The "CrappieTom" nickname came about because of Tom's love for Crappie fishing. Several years ago, after working on a numberof web-sites under that name, Tom had the name CrappieTom trademarked. At the time of the trademark application, Tom was making and selling the very products you find here, plus he was making his own line of fishing rods that covered angling needs from crappie and panfish to walleye to steelhead and lake trout. Tom also does small panfish-sized hair jigs that may find their way here in the future.

Tom, CT as he is known to his friends, has fished since the age of 5. Ct was casting jigs in a mold he made from oak at the age of 15. Today he has over 50 years of fishing experience. For over twenty of those years he journaled his crappie fishing. It is his contention that writing things of interest or importance down makes it easier to re-call that information. His fishing focuses on crappies and sunfish, but he spends time with bass, walleye and sauger, and fish found in Lake Superior each year. His seeking to improve on what is already used is cease-less.

CT was born and raised in Rochester, Minnesota and has spent his entire life there. His love for fishing has afforded him to learn a lot about the area there in the SE corner of the state. Rochester lies within Olmsted County, one of the four dry counties in the state. By "dry", it is meant that these counties have no natural lakes. Rochester does have an extensive network of flood control retention reservoirs, or lakes and the primary portion of the Zumbro River watershed flows right through the city on its way to yet another impoundment of over 660 acres, Lake Zumbro. This lake is 12 miles from CT's house and sees him on a very regular basis. Lake Zumbro is home to the lm. and sm. basses, northern, muskie, crappie, sunfish and bluegills, walleyes, catfish, white bass and of course the normal rough fish. To the east of Rochester Ct has access to the extensive Mississippi River system with its many locks and dams and the fabulous backwaters. It is from this rich reservoir-type of environment that CT has developed this tackle to suit specific needs, but the tackle he has developed works everywhere.

Friends know CT as a person not involved in competitive anything. Fishing even more-so. They also know that he has a very professional relationship with several well-know tackle companies and that when it comes down to fishing, bait is not one of CT's favorite topics. The Culprit Bait company has had CT on staff as a Pro Staff in their Panfish division for several years. In those years CT has been less than abashed when it comes to using and talking about the company's Paddle Tail Grub.

For walleyes and sauger fishing, CT prefers to use a plain hair-jig without any bait enhancement or he can [will] be found soaking a plastic of some sort. Over the years Ct has developed an uncanny sense of feel for particular baits while his experience journaling his fishing has narrowed down when fishing with a hair jig might out-produce a jig and plastic and vice-versa. Using plastic baits for walleyes below the various dams found on the Mississippi was at times a joke when the fish hit short. Coming up with a way to get a hook into the short hitters was a goal for CT and he came up with a stinger system that keeps the stinger where it needs to be to catch the fish. Short hitters were also a headache for hair jigs when fished below the dams. Water can be turbulent at times and fish tend to strike out of reflex. Short hits are common. To over-come the need to have a jig cut the water and current to stay deep and to stymie the short hitters, the stinger system was added to a heavy, flathead type of bucktail jig to address both of these needs. In the crappie/panfish realm, the use of plastic baits got him to look at better ways to deliver soft baits to the fish without having the bodies split and fall apart due to holding barbs or bulky collars. CT uses years of experience and observation to over-come simply problems found in common tackle.

Color is something that CT has very pointed ideas about. If fish are showing a preference to, say chartreuse and purple, CT uses a head color to allow the jig and plastic's body visible in the water, while using a plastic whose tail color [chartreuse] is that which the fish favor. The fish at the chartreuse tail and it can be easier sucked in. If the head has the hot color, the line it's tied to can interfere with the fish getting the whole bait in its mouth at the hit. This is especially true when using plastics and targeting sunfish. You'll see in the panfish tackle section a bit of information on how he plays the color game.

Our goal here is to help people be better anglers. Like in the clothing industry, not everyone will like what they see and maybe the colors won't suit them. The sizes might not be something that everyone likes. The tackle shown here is tackle used by CT. In seminars that CT takes part in, one of the first statements he makes is that " the biggest hindrance to being a successful angler is for the angler to not use his imagination". He is also quick to point out too many anglers think like people and not enough like the fish they are after….in essence, people don't know their quarry. One other point he makes is that fish live in water. Things are very different there and what we see above it can actually have little to do with what the fish see below.

Ct would like to thank all who have stopped by the site to look or shop.

Fish smart. Fish safe. Practice the good fishing ethics of catch and release and of selective harvest.
CT