Thread: Advice on Trolling for crappie

Spider riging is slower than trolling. You will be trolling at .9 mph to 1.5mph . Spider riging you will never get over .9 mph. Or at least that what I do. There's really no reason why you can't do both it. I have my boat setup to do both. You really need a variable speed trolling motor but it can be done with a regular motor.

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Sounds good, I'm gonna give it a shot this week. I was gonna try creek channels first, will be fishing Lay lake.
Thinking of 15-25 ft of water on rock ledges. Also I'm curious to see if anyone is having any luck on flats less than 15 ft may try that as well. I appreciate all the info.

I'm sure some of the other guys will chime in and by all means take there advice over mine . Trolling is not my strongest think. And we have some guys that really good at it like Roger A . He is a great spider riging fisherman.

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x2. Roger's game is strong

we do not spider rig but pull or long line . We fish the big G .Our speeds range from .5 to 1.0 using 1/16th jigs with .8 being our favorite or most successful speed . Speeds varies due to depth of water we pull over or how deep the bait balls might be or how far behind the boat we let the line. There are some good charts out there that show what speed you should troll if you are using this and that. When we pull cranks in the Summer we try to keep it between 1.5mph and 2.1.We accomplish this with the big motor using a troll -o-matic .One of the best investments($99) my late buddy and I ever bought for pulling cranks. We almost spent hundreds of dollars on a kicker motor .We had to do something because trying to run 2mph would drain our batteries in less than 4 hours and that was usually about the time we would figure out where we needed to pull!!

Just a thought when someone says spider rigging I'm thinking your pushing jigs in front of the boat? Using heavy lead with a jig or minnow above the weight? That requires a very slow presentation of .01-.02 mph. If your long line trolling (pulling) different application all together. There the head weight, line size 6 lb., bait, or structure, is determined and speed and length of cast as well as size of line all play into the fray. There is a chart out there somewhere that is a starting place on running depths of head weights pulled at .08. This technique is what I love to do! I weigh each head I pour then test on the water finding a sandy flat using a short rod by the boat using gps speed watch as my jig bumps the bottom and that will give you an idea what depth your heads swim at .08. My 1/16 swim at 7.5-8' 1/24 swim at 4.5-5' 1/32 swim at2.5-3' deep. I use zig-zag slow turns as well on off trolling motor counting 5 sec. on 5 sec. off and let the fish tell me what they want! If your fishing brush piles like I am now I will time the boat as I go over pile depending on depth bump the trolling motor to get the jigs to be on the rise right when I guess they're over the pile. Well that's how I do it. ZigZag and off on really works!

I am an amateur - just started trolling this summer but have had some success. I am fishing small waters in a Jon boat using a MK variable speed TM. Best $200 I've spent in a long time. I can go as slow as .1 MPH and as fast as 3.7 MPH (the latter won't last long).

I bought some cheap rod holders at Sports Academy which I attach to the sides and back of the boat. I use 12' B'n'M rods out the sides and 6' poles out the back with either 1/8 o 1/16 jigs of different colors. I have had the best luck using electric chicken, blue thunder and licorice/chart but YMMV.

I have better luck it seems running between .4 and 1.0 MPH. I have Okuna line counter reels with 4 pound hi-vis test which is helpful in knowing how deep the baits are running.

I have a HB 798CI HD too. When I see structure, I create a way point or toss a buoy marker out so I can run over it accurately.

http://www.crappie.com/crappie/fishi...e-fish-finder/

1.8 to 2mph is awful fast for long lining unless you are pulling cranks. I pretty much long line troll all spring and rarely exceed 1mph unless I am in extremely shallow water. You can pull a couple of 5 gallon buckets behind the boat and maybe that will slow you down enough.