Been there, did that, got the T-shirt. I ran a pair of manual Cannons with 10 pound cannonballs like would be used to fish for salmon or stripers. I pulled cranks, grubs, kitchen sink and was more than disappointed with all of it. If you are fishing a lake like Lanier, Cumberland, etc--deep water with constant depth you might catch some fish. I was running the secondary and main channels in KY Lake and there is no constant depth and I was continuously having to adjust the weights. I also think the typical action rod used for downrigging is going to be much too heavy for crappie.

I can honestly say I gave the technique more than a fair trial period and other than some white bass, came back fishless. I found it to be not worth my time. Others may be tickled doing it. I just think there are much less complicated ways to get a bait down to crappie.

I will say something else: beginners in the crankbait game pay way too much attention to trying to get a bait, deep-deeper-deepest. Some of my best catches on KY Lake in recent years have been in channels or flats that are 25 feet deep with baits that will max out at 10 feet or running C55s or 300s with 40-50 feet of line out. I find the baitballs and run my baits in the top 1/3 of the depth they are at. No bait, no crappie. You have to be where they are. Your electronics are your friend.