Help with pulling cranks!

Today was my first time trolling with cranks, it is a learning curve for sure lol. I have 2 20’, 2 16’, 2 12’, 2 8’ b’n’m pst rods 4 on each side starting with the shortest in the back going to longest at the front. Rod holders are the millennium spyder loc. Have them turned so the rods are 90’ with the gunnels. Running bandit 300’s today I had the 8’ rods running 120’ 12’ rods running 100’, 16’ rods running 80’ 20’ rods running 60. Using diawa 17 line counter reels.

Question 1. Let’s say you get grass ect on one of the rods and you can tell the crank isn’t acting right. How do you reel just that reel in to fix it and not get tangled with the lines closer to the boat?

Maybe I am doing it wrong, today I had my longest line closest to the boat so when I tried to reel in a line I would tangle on the longer lines closer to the boat. What if I put my longest line out of the longest poles toward the front of the boat and stagger the shorter lengths into the center of the boat. I think this would solve my tangle problems.





Question 2 let’s say you are trolling and all of a sudden one of the 16’ rods gets hung. What is the best procedure for getting all the rods in and the boat turned around with out having a mess?

Lastly any problems you first had when you started trolling cranks please let me know how you fixed them.

I do it just the reverse. Short close to boat and 10-20 feet longer on each rod out. If reeling in I hold rod in its trolling position and crank it in if just grass or stick. If you get a fish on, remove from holder point rod straight up and let fish pull to surface before reeling then take him to middle of boat and reel up to rear of boat to net.

If you hang up do not stop you will have a. Real mess you just hold the rod, put thumb on line and keep going. You will pull off or break off. You can slow down to a crawl and reel all cranks in but you may lose 30 min. Fishing time byOrange the time you get all your lines back out.

Ok thanks, I think I was doing it backwards lol. Yeah it takes a while to get them all out and back in and then out again after getting the plug unstuck. It’s a learning curve for sure! I think I’m gonna like it though.

Backwards to the way I run the longest lines, short in close to long outside. When I would hang I shut the motor off and starting with the short lines, crank like mad and set them back in the holder. Then turn around and go back the other direction in an effort to free the bait. A plug knocker will help retrieve some that are hung bad. Just the wat I used to do it.

I was having difficulty pulling four out each side too. My front racks are close to a 30-45 degree angle. I started pushing four out front and pulling two out front and then I bought another rack for the center rear deck to pull four more. Just getting rid of one rod on each side of the front made a big difference for me. Now I do 16.s and 12's up front and 14's from the rear center.

I pull 90 degrees out the side of the boat also. 8, 12, and 16' PSTs and a 6' Ugly Stik that is fished right under the boat. Typically running shorter leads on my inside rods and longer as I move to the 12' and 16' rods. Early on I would stop when hung and set the clicker and put the reel into free spool until I could get the other rods in. I no longer stop if I get hung because it causes more issues and tangles than it's worth most of the time. You'd be surprised how many lures that you get back with slow steady pressure-you may need to straighten or replace the bent treble. My favorite plug retriever is by Jewell Bait Company and is called the Hound Dog Lure Retriever if you decide to go that route.

Change your line to 40 pound braid. Same size as 10 pound mono and runs same depth and very rarely lose a lure. I was skeptical about it at first but I will not go back to monofilament.


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Thanks guys!! Today was much better! Caught my first two crappie on plugs. A 13’ and 14’ was really happy. Then I hooked a few white bass, and a channel cat. So you know what I’m eating tonight lol!! But to top it off I caught a 4lb large mouth on a awesome pink bandit 300 on a 16’ b’n’m PST rod. Talk about a fight!!! It made my day! Can’t wait to go again! I’m hooked lol!

Sounds like fun!

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