Quote Originally Posted by CrappiePro View Post
Speed, weight, and depth are the main factors. Get these right and you will catch fish on most anything. I use 1/4-1oz weights mainly depending on wind and depth.

I have what I call my Go to speed and that is CREEPING. Guys nothing in nature maintains a constant speed in the water. SO it stands to reason your best bet at producing a natural presentation

Is creeping along...bumping your trolling motor 10-20 feet and stopping for a bit letting my baits rest. Then bumping my trolling motor again. Some times with erratic turns to the left or right to give my baits a natural looking movement in the water.

If I see that I am getting more bites when bumping the trolling motor ill keep moving till I dial in the speed too what they want.

If I see I am getting more bites when the baits are still. I slow to a crawl. Most of my bites come as my baits come to a rest or as I start another bump on the trolling motor. If wind will allow... this is my most productive method of catching fish when spider rigging.


If you are new to spider rigging this is the way to start learning. And I will bet that CREEPING will become your Favorite speed too. Tight Lines.
I am about as new as it gets when it comes to Crappie & bass fishing . I just got my aluminum boat and have never tried Spider Rigging before. The fishing I did in the past was mostly salt water or blue water lakes and rivers out west. I moved to TN back in 2008 and got into Kayaking. Then in 2010 I took a job in Colorado and just returned to TN. I can see I have lots to learn as this is a completely different type of fishing from Albacore, Halibut, Salmon, Steelhead, trout and sturgeon.

I am in the process of setting the boat up and Crappie is one of the species I will be targeting. I am still debating if spider rigging will be a method I use but I do thank you for the information you provided. Your post included some of the details a beginner needs to know and was the most informative. Now I will go look to see if that 101 thread was ever started.