Thread: Long Lining for crappie

Long line fishing is a great way to catch crappie. I have done it for years now.
I would suggest at least 10' poles for the guy in the front of the boat and shorter poles for the guy in the back.
You need to find out what works best everytime out when your trying to figure out how far out you need to be.
Also boat speed is very very important. Sometimes 1.2 mph works and other times it's .5 mph so that to is a day to day and sometimes hour to hour thing.
I like to run 1/16 ounce road runners with a southern pro twister and once again color is something that changes all the time. Tip it with a minnow, bee moth or crappie nibbles and your good to go. Also you can run two jigs at a time on one line.
Most important thing is don't stop the trolling motor everytime you hook a fish. This will cause the jigs to fall and probably snag. Also when your going thru the school you want to maintain the same speed so your other pole or partner can catch a fish.
Hope this helps and good luck out there..

Use the search to find previous posts on this subject. A lot of trial and error. As a newbie, don't cast further than 20-25 feet back of the boat. If there is brush on the bottom, you will have fun getting your jig lose or replacing it when it breaks off. If you have high speed for your internet, you might watch the following:

Watch Midwest Crappie TV Show | Fishing Videos - MyOutdoorTV.com

You can watch all the shows.

Have a great spring and catch a bunch.

Chuck

Welcome to Crappie.Com Eric
As you've already found out, it's a great source of information.

welcome aboard Eric.

Welcome Eric. Long lining and spider rigging is definatly a learning process. Many different applications and techniques. We run duel rod holder T-bars on the bow, one on port and one on starboard. Straight out each side of the boat we run a 14ft rod, a 10ft rod, and a 6ft rod. That gives us 4 feet of seperation between each of the trailing fishing lines that are 30 - 40 feet long. Then you get into jig running depth which can be decided by a number of different variables, jig weight, tandom or single jigs, boat speed, line dia., length of line from rod to jig. As a reference, 6lb mono line, 30ft out, with 1 1/16oz. jig, boat running speed at .7 mph, your jig will be running about 6 to 8ft deep. I believe this is the most common practice, especially the 6lb mono. But again, there's no set how to rules and many many ppl use thier own techniques. There is actually a chart on this website someone has devised to determine jig running depth if you'd like to dig that up. Hope any of this helps & always feel free to ask, good luck this year & see ya on the water!

Thanks for the help. Not used to a forum were you get a reply the same day. Let alone 5. lol You guys are great. watched the videos and that. What do you think is better spider or long line?

I like spider rigging when the weather & fish conditions are just right, and also for the use of live bait. I like to SR when fishing super deep, or super shallow (5 FOW or less), when the fish are in a negative mood and live bait has to be used and also when the wind is really blowing. I just hate LL in heavy wind, trying to precisely control the boat speed and direction with the wind blowing is a pain in the rear. That being said, I feel LL is more versatile, can be used more often, speed can be slowed to .6 to .7 (almost like SR) or up to .9 or 1mph, LL also cover much more area of water alot faster than SR. When SR I try and stay around .5 mph. Keep in mind these are just my opinions and am sure others feel differently.
When SR I run a tandem rig with a stand out hook on the top of the main line (live minnow) down about 12in to a Carolina Mojo 3/4 or 1oz. sinker, down another 12in or so to a 1/16oz. tube jig tipped with a crappie nibble or live minnow. When LL we run Kalins curly tail grub bodies or Bobby Garland Stroll'r bodies with a nibble or scent attractant.

Originally Posted by eric3338

Thanks for the help. Not used to a forum were you get a reply the same day. Let alone 5. lol You guys are great. watched the videos and that. What do you think is better spider or long line?

Like I said earlier I have LL fished for years and I also SR fish as well. I do prefer to Spider Rig over LL just because you can control your approach a lot better. Also when it comes time to turn the boat around there is no need to reel in.
You can SR from 3' to over 30' deep so it's more versital as well. Just be ready to spend the money it takes to get set up for it. Please do your self a favor and buy good rod holders they will last forever. I would suggest cumberlandcrappie.com for the best rod holder on the market.
You start Spider rigging and you won't want to fish any other way.....