, and the same fish or a neighbour usually takes it. A fish that felt the hook is gone, and a few lost fish can quiet a whole school. Surface feeding is real but minor — on calm, warm evenings and under lights at night crappie dimple the top for insects and tiny minnows. Under the ice they rise a long way to a bait held above them, a meter or more, but takes come up in the water column, rarely right at the hole. Always fish above the marks, never below.
The full story
This answer is one piece of a longer lesson — setups, diagrams and the reasoning behind it.
More questions about How it strikes
- Why does my line go slack instead of thumping when a crappie bites?
- Why a sweep set instead of a bass-style hookset?
- Why do I keep missing fish when I lift the jig?
- Why does a slow-falling jig out-fish a fast one?
- When should I fish a float, and when tight-line?
- What does a crappie do once hooked, and why do so many come off near the boat?
Same topic, other species
- Do largemouth jump, and why do they throw crankbaits and lipless baits so often? — Largemouth Bass
- What does a hooked muskie actually do — run, jump or dig in? — Muskellunge (Muskie)
- Will perch follow a jig up off bottom — even to the ice hole? — Yellow Perch
- What is the S-strike, and why should it change how I retrieve? — Northern Pike
- Why do smallmouth slash at my moving bait and miss? — Smallmouth Bass
- What is the difference between a sipping rise and a slashing rise? — Trout (Rainbow · Brook · Lake)
- Do walleye follow a lure and hit at the boat or right under the ice hole? — Walleye