Thread: Spider rigging forum?

Originally Posted by Quailtail

I am an old man. I started fishing on Lake Cumberland with my dad and Grandpa. Got sea sick and threw up at the restaurant at breakfast. We had a Alumacraft 14' boat, an eighteen horse Johnson, and a skull paddle. No trolling motor, no electronics, and them waves from Rowenna Ferry to Otter Creek we're huge. This was back in the late 50's and early 60's. Now, 60 years later, I started Spider Rigging. Bought a 20' Triton TA 196 made for spider rigging. Invested a bunch if money, and I think we caught as many fish with that little boat and that wooden paddle.

Sounds like me back then, except I used a rowboat and fished for trout in Montana. I still use the rowboat when in Montana, and there are no electronics. Other guys have ALL of the latest stuff, including downriggers and cameras focused on the baits. The technical equipment does everything but pry open the fish's jaws and insert the hook. I still catch a limit and release a lot of trout.
Crappie, on the other hand, are a LOT easier to get when you have good electronics. My son has good electronics, and they have really helped his catch rate.

Go to youtube and watch Ed Duke videos to learn the basics of spider rigging. Very educational & entertaining. Do what he does & you will catch some.

I have switched to a Terrova from cable control. What do you do when fishing timber?


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Originally Posted by jigfisherx

I have switched to a Terrova from cable control. What do you do when fishing timber?

If the timber is submerged, you fish over top of it. If it's standing timber that's showing above the surface ... I wouldn't spider rig it (but I would cast around them or jig beside them, using a weedless jighead)

I'm thinking about spider riigging?
What would be the shortest rods I could get a way with?
I know, the shallower the crappie are,
The longer the rods!
But 16 ft is to much for me!
I plan to use line counter reels,,
( my Christmas present to myself)
But I can hardly keep from breaking my 10ft rods I use to long line troll?
But I don't wanna spend $400 on rods, and then by late spring ,, and think I shoulda bought something else!

Originally Posted by "G"

And another one from main board. http://www.crappie.com/crappie/main-...ider-rig-rods/

Originally Posted by Astrick

I'm thinking about spider riigging?
What would be the shortest rods I could get a way with?
I know, the shallower the crappie are,
The longer the rods!
But 16 ft is to much for me!
I plan to use line counter reels,,
( my Christmas present to myself)
But I can hardly keep from breaking my 10ft rods I use to long line troll?
But I don't wanna spend $400 on rods, and then by late spring ,, and think I shoulda bought something else!

Just my opinion, as I don't actually do the Spider Rigging technique ... but, considering what my Spider Rigging friends do :

The shortest rod you can get away with would likely be a 12' rod ... but that may also depend on what type of boat you have, layout of it, shape of the bow, and how close you can get your rod holders to the front of the boat (& still reach them without having to bend completely over to reach them). The brand/style of rod holder may also present a problem, if the rod handles aren't long enough to reach the handle end loop without the reel being in the way of the front part of the holder.

I don't understand, however, why you think you would need line counter reels to Spider Rig with ... unless you also intend to Push/Pull or longline with these same outfits. And in that case, you wouldn't be placing the rods pointing directly in front of the boat, anyway, so rods from 14' down to 6' could be used ....

as evidenced by my 4rod spread in this picture :



The left holder has a 10' rod in front & a 14' rod in back -- the right holder has a 14' rod in front & a 6' rod in back. They are all being used to "Push" jigs & cranks, with 1.5oz weights @ ~1mph (at that time).

Only true "Spider Rig" fishing I ever did was from the back of a buddy's boat, with two 10' rods and that same 6' rod pictured. He used six to eight 14' rods out the front of his boat. I got a 14' BnM PST rod and Hi-Tek rod holders with the idea of "testing out" Spider Rigging out of my own boat. When I saw that the shorter rods were not going to work as well as the 14' rod, I got two more 14' rods. They ended up being the BnM Capps/Coleman version, which are slightly less stiff than the PST (but not really that noticeable unless using a weight heavier than 1/2oz). Then everyone starts talking about "pushing" their jigs (and eventually cranks), so I hopped on that band wagon and have never really done any Spider Rigging since. But, to be quite honest (as always) I tend to use Pushing as a Plan B, or dead of the Summer technique ... and stick to casting jigs & Road Runners the majority of the time.

I wasn't sure I'd care much for using a 14' rod, but now that I have used them for a couple of years ... I don't really even think about it. They really didn't take as much effort or time to become accustomed to using as I thought they would, but using all three 14' rods (and sometimes a 4th/shorter rod) is quite enough for me to handle.

Well she ain’t the prettiest girl at the dance, but I just built my own spider rig rod holder. Figured since I’m just starting out and I’m on a budget, I’d just build my own. $40 later and a few beers I have the finished product.


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Originally Posted by jphogfan21

Well she ain’t the prettiest girl at the dance, but I just built my own spider rig rod holder. Figured since I’m just starting out and I’m on a budget, I’d just build my own. $40 later and a few beers I have the finished product.

Just a word of caution : if you intend to pick your rods up out of the holders between the O & U of your brackets, when setting the hook, you might want to consider turning those bolts around or using shorter ones .... otherwise you're possibly going to have some skinned up knuckles.
I say that because I fished out of a friends boat, with rod holders of a similar design, and quickly learned that I'd either get my knuckles scratched on the bolt head in the cradle of the holder (if I picked the rod up there) or get my inner wrist poked if I reached over the U forks of the front of the holder. Both places were rubber coated, when new, but the coating had worn away or had been torn off from years of use ... leaving bare metal ends. That was one reason why I opted for Hi-Tek rod holders when I decided to purchase rod holders for my own boat ... and I even replaced the bolt that holds the holders onto the T-bar with knobs (and ran them from under the T-bar, rather than in the cradle of the holder, as shown in the picture below).