Wasting my Time

As some here know the wife and I just started pullin cranks in mid july. Thanks to this forum and the good people here we were catching limits by mid july- late september.

My thoughts are half what hotrod said, half what rees said. The beauty of trollin 1.5-2.3 mph is you cover ground. We learned that if we got doubles or triples I would check the fow and a couple points on land for a return trip. No gps. When we zero-ed in on these fish is when we started doing better.

We fish Sardis and have learned a few honey holes. If lez point troll don't put fish in the boat we angle over and troll to clear creek. Heck sometimes the best fishing is between the honey holes. I don't pretend to know much, just what worked for us.

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Originally Posted by Rees Guide

I disagree hotrod, I troll back over the same fish time and time again pulling cranks, some days 1 or 2 spots produce the fish. To each their own but when I catch 2 in the same spit it gets a mark and another look, you can count on that.

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Im no expert,but if im catchin fish I stay. I will fish a 3/4 mile stretch all day if every pass produces at least 2 fish. I usually record the track and just sit back and reel.

I don't understand why I don't get them early. I have tried everything. Darker colors before the sun is up good, shallower runners, ect. Catch them fine when the shad come up. KS-10

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Originally Posted by knightshadow10

I don't understand why I don't get them early. I have tried everything. Darker colors before the sun is up good, shallower runners, ect. Catch them fine when the shad come up. KS-10

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I start with a 300 and finish with one. Start out with same family of baits. Start picking them up pretty quickly.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rees Guide

I disagree hotrod, I troll back over the same fish time and time again pulling cranks, some days 1 or 2 spots produce the fish. To each their own but when I catch 2 in the same spit it gets a mark and another look, you can count on that.

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I totally agree with Rees. Caught many limits this summer using that method. I'd often find my fish in the same spots for up to four weeks this past summer before they'd move or get thinned out. Caught as many as 15 crappie in a single day from a relatively small spot.

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Originally Posted by knightshadow10

I don't understand why I don't get them early. I have tried everything. Darker colors before the sun is up good, shallower runners, ect. Catch them fine when the shad come up. KS-10

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We've had limits in the boat by 8:30 - 9:00 this past summer. Usually start out running cranks shallower and slower. As sun gets up we usually go deeper, speed up or change colors (or all of the above some days). Our golden rule is don't leave fish to go looking for fish....we keep going back through same areas that are holding fish until the bite quits. I usually stagger my depths....45 to 80 feet of line starting out and deepen up as sun gets higher in sky.

I fish where the fish are whether it's over here or over there. I troll around where they are and catch them. My point was that its hard to make the same run over the same school unless there's trees trot lines or bouys to use as markers. You can GPS waypoints on every catch and go that route of course. But in open water and no GPS or visual objects above water. Then forget about it. I use the ping pong method and catch a few in between.

When the crank pullin was hot early we caught 30 in an hour and a half started at daylight and were off the lake before 8 o clock. All were caught on dark baits and in a very small area. We just kept turning and going back thru the same spots it was also a very cloudy and dark day. The main thing I do is watch my sonar and let it tell me how deep the fish are and I will set my poles out a couple of feet above them and a couple of feet below them then figure which depth is working right and it is on

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Originally Posted by Slabo

When the crank pullin was hot early we caught 30 in an hour and a half started at daylight and were off the lake before 8 o clock. All were caught on dark baits and in a very small area. We just kept turning and going back thru the same spots it was also a very cloudy and dark day. The main thing I do is watch my sonar and let it tell me how deep the fish are and I will set my poles out a couple of feet above them and a couple of feet below them then figure which depth is working right and it is on

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:hesaid

Yep