Troll a bait at 15 ft.

I wont be back in the boat until springtime but I'm already thinking about fishing. One strip mine I fish is 60 ft deep, pretty clear water, very steep drop along the edges and very little vegetation plus almost no wood. I sometimes locate very large schools of crappie suspended near the thermocline, about 15 feet, over deep water. These schools can be hard to anchor above because they seem to often disappear between the time I drop anchor and get a bait in the water. Not always though. When I succeed in anchoring over the school I catch as many crappie as I could want but usually small, hard to pull one out thats 10 inches. There are nice size fish in the strip mine because around the spawn I catch a limit of 11 inch to 13 inch crappie. Any suggestions how to troll a jig and minnow or just a minnow at 15 ft while looking for the suspended schools? I want to feel pretty comfortable that I'm keeping the bait at the right depth.

Jack

Sounds like you're talking Spider Rigging or Pushing. Kinda sounds like your anchoring process is spooking the school away from their spot. If you're not rigged up with long rods & rod holders, then Long Line Trolling sounds like your best option. You "could" use one rod in each hand and troll, but getting and keeping a jig or jig/minnow down close to 15ft deep will likely require some added weight.

I used to Push jigs in my pre-Livescope days ... and I'd use 1oz weights @ ~1mph. In order to keep those jigs at or just above 15ft deep, I'd have close to 25ft of line out and try and keep my lines close to a 45deg angle. Otherwise, once I found a school, I'd just back off of them and cast (either with the countdown method or cast well past them and slow roll the jig).

VERY SLOWLY , i did that a time or 2 in the past with multiple rods and wandering suspended fish , not my style but it beats getting skunked when thats where they are are .

Try doing a search for "Hang Gliding for Shenango Lake Crappie". It might give you some good ideas.

Thanks for posting about Hang Gliding. I enjoyed watching it, and I learned quite a bit. I've never used a split shot above my jig before, but when researching Livescope, I notice that most of the guys do. They say for two reasons- 1. to get it down where they want it, while maintaining the size jig they want, and 2. it shows up on the scope better.

My next trip, I'll be trying it for the first time. In my lake, the fish tend to hang 15-30' down, and I get tired of waiting for the jig to drop. When I upsize my heads, I don't catch as well, so this might be the rather obvious solution I needed. Thanks again.

Crankbaits on planerboards would be my got to option.

I have spot lock and "anchor" up 20-30' off to one side or the other. Then pitch a slip bobber set to 13' depth. Keep the bait above them. I also like to drift over them. Spider Rigging also works, but requires lots of special gear.