Pulling cranks in the pre spawn?

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Originally Posted by chaunc

Gonna be pullin some of them cranks MR Dux painted for me when I get there in late march. They worked good last fall.

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The way this weather is you might be dragging them on top the ice.

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Originally Posted by Crappiehabits

Any idea why they don't just let out more line to achieve 12 ft depths. I figured the sinker would be used to get deeper at slow speeds like less than 1mph. I'm totally new to pulling cranks but at 1.8mph I wouldn't think the sinker was needed?

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I'm totally new to pulling cranks, myself ... and I've only done it twice (in a friend's boat, using their equipment) ... so I have no idea why this setup/speed is used, other than it works (and those doing it this way are friends and probably pass the info along).

It might also come to a trade off between the weight and another 100ft of line out, in order to achieve the same depth. There's also the situation where you cannot stop moving forward when using weights (or it's not particularly a good idea) vs being able to stop when just using longer lines out (but, boat traffic can quickly nix that idea, too).

I think the high speed is maintained to create a reaction bite, as much as keep the bait at a specific depth. We've even caught Crappie no longer than 5" at those speeds & on a bait that has a body length half the size of those fish :Rofl

Give the gang on the KY state forum a hollar about how they rig for pulling/pushing cranks, and I'll bet you'll get several more/different setups and speeds to consider. Don't seem to be any "one size fits all" deal, when it comes to how to do it. Everyone seems to try different ways and settle for the ones that work most often for them.

... cp :kewl

I pull cranks year round. It's all good. Slow early spring and late fall cooking in the summer 1.8-2.4

Thanks guys!

This is my thinking and may not be the norm...I consider this technique to be more tightlining rather than longlining. In this colder weather, I am fishing the river channel where it's 18' to 25' deep. I locate them on my sonar using a combination of 2D, Down and Side imaging. Once I find them, I set the depth to their depth, which has been from 2' to 8' from the bottom. I can easily cover that much range using spider rigs with 1/2 oz and moving at 0.5 to 0.8 mph. The line will be slightly be pulled back with drag. I use 12# super braid as my main line.

The question was about pulling cranks so I was responding to how I used cranks in pre-spawn conditions. In addition, I also use jigs on the same rig and also double jig rigs. The bottom line is this...all the crappie I am finding are chasing bait in open water river channels mostly close to the break lines. Everyday is different and these fish do not stay in one place, like they do when they relocate into trees. Therefore, one must not think that any one technique is the cure-all. Keep an open mind every day and change until something works. Hopefully this helps.

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Originally Posted by TETF

This is my thinking and may not be the norm...I consider this technique to be more tightlining rather than longlining. In this colder weather, I am fishing the river channel where it's 18' to 25' deep. I locate them on my sonar using a combination of 2D, Down and Side imaging. Once I find them, I set the depth to their depth, which has been from 2' to 8' from the bottom. I can easily cover that much range using spider rigs with 1/2 oz and moving at 0.5 to 0.8 mph. The line will be slightly be pulled back with drag. I use 12# super braid as my main line.

The question was about pulling cranks so I was responding to how I used cranks in pre-spawn conditions. In addition, I also use jigs on the same rig and also double jig rigs. The bottom line is this...all the crappie I am finding are chasing bait in open water river channels mostly close to the break lines. Everyday is different and these fish do not stay in one place, like they do when they relocate into trees. Therefore, one must not think that any one technique is the cure-all. Keep an open mind every day and change until something works. Hopefully this helps.

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X2 well said buddy well said

Great information in your post, much much appreciated.