Speed was the secret today

Went to Logan Martin and got a limit of 30. Today my trolling speed was key. When going .6 to .8 mph I was catching them pretty steady. Don't know if they wanted that for presentation or was a depth thing. I'm guessing depth but not sure. If i trolled faster didn't get a thing, plus the bite was real weak. You pretty much had to grab the rod fast when you saw a hit or you missed them. Normally long lining they pretty much are caught once they bite, but today you had to set the hook a little. Almost every keeper fish today was exactly 11", which is great by me. The perfect eating size. Fished from 6:30 to 1:30 but about an hour or so of that was spent playing with stripers. Seagulls were dive bombing so I yanked in the rods started the big motor up ran over there and trolled with my crappie rods thru them for awhile was a blast. Keep two for dinner and they are in the oven now.
Best color 1/16 oz red head and black/chartreuse body. Depth was 10 to 15 feet and water temp was 46. 3 turbines were running.

Nice catch. I haven't fished Logan Martin but after seeing some of your post I may have to start.

Good report. Man you've been tearing them up. Giving me the fever

Nice catch good job!!

May I ask what lb test you are using? I tried long lining after your first post and drug 1/16th jigs through what looked like endless clouds of baitfish over three hours and never got a whiff. Also, may I ask how much line you put out? My set-up is basically like yours with various length rods (16', 12', & 8') on either side of the front of the boat.

Best regards,

WOW.....Great catch....now I got the itch to go! But with all that delicious Crappie, why did you settle for Stripe for dinner? Lol...:biggrin

I let out about 40 feet of line. Good hard cast back and then I pull the rod forward a few times before setting the bail. I use 6lb test. If you don't catch anything after two or three runs you need to move on to somewhere else. You will not always have to see shad. Last two times I've been I was seeing hardly any shad. This time of year just try 12 to 15 feet of water in bays and coves off the main river. By February you should be able to catch them in most bays and coves. The secret is to keep moving I am driving now looking until you find them. It's a little harder on Logan Martin this time of year because you don't see many others long lining. But when u do see others just join in that's what I do. For example last year one day I was in 12 feet of water catching them real slow and a boat went by me and started trolling in 6 feet of water. I followed them in and caught 20 crappie in about an hour. Never would have went in there if I hadn't seen them catching fish. Basically you have to search usually when u find them you should be able to catch them there for awhile then they will start moving in shallow between now and march. What area are you fishing?

I have been fishing the lower end in the Clear Creek and Rabbit Branch areas and concentrating on 10-15'. I usually keep my eyes open looking for you but have not been on days when you go. I went last Thursday with my on and caught a few fishing minnows over brush but they were few and far between. That's when I decided to try long lining w/o any success. I didn't plan on long lining and had my spider rigging poles with 10lb test on them but ran them back at least 75 feet to compensate. I will get my spare spools with 6lb on the boat next time. I plan on going this week as weather permits. Thank you for the helpful information.

Fret 99,thanks for all the info especially the speed and length you put out, wish we had you up here on Guntersville(the big G) as the Long liners here are a tight lipped bunch it seems when questioned ,especially type of area and location which I understand no one wants a community hole made out of their honey hole, but its hard to get much of a general response from them. Your comments have given us at least something to try although the big G is a lot different than Logan M. My buddy and I have been trying to learn it over the last year and its been a lot of trial and error with the fall still stinking as far as long lining goes and the late winter early spring 100% better. We know there are a lot of Long liners on the big g here we just hardly ever see them on the water as we are limited to being weekend warriors .

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Originally Posted by Snapperking

Fret 99,thanks for all the info especially the speed and length you put out, wish we had you up here on Guntersville(the big G) as the Long liners here are a tight lipped bunch it seems when questioned ,especially type of area and location which I understand no one wants a community hole made out of their honey hole, but its hard to get much of a general response from them. Your comments have given us at least something to try although the big G is a lot different than Logan M. My buddy and I have been trying to learn it over the last year and its been a lot of trial and error with the fall still stinking as far as long lining goes and the late winter early spring 100% better. We know there are a lot of Long liners on the big g here we just hardly ever see them on the water as we are limited to being weekend warriors .

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Hopefully when I get my boat setup for longlining and trolling we can help each other out on the big G. Right now it's just vertical jigging for me!!

PW1 when longlinning with heavier line you need to shorten up your cast and not let out more line as the heavier line will go deeper than lighter line. Most longlinners in SC use 8 to 10 lb test with about a 40 ft cast. If you need to go deeper then add small split-shot till you get to the right depth that the fish are biting. Always try to maintain the same length cast and control of depth by adding weight or removing weight. Remember crappie feed up and not down so you always want your jigs higher than the fish are at. If you have some spare time cut the point off of a couple jigs and practice pulling them at different speeds over a shallow flat until you can tell what depth your jigs are running at. I use 20 lb braid when pulling with good success. Hope this helps remember line size is not the controlling factor but depth of your presentation

Really good style of reporting. A lesson for all. Thanks.

