Trolling beginner and Black Crappie Question - Newbie

I'm new to the site and new to trolling for crappie. I'm just getting set up. I bought some line counter reels and some Arkie 350's and Bandit 300's with a few other 200's etc. I have a bay boat so I'm setting up my rods on Seasucker rod holders and in my boats rod holders. I've been watching videos, reading posts, and doing as much research as I can.

While researching,, I noticed one thing... I only see White Crappie in pictures and trolling videos, no Blacks. The lake that I have been fishing holds mostly Black Crappie. I fished there Sunday and could not get them to bite on my piles because of the heat so I tried pulling a few crankbaits for the first time. The lake had a lot of rain the night before and had changed from last week, I couldn't find the shad so I quit after a few pulls with no luck. I really didn't give it much of a go because I ran out of time and had to leave.

Am I wasting my time pulling baits for Black Crappie in this lake? Does anyone here catch Blacks trolling?

I don't troll but crappie are crappie IMO.

Maybe try smaller cranks (or jigs) for Black Crappie. And if the water temps are high, troll as close to the bottom as feasible (unless you have a thermocline, then troll right across the top edge of it).

You might also identify the LA lake you're fishing & you may get some tips from our LA members.

:welcome to Crappie.com & Luck2ya in all your :fish adventures.

I’m fishing Indian Creek in LA. It’s been good tight lining but has slowed down due to the temps etc. I thought I would try to target some fish in open water. I was seeing the thermocline with bait last week but Sunday it was just a bit different.

I’ll probably try again.

Thanks for the info, anything is helpful.


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Look for high concentrations bait balls and Crappie should be close behind. Also troll at 1.6-1.8 mph. Smaller cranks is one idea but it hasn’t mattered much to me. I generally troll about 1 ft above any schools I can see on my electronics. Hope this helps a little.

:welcome to the VERY BEST :fish site on the web!!

I usually catch both trolling but agree that most are white crappie.:twocents

It might help if you used poles not piles. HAHA

[emoji12] guess I should have said brush piles!


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I understood brush piles!!!! I did not figure you were using your hands. I figured you were catching them on a pole.