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Hello everyone I thought I'd ask this question here since it seems most crankin is done in MS. I fish a deep clear COE lake on the GA / SC line. I've been wanting to try my luck pulling cranks but I had an older guy at the bait shop tell me I'd be wasting my time because our lake has mostly black crappie and he said they mostly stay in the brush. I'm trying to get opinions or advice on this. I sure was looking forward to collecting Bandit's. Thanks
In my opinion cranking works better in lakes that have white crappie. The whites seem to spend their summers suspended in open water whereas the blacks like to be near cover and in the shade. We do catch a speck every now and then cranking but its mainly whites.
Mark, I have caught two hundred and fifty crappie in my two trips to Mississippi and only was a black crappie! G nailed the nail on the head with his explanation.
I fish a lake from time to time that has a lot of black crappy in it, not so many whites and its tuff crankin.
My advise is that you find a lake close that has a good many whites in it to learn the technique and then fish the lake you speak of. Starting on a tuff lake is very discouraging and makes learning very hard too.
My home lake is gin clear with far more black crappie than white ones. (But when you do catch a white one, it is a HOSS.)
The specks do like to stay in cover most of the day. The exception is on cloudy days. On these days the fish will usually be relating to the cover, but they will not hold tight to it.
Also, from an hour before daylight to an hour after duse I can catch them like white crappie because they roam the open water. The lake I speak of is so clear by this time of year that greater than 50% of the fish I catch over 12" have the stripe running down the nose ( they are not magnolia crappie, btw). In my opinion, it's not so much that black crappie in my local lake are stuck on brush by preference, but by necessity from the blinding sun preventing them from feeding.
Another thing that helps is using more shallow running 200 series (or equivalent) cranks so the bait is farther behind the boat- giving more time for the fish to settle down. Another thing you'd be better off doing: tie on a 20 ft leader of 6 lb flouro. It's the difference-maker for me.
If you feel confident in your knowledge of any particular brush pile that is holding fish, and it's max height in the water column, then you can pull over the top of it before the sun gets too high and hammer them.
Don't be discouraged- specks will hit a crank, given the correct conditions.
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Originally Posted by SlaterSlinger
Good info
Caught several hundred whites in Enid this summer. First black yesterday.
Thanks for the help guy , a lot of good info I may still give it a try.
They catch lots of specks and some HUGE ones long lining and trolling at Crescent Lake Florida and other places south and east. They show catching them in open water there on the Crappie Masters shows and other TV shows. Don't guess we have near as many here tho.