First time pulling cranks

I pulled cranks for the first time Wednesday. I decided to try this mainly because the crappie left the creeks early on Secession this year and suspended in 25 to 35 FOW at 12 to 17 feet. I felt longlining wasn't getting down to them. Plus I just wanted to try something new. I read the cranking sticky on the Mississippi forum twice so I felt I had a rookie's grasp of the method.

I got on the water around 6:30 and went to the north side of the bridge (I've had most of my success longlining there) where 2 creeks run 14 to 16 feet deep and empty into a 20 foot basin- I marked some bait schools but caught nothing. Turns out I wasted too much time there. Headed south of the bridge into deeper water where I marked fish 12 to 15 feet deep. I initially ran my 4 poles 12, 10, 9 and 8 feet deep to let the fish look up. Caught a few bass and crappie right off the bat on the 12 and 10 foot rods. As I continued down channel the water deepened as did the fish. Dropped my depth to 14, 13, 12 and 11 feet and started having a blast. Twice I had 2 on at a time. I lost several really nice ones - a paper mouth being reeled while moving at 1.5 mph rips lips pretty easily. I turned my drag settings way down which makes for a long fight.

Then my TM batteries died. Moving 1.5 to 1.7 mph into the wind will really draw them down. Left the TM down and turned it 90 degrees for drag then switched to my motor but couldn't get below 2.0 mph. Only caught 2 more that way. So I called it a day, cruised the lake a while and headed home.

Overall I liked this method. I'd read you'll catch fewer fish but they'll be bigger - this is true. I was concerned about black crappie being reluctant to hit cranks but that's the only ones I caught - maybe there aren't any whites in Secession. I was also concerned about all the cover in Secession - didn't hang up once. In my two hours south of the bridge with the TM I caught 6 nice bass, 5 crappie and a large cat.

There is one thing however that really turned me off. I mainly catch and release and treble hooks are brutal on fish. I gill hooked one bass that I know couldn't survive and several fish deeply hooked their bodies flopping in the net. This alone has me rethinking this method. If I decide to not go this route, I'll rig the rods and reels to catfish; or, if I decide to drill more holes in my boat, the line counter reels will be great for tight lining.

Any advise (especially about the treble hooks) or thoughts would be appreciated.

Congrats on a successful plunge into cranking. Once started you either can or can't live without it. Personally, I can't. On your battery issue. If you can invest the funds, use group 31 batteries. I use Trojan batteries but they do hit the wallet hard. To extend additional time on the water you can install a second set of batteries using an additional wiring and female trolling motor plug. This allows you to unplug the set that are winding down and plug in a fresh bank of batteries. This is what I did and enjoy having two banks.

Other options involve utilizing windsocks or five gallon buckets, drilled with holes, to slow the big motor down. Others do use a type of trolling plate on their big motor. Some here actually troll backward with big motor to slow down speed. However, I have enough challenges going forward to attempt walking backwards. Lol.

Finally, on your concerns about the trebles on the cranks. You can file/cut the barbs or change out the hooks to barbless. You could also just remove one set. Hope this helps and you decide to continue cranking cause it's a hoot.

Good start to cranking. Secession is one lake I have never pulled cranks on, no real reason I haven't but enjoy spider rigging it or longlining this lake. I have never caught a white crappie out of Secession but that doesn't mean they are not in the lake. If you enjoyed pulling cranks you really would enjoy pulling them on Russell, not a lot of crappie will be caught but those stopped bass will kill the cranks :)
As for the hooks try changing the back hook to a regular size 2 hook as most hookups will be on the back hook. Batteries life time pulling cranks isn't long, I get about 4 hours or less and don't have the room for more batteries. Already have two hooked together for trolling but 1 1/2 to 2 mph will drain them quickly.

Good job on pulling the cranks. I have never pulled them either but it looks like you got it down pat. Thanks for sharing

Good job r r i just started to push and pull them last year. That's the way I fish when the weather starts to get warm. But I don't run that fast I normally go bout 0.5-0.7.


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What brand are you pulling?
I'm heading to the Mississippi page


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Brettw i use the itsy bitsy minnows and regular ones like you bass fish with. But one thing I do is i run a 2oz trolling weight with bout a 2' leader on a 12' crappie max rod. That way I can get the bait down where you need it and keep it there. If you are going to be at the perch jerk I'll show you


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Originally Posted by brettw

What brand are you pulling?
I'm heading to the Mississippi page


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I'm pulling #300 Bandits - seems to be the go to lure. You can get them down to 17 feet. The Mississippi sticky has the depth data for them and just about everything you need to know about pulling cranks. I also found this to be very helpful Crankbaits for Crappie* I have been asked by some of my good friends here on Crappie