crankbait for crappie help

I guess I have read everything wrote here and most on the web about crankbaits. I have now tried it. Caught one good crappie a green carp and several white bass. I was using strike king/KVD series the XD ones that run 12-15ft in 30fow at 1.5 mph by GPS. Started out at 30ft of line then went to 40ft then to 50ft. How do I know how deep the cranks actually were? And how much line should I have out? And if I had 100ft out will will the cranks run deeper than 15ft. Any advice fish were suspended @ 15ft. and just felt like I never reached them.

http://www.crappie.com/crappie/attac...uick-20ref.jpg

Do a search for depth chart here on site. There will be bandit and arki charts found. The amount of line out on the chart will tell the depth the lure is approximately running. As you troll watch your poles when in shallow water as they start jumping and note the depth and line out. This will verify the charts. Some pole set ups will run a foot off one way or other from chart. There is an app called precision trolling that lists hundreds of crankbait charts. Good luck. Glad you are catching fish.

Pw1 must have been reading my mind as I was pecking out my response. Lol. :highfive

The above charts are for Bandit crankbaits. I would use them over the KVD baits that are really designed for green carp. Black, Pink, and Mad Cow are good colors to start with. I use 300 series. I am not a pro but these have worked for me, Callshy is the authority on crankbaits.

Thanks for all the help. Never thought about charts. And I kinda like charts. The KVD were on clearance about 3$ and figured these to be my learning cranks. I even zip tied a foot of pool noodle to the rods just in case. I kinda thought it was weird that local stores only sell bandit 100 and 200.

You can get Arkie 350s from Grizzly Jig......www.grizzlyjig.com.....slightly less than 4 bucks......On the depth charts to be accurate the length of line out is figured from where your line enters the water....so if chart calls for 60 ft. out and you let out 60 ft....then according to your set up you need to let out approx how many ft. it is from your rod tip to where your line enters the water.

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Originally Posted by G";3237658]You can get Arkie 350s from Grizzly Jig......[URL="http://www.grizzlyjig.com.....slightly

www.grizzlyjig.com.....slightly[/URL] less than 4 bucks......On the depth charts to be accurate the length of line out is figured from where your line enters the water....so if chart calls for 60 ft. out and you let out 60 ft....then according to your set up you need to let out approx how many ft. it is from your rod tip to where your line enters the water.

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What he said.

When finding charts, look for the ones that give you the speed differentials too! The faster you go, the deeper the baits will dig. I find that most of my trolling is between 1.8 and 2.2 and I adjust for the speed accordingly.