Thread: Article: Longlining for Crappie – The Right Equipment By Bernard Williams

Great information! Thanks for posting!

Enjoyed the article. What I find interesting is the application of commercial electronics for recreational fishing, and the evolution of same. I first started fishing for crappie in 1945 on Cold Water Creek outside of St. Louis Missouri. Dad tied me to a tree with a shot of clothes line, a tobacco can of worms, and a 6 foot cane pole with a 7 foot shot of line and a bobber. I managed to catch fish, some of which were crappie. The last crappie I caught was in 1962 in Lumberton N.C. This winter I found out the pond near my house has Black Crappie, and once the water gets above 50 deg. I will try to catch some. The ice left just over two weeks ago.
As a commercial fisherman, I fished on Georges Bank, Grand Bank, The Flemish Cap, and here in the Gulf of Maine--so using side scan sonar, chart plotters, radar, bottom sounding machines, auto-pilot, are something I am familiar with. I understand the sticker shock when said items are observed for purchase. I believe I read somewhere above that all of the items do not need to be purchased at the same time, that it can be a time investment. I will use myself, and what I had to do to acquire my Westmar 370 Side Scan Sonar. The purchase price at the time I bought the unit was $5300.00, that did not count the installation, or the monitor screen-I used a JVC monitor, same as used on a Cobra gun ship, it was electronically shrouded and would not interfere with the loran units in the wheel house. In the month of July I started working on tuna fish about 85 miles offshore. I made ten day trips, by myself and two Chessies. The Wendy and Jason was 52 feet by 14 feet, and was powered by a 6-71 diesel. My second trip of the year I caught three fish at the same time. Two I put out on bouys, and played the third one by hand while the other two worked against large pollyballs. Not quite ten hours later I had all three fish in the boat. The largest dressed 1100 pounds, and I was paid $18.00 a pound for it. That fish earned $19800.00, and the other two earned just over $15000.00. That bought my sonar, screen, a new Fruno Rastascan radar, and covered the yard bill. I invested time, effort, and being away from my wife for that. Can that be done crappie fishing,-- well, if you catch a crappie that dresses out at 1100 pounds chances are a new bass boat is in the picture. Many, perhaps not all, can work overtime, second part time job, or have a garage sale to generate the extra cash needed to acquire the extra for fishing. Get creative, I learned to weld, burn, and braze metal to build and repair the things I needed on the boat. When the 3 1/2 inch magnum shotguns first came out I wanted one. At the time I was working as a deputy sheriff, I signed up for extra shifts to earn the money to buy one.
Today I fish for trout and salmon in deep water lakes. I use a led fish finder that has a transducer that I stick to the transom with a suction cup. It has an internal 12v. rechargeable battery. All I use it for is to locate structure, and the thermo cline where the fish lay in warm weather in August. What to use for lures, and how to fish them only came with time.
The electronics are great, they can enhance the amount of fish that are caught, but knowing the basics are as equally important.
To me it is amazing the size of the devices that are available to be used by recreational fishermen, when compared to what I worked with years ago, but don't use not having them as a crutch to not catching fish, any type of fish. While I am no where near as experienced at catching crappie as I'm sure all of you are, I have caught fish for almost 73 years.
herrinchoker