Thread: Pushing (power trolling) cranks

We can troll 3 rods here on my home lake....per person. I use one down rod with a 4 oz bell sinker then a swivel and 30 inch leader. That is my pushing rod and I pull with a 16 and a 8. I run 100's on the down rod. 200's on the 16 footer and 300's on the eight footer. When we turn we just have to reel in the 8 footers normally. If it is windy we leave the 16 out of the equation!! I myself wish they made a stiffer rod for this 4 oz of lead. Ed duke of southern crappie rods is working on it and hopefully by next year he will have me a proto type to try. It will be a 14 footer!! This setup works well for me on both sides of the boat. I put 100 feet of line on the 16 footer and 60 feet on the 8 footer. Hope this helps!!

I'm hoping my cranks and weights get here tomorrow so I can try pushing this Saturday afternoon on Old Hickory. Working in the yard and garden in the am but I've read in the heat of the day is best, will see. I'm going with the inline rig and will run 4 - 12 footers off the front (2 each side). I'm going to follow a couple creek channels closer to the dam, have only been able to spider rig these channels in the fall and winter months. Thanks for all the information, its been very helpful, I knew going to the KY board would be very helpful.

Have a great day,
Ray

I am going to try some pushing next weekend. Guess I need to get out in the shop and make some inline sinkers. I had been on the fence of a 3 way or the inlines but seems the inline might be a better way to go.

I got out yesterday a couple hours to experiment with the power pushing, I used the inline setup with 12 foot rods off the front, got the trolling speed and ran the line out till I started dragging bottom to see how the chart would work and it was within 12" of being dead on. I adjusted my lines to troll 20 deep keeping the cranks at 16 fow, (24 feet of line out) I followed the contour of the channel ledge much closer, then I moved to the top of the shelf around 12 feet deep and made a second run, third run was in 30 fow running at about 24 feet deep. With all the boat traffic and just fishing the channel (old Hickory) I didn't expect to catch any crappie and I was not disappointed, I did however pick up a walleye and four short sauger with a couple yellow bellies. one thing I did see was several hits from fish without a hookup. Could crappie be hitting the crank and the weight/ rod be tearing it out of their mouth. I was pulling with 12' Wally Marshall's which have a somewhat soft tip, just wondering. next outing is going to be in some creek channels where I will hope to put some slabs in the boat. I think the power pushing is going to pay some dividends!

Have a great day,
Ray

Thanks Ray for reporting your first experience pushing cranks.
I hope my first experience pushing cranks is as productive as yours.

Thanks
Mike

tried pushing cranks for the first time this morning, caught 3 crappie and a bunch of stripers! Gonna try it again in the morning if it's not raining.