Patoka - First time pulling crankbaits

Well I put in today at the Painters Creek Ramp with my dad for our first attempt at pulling crankbaits, but we didn't have much luck with the crappie. At Painter's Creek, the water I was in most of the time was between 24-30' FOW. I found some areas where I was in 15-20' FOW and seemed to have better luck. I did catch 1 large-mouth bass, 9 small yellow bass, and 2 small crappie. I was long-lining 4 poles and pushing 2 with a 3 oz weight. I used Bandit 300s on the long-lines and Arkie Crankbaits on the pushing. 8 of the yellow bass were caught on the same arkie crankbait that I was pushing between 8'-10' throughout the day. I fished from 8' to 15' throughout the day, but I just wasn't able to find crappie. I was basing my depth on the depth of baitfish/fish I was seeing in that particular area.

Questions:
Is there a certain depth I should try to stay around or just avoid?
Should I fish open water or do you need to be fishing areas with structure below the crankbaits? I didn't see much under the water in the area I fished. I did try two of the small covers with standing timber, but no luck.

If anyone would be willing to take me out to show me more of the ropes to pulling crankbaits and what to look for, I would greatly appreciate it. I can help out with gas. I live in an area within about an hour's drive of Patoka, Monroe, and Lemon.


Attachment 166923Attachment 166924

I fished Saturday out of Painters Creek and long lined trolled but ended up pushing tube jigs. I didn't do well at all, fish about 6 hours and caught the typical small crappie. I think Patoka is full if these small fish.... or at least that is what I catch most of the time, LOL. Attachment 166980Attachment 166981 I use my graphs to locate fish and fish above them but I not an expert at trolling...

2 yrs ago,,trolling bandits, I took maybe a half dozen limits of 11 to 13 inch crappies out of Painter, Lick Fork above Walls, Little Patoka, not to mention every time I fished would cull a dozen then throw back the rest for a later day of fishing. Last yr, I trolled Patoka only a half dozen times in the spring due to work schedule, and never caught a limit ever and all were 10-12 inch fish with nothing over 12 and Painter was my fav. place to troll bandits. This year,,,trolled Painter 3 times didn't catch a crappie above 9" ever and just gave up on Painter and fished the timber above Osborne for a few keepers each time. Don't know what is going on this year with Patoka, but the CrappieUSA tourney results was very dismal in my opinion for their weigh in during the first week of June this year. Can't figure it out myself,,but not catching the 100's of small crappies either like I have in the past either each time I fish. The numbers aren't there like in the past so I am thinking we might have a couple of bad years of spawn, vs, the past fishing pressures, caused by high water in the spring rains. Just a guess on my part, but there is definitely a problem with all the cover in that lake and amount of water to fish and lack of good catches. Maybe someone else can chime in their opinion as I would love to hear it. I don't expect to limit out each time out..but getting a mess of 10 or so keeper fish for me and the wife to eat out of Patoka this year has been hard as I don't clean or keep little fish.

Cranks are just different. I have pulled them on quite a few different lakes, not including Patoka. I look to cranks when I feel like I need to cover a lot of water and/or target big, open water fish. There's only a couple lakes in the state that I even consider pulling on, and they can change from year to year. I have never pulled on Patoka, mainly because there's just too much cover to fish....and I love to fish cover. I've pulled on Monroe for many hours, and have only caught a handful of keepers. I'm not familiar enough with Lemon, but I sent a PM regarding a couple of lakes that would be worth your drive if you really want to catch fish using this method. Good luck!

try a tiny trap or similiar rattle bait next time. i found them to out produce other lures at times, when i used to troll. would catch gills craps bass n pike on them. i think it was the noisy more than the baits themselves.

i would try two traps in front on those 3oz weights. then the bandits, or other cranks in the back. draw them in with the rattles then catch the ones that dont hit the rattles on the cranks. just thinking about it kinda gets me in the mood to troll. lol summer time is the right time for trolling.

Thanks for all the advice and PMs.

River: I will definitely give that a try. Also any suggestions on jigs/plastics that are worth getting. I see a lot of posts about various types so I'm sure all catch fish, but I see Lake Fork Baby Shad, BG Baby Shad, Southern Pro tubes, BG Stoll'R, Kalin grubs, etc.