IF you are wondering whether it is speed or depth you can change weights for it to run deeper at same speed and try that.

yea I noticed we don't get a lot of people posting what and how they caught it. I've seen tons of people catching crappie the last few years in logan and some even have a crappie.com emblem on their boat but only a few say anything about it on here. I kinda thought that was the point of this web site. I especially hate it when people post something like "went to brown creek caught 18" and thats it. Well for starters I don't know the names of all the places so a lake name would help and how about how your catching them.

Long lining really just comes down to practice and not being afraid to try new colors, speeds, locations. I actually foiund out the best distance to throw line back by accident. Was trolling in sc and keep catching fish on one pole and no others. Finally dawned on me that I had a knot in my line and was letting out to that knot without thinking about it. When got home measured distance to knot and it was 42 feet. After that I use to put those flat 4 hole bobber stoppers on my line and pull them back 40 feet. Then cast out until the stopper came off the reel. Then if I wasnt catching fish I'd let out more or bring line in until i caught fish using stopper as a reference for other poles. Did that for years until I got comfortable casting back and guesstimating.

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Originally Posted by usafret99

yea I noticed we don't get a lot of people posting what and how they caught it. I've seen tons of people catching crappie the last few years in logan and some even have a crappie.com emblem on their boat but only a few say anything about it on here. I kinda thought that was the point of this web site. I especially hate it when people post something like "went to brown creek caught 18" and thats it. Well for starters I don't know the names of all the places so a lake name would help and how about how your catching them.

Long lining really just comes down to practice and not being afraid to try new colors, speeds, locations. I actually foiund out the best distance to throw line back by accident. Was trolling in sc and keep catching fish on one pole and no others. Finally dawned on me that I had a knot in my line and was letting out to that knot without thinking about it. When got home measured distance to knot and it was 42 feet. After that I use to put those flat 4 hole bobber stoppers on my line and pull them back 40 feet. Then cast out until the stopper came off the reel. Then if I wasnt catching fish I'd let out more or bring line in until i caught fish using stopper as a reference for other poles. Did that for years until I got comfortable casting back and guesstimating.

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Well I hope the browns creek reference wasn't towards me since I fish that area quite a bit and always put guntersville in the title and give report on color depth and how I was fishing which is mostly vertical jiggin for now until I get my boat setup for longlining and such then I'll be able to give more in depth reports on speed and so on.

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Originally Posted by GreeneGiant18

Well I hope the browns creek reference wasn't towards me since I fish that area quite a bit and always put guntersville in the title and give report on color depth and how I was fishing which is mostly vertical jiggin for now until I get my boat setup for longlining and such then I'll be able to give more in depth reports on speed and so on.

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No if u put guntersville lol just saying if your going to post pics and say i went fishing without providing info then in my opinion your just bragging not reporting, but hey to each their own. I'm gonna catch crappie either way just trying to help others because I know it can be frustrating when you first start.

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Originally Posted by usafret99

No if u put guntersville lol just saying if your going to post pics and say i went fishing without providing info then in my opinion your just bragging not reporting, but hey to each their own. I'm gonna catch crappie either way just trying to help others because I know it can be frustrating when you first start.

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Ok just wanting to make sure because I've learned a lot on here and try to give good reports every time I go out even if I don't catch any fish to help the next guy out

Thanks to all for a lively discussion. Haven't seen one of those on here in a while. Sinker, thanks for the clarification on the line size. I was using bass fishing logic when crankbait fishing that the larger diameter line the slower sink rate. I'm going to ring in the New Year and hit Logan Martin tomorrow and try all of my new knowledge. Got to get going and have an early dinner and get back home safe before all of the crazies hit the streets. Wishing all of you a safe and Happy New Year.

Hey Greengiant my fishing buddy and I will help as much as we can .Any questions when you setting up don't hesitate to ask. We might could use some pointers on how and where to with that vertical jigging as you have been looking good at Browns Creek from some of your past comments!!.I fish the bridge there when not in a boat and do ok at times. About the only place in a boat we do good jigging is under the bridge and that's at certain times of the year.

Not sure about the line thing. I was told the smaller it was the faster and further it sank i. e. 4lb would sink faster than 10 lb. maybe I was wrong was just told that once.

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Originally Posted by usafret99

No if u put guntersville lol just saying if your going to post pics and say i went fishing without providing info then in my opinion your just bragging not reporting, but hey to each their own. I'm gonna catch crappie either way just trying to help others because I know it can be frustrating when you first start.

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Exactly how I feel. No one is asking for specifics, but what does it hurt to tell depths and colors. If you just want to brag go elsewhere.