Sinking boats? by Brad

Okay, this is crazy. Crappie anglers have gone to sinking boats. While it seems a little crazy there is sound reasoning behind the technique.


First let’s start with sinking boats. Maybe, I should rephrase the sentence. Crappie angler fishing forward facing sonar are weighting their boats with water to slow down how fast they are moving by adding additional weight to the boat; in addition to lowering the profile to keep the boat from being pushed around by the wind.


Arriving at their first fishing spot for the National Crappie League Championship on Sardis Lake in Mississippi the team of Spencer and Holly Robertson prepare the boat before the official time to start fishing begins. Both Robertson’s are busy relocating rods and getting them ready to fish along with preparing the livewell with chemicals to keep their crappie alive along with putting brakes down on the transom of the boat. They also grab a large diameter hose with a pump connected to it and begin filling their boat with water. Yes, on purpose!


“We’ll pump in about 650 pounds of water into the boat,” Spencer continued, “It helps keep the boat from moving too fast or getting pushed around by the waves.” Robertson’s have lived adjacent to Sardis Lake for years and much like Grenada Lake in Mississippi it can quickly turn in to a dangerous body of water with relentless wave action. The wind doesn’t help if you are trying to catch a crappie that’s roaming or next to a stump or standing timber.


The water is just pumped into the hull area of their boat. Seems counter intuitive to actually be trying to sink your boat right? However having a heavier fiberglass boat that sits lower in the water has been the trend since forward facing sonar has dominated the tournament trails. It’s all about boat control and hull slap.


Hull slap is the waves hitting your boat making a noise that will scare a crappie. It’s hard to sneak up on a crappie in open water when they know you are coming up to cast or pitch on them.


It’s interesting to note that the Robertson’s aren’t the only ones getting into pumping water into their boat. I have been in other boats where the anglers have filled bags in order to add water weight slowing the boat down. These boat ballast bags come in several sizes from 50 pounds up to 800 pounds and in several different sizes and shapes to fit under the deck of the boat. Prices depend on the size, shape and construction of the ballast bag. Normally a single bag might cost from $129 up to $450 or more for a ballast bag designed to hold 800 pounds.


Filling boat ballast bags in the hull area seems to be the logical way to adding weight to a boat. There are too many inherent issues when just filling the hull of a boat beginning with flooding or getting batteries wet. Most batteries are not designed for wet environments and will stop working. The list goes on, but it’s safe to say bags keeping water stored are the best option when adding weight to a boat.


Just to what extreme will you go to catch a crappie? Adding water weight to a boat seems pushing it to the limit, but there are anglers doing it.