Thread: pulling crank baits

Originally Posted by boomer11

anyone around here pull cranks? Every time i am out i never see anyone pulling or spider rigging. I was just wondering if its good for the lakes in oklahoma.

Go to the Louisiana board and check with those men a lot of them pull crank baits

mikeg

Mississippi board has a sticky...

I am just getting started with both pulling, pushing cranks and spider rigging, been getting geared up over this past year. I have posed similar question myself and there is a few who do it but for some reason it's very few. Most all of the people around here suffer with "ATT" syndrome "Addicted to Thump".

I just bought a bunch of cranks in the past weeks. I'm going to give it a try as soon as I can get the time. The MS forum sticky has an unbelievable amount of information and posts in it. It will take you a while to read but has a lot of good information in it. Some things that I have gleaned from it are:

1. There are several different ways to pull/push cranks.
2. You can either control your depth solely by the amount of line you have out or with some type of weight a few feet in front of your crank.
3. People catch them at speeds from 1.2 - 3.0 mph. (Very wide range) Most seem to stay between 1.5-2.0 mph
4. Rod holders are very useful if you don't already have them.
5. Most folks use line counter reels for this. The most popular models being the Okuma Magda and Diawa (some number I can't remember).
6. A gps and lake chart will be very beneficial to you. (seems to always be true)
7. Gear cost for this can REALLY add up in a hurry!

If you're serious about getting into this, read that sticky. There's a lot of crap slinging over there (all in good fun) but there is plenty of information too. I have yet to start my trial and error process but it seems like a real good time for the dog days of summer.

We pull cranks a lot.
Cabelas in okc has combo trolling rods that are about 70 a piece. Sometimes you can get them on sale for around 55. They have a reel counter on them ft long and break down to 6 ft.
We use a trolling tree from high seas. 2 rods each side of the boat.smaller footprint and holds good.
The best crankbait to troll is bandits. Run true and never have to tune them. Rapala husky jerks are good also, but bandits out fish them.
The diving depth on the packages and are for 100ft of line at 6lb diameter. We use 30lb power pro braids which is like like 6 or 8 lb diameteter. Mad cow bandit seems to be the favorite of all species.
Trolling speeds can vary. The skeeter 225 we used prior the the sx210 would troll around 2.5-4 mph depending on wind speed. The sx210 big motor is 2.5. Trolling motor I can set to 1.5 to 2 mph.
Some cranks will not troll well over 2.5. Bandits troll well at any speed.

I would love to troll crank baits on Draper in the summer.

For crappie try t bird. Little axe point the north along next 2 points to I think it's called elm cove. You will also hit hybrids and saugeye.
Walleye hit hefner and troll NE corner of the lake.

Originally Posted by DrNip

I would love to troll crank baits on Draper in the summer.

i trolled cranks for the 1st time at draper the other day. caught 9 of them. only one was less than 10 inches. also caught a couple sand bass ,bass,and one catfish. i love the thump just like everyone else but it was pretty exciting to see the rod tip violently go down when a fish hits it. there is just no doubt you have a fish on.

i used power pro depth hunter line to know how deep i was going and just followed the bandit chart. one spot i thought i snagged a big tree because 3 of my 4 poles went down at once. ended up being two crappie and a small bass. its a different kind of exciting but trolling cranks was definitely fun.