How often do you change?

I have been lured into the crappie fishing world for just a few years after mostly trout fishing for 50! I was just wondering from all you veteran slab hunters, how often do you change styles of fishing when they don't bite?
I have trolled cranks, long lined jigs, shot a few docks, and single poled both jigs and minnows. At my age, trolling is less work, but getting hung up is a bear and sometimes takes longer to produce.

My question is- How often during a single trip do you change to a different method when the bite is slow? For example- Do you keep grinding it out on brush piles, or change to dock shooting when they are timid? Do you give it a certain amount of time? Change depths or part of the lake? I know you need to fish where the fish are mostly concentrated, but how long do you give it before you change tactics?
I'm just looking to get the most productivity out of my trips. All methods I've tried have worked somewhat but like Kenny Rogers said-"you gotta know when to Hold'em, know when to Fold'em" Any suggestions. I fish mostly reservoirs with coves and average depths of 15-40 feet deep. Thanks for suggestions folks.

LIVESCOPE - if you want to maximize your time on the water and fish productive its the only way to go. You can instantly see the fish and their reactions. Quickly tell you where they are or aren't and if it's time to move on. :twocents

get good at one technique..have a go to..I might try one or two techniques in a trip, but will usually stick it out the whole time doing one thing

Livescope, let the fish tell you how to fish. Don

Before livescope. We used side scan to see if the fish and more importantly, the bait was down or up. If they were 15 feet or above, trolling works well. If they are down, we looked at brush piles and docks till we found fish. Your electronics can tell you where and how to fish. Still use sidescan to find them and livescope tells if they are active.

I change constantly, until I ketch consistently, no one presentation is the ticket with these fish.
Want it passing by them , want it falling to them , want it rising away from them , want it dead still , want it dancing , the list is almost endless when it requires combinations of some of the previous presentations.
What was pure fire even minutes ago won’t get a peck minutes later , they are spooks and they can be super stubborn and or vaporize right before your eyes .
Not sure if any other fish species is as challenging, have ketched lots of fish species and none were in the league of crappie when it comes to the little tiny things that don’t matter with other fish .
My 2 cents if you please

I keep several rods on the deck with different sizes and colors. That way I can change by grabbing another rod

:hesaid Yes this is almost a requirement as it can help pick up an extra bite or two sometimes.

I use to do all the long lining and spider rig trolling and single pole but with the invention of LS with the other electronics capabilities find the fish and have several rods rigged up to find what jig and presentations they want.


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