Thread: Pulling cranks

I’ve been spider rigging a long time, but after a few years of reading this site, the urge to catch summertime crappie became unbearable. I joined the site, bought an assortment of picos, bandit 2’s & 3’s, xd3’s, and over the last few weeks I have become a crankbait puller. During a testing phase I spent several hours on Malone with really good success (surprisingly). I felt like my rig was ready, so yesterday I headed to Barkley, oh by the way there’s a giant bass boy tournament at little river, so I had to regroup right out of the gate. I finished the day with plenty action, 5 keeper crappie, 4 whitebass, and 7 nice cats.( a few gar, drum, and yellows mixed in). It was awesome, but I really never found a pattern or never really had a clue what I was doing. I just got on the edge of the channel and kept her bout 1.8, lines 60-80 ft out(no counters). I will soon be booking a crankbait trip. But I’m asking now is this standard practice. Or should I be looking for deeper flats or something else... thanks.

You can do two things. Start shallow and work out deep or start deep and work shallow. Notice the depth you are marking fish and especially the depth you are catching fish. Once you determine that then target these depths. Remember you may have to cover a lot of water to determine these depth/catching ratios. You are off to a good start.

There are are two schools of thought. Both have merit. Some feel line counters aren’t needed, some feel they are. Some feel line counters need to be calibrated and some do not. If you are a guide with new clients daily and having regular tangles requiring constant line cutting, the time spent constantly recalibrating reels isn’t worth it. If not then some believe it’s important. For me, I keep my reels calibrated.

its worth the money invested in a guide that focuses on crankbait fishing. They are several here on the lakes. My bias option because he knows his stuff and I think of him as a brother, is Doug Wynn, aka Mrdux. However, their are others that are very capable. If you lived close to me I would be glad to show you my rig and equipment. Good luck and get use to working around bass guys.

Thanks, I marked a ton of fish yesterday, some were carp, but some were crappie too.

I started out without rod holders. Holding 3 rods with different baits. Learned how to use the electronics and now fish 5 lines. No line counters. You got it goin on.


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Your off to a good start....go with somebody like mrdux now and take notice of everything....then copy that and spend time on the water.

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I have to agree you are doing great but a guy like mrdux can show you so much and really speed up the learning curve

Thanks guys

Like CRP4570, I am very biased, but you stand to learn more from Doug in one day than you will figure out by yourself in many days. You will confirm yes, I'm doing this right, or no, I need to change that. It will boost your confidence as well which is always a plus.

Went back yesterday, got a nice mixed bag including a 21” sauger. Can I get some help on how to post pics?

Originally Posted by BULLYETI

Went back yesterday, got a nice mixed bag including a 21” sauger. Can I get some help on how to post pics?

Congrats. You are definitely headed in the right direction