I literally spent years jigfishing with one pole, and when plastic crappie jigs first began to seriously come on the scene, spent many-a-day fishing with only a small box of a few basic colors of jig bodies and some leadheads, along with a trusty 8 ft fly rod for a pole (cause there weren't any of the fancy jig poles on the market then) in my boat. What's more, I introduced jig-fishing for crappie to more folks than I can count. But then...the crappie tournaments came along and a friend of mine and I formed a team and began to fish the tournament trail. Right away many of the serious tournament teams began to realize that it was going to take unique styles and methods to consistently win tournaments and provide that edge that everyone was looking for. Spiderrigging was not a "new" concept; many of us had used it in various ways over the years, but tournament teams----like Ronnie Capps and Steve Coleman (two of the best) refined it and soon established it as the most productive and useful fishing method for consistently catching big fish on any given lake. My team member had spiderrigged for years, spending much of his time learning how on the tree-filled waters of Reelfoot Lake, so like most of the tournament teams, we, too, began to use the method as our primary style of fishing. And it was over those years and many tournaments that I began to really understand.....SPIDER-RIGGING IS AN ART FORM!

Many folks think spiderfishing means simply throwing out a variety of poles and rigs and just drifting along hoping something bites. But I will tell you that serious spiderrigging is a technique of matching equipment, baits and presentation to each fishing opportunity. Real spiderrigging is also about serious boat control. The best fishermen I know using this technique are also some of the best at running a trolling motor that you'll ever find. In all the ways of crappie fishing that I have tried....and believe me, I've tried them all and maybe even made up a few...nothing to me is quite as challenging and fun as running a set of trolling rods when the crappie are really biting. I love crappie fishing in all styles and methods, but given a preference, I'll choose spiderrigging every time.