Anybody do it on a regular basis? Whats hot and whats not?
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Anybody do it on a regular basis? Whats hot and whats not?
most people dont pull cranks till the water temp is 70 deg or warmer
Yes, I catch more of my crappie pulling cranks than anything else. I know there are some guys that actually do it all year long. Myself, I usually start when the water hits about 60 degrees, but a testy motor has kept me from doing any this year so far. What are you wanting to know specifically?
Just wondering if you cast or troll them. I catch most my fish casting jigs but was thinking crank baits would be more fun, like bass fishing.
most ppl troll cranks for crappie i started trying this some last yr about this time and into the summer months with what id call moderate success. there's an art to it and quite a bit of math involved, but dont worry others have it all figured out for u. its to in depth to really tell u about on here but if u wanna learn the ins and outs and really gain some knowledge on the topic, go to the mississippi forum. these guys have a whole bunch of info and a forum set aside just for trolling cranks. hope this helps.
I always troll several baits (you can cover much more water that way), but of course they would bite a cast bait too. The idea with trolling is pulling the baits behind the boat at the depth in which fish are holding. You might try "longlining" a single crank bait by giving it a good long cast behind the boat and pulling it with the trolling motor at about 1.7mph. You can always stop the motor when you catch a fish and cast for any more that might be in the same school. It would sort of be the "best of both worlds." Google the Magnolia crappie club in Mississippi. There is a great article on crank baits by them.
Trolling cranks is a real good way to catch Crappie, during the late spring thur summer & early fall. A lot of fun.
To follow up on something that Novo stated up above, we have tried several different plugs to pull. You have to find the true runners because if they have play in them or foul easy it will mess the lines all up. It is an enjoyable day on the water.....
go to the mississippi forum and at the top there is "pulling cranks 101" sticky, 153 pages of pulling cranks. you can read on the subject for hours.
I troll them....its my favorite way to crappie fish....Do like windstone said....go to MS board and there is a sticky at top of page....Crankbaits 101....read....read...read
Go to the bank and get a 2nd mortgage/open line of credit too. :Rofl
I trolled cranks yesterday, used Bandit 200's in 8' of water @ 1.5mph, 50' of 10# mono. Caught 17 in about 2hrs, all small but a lot of fun. The water temp. was 63.3. So they are starting to work for me. Females are laying back for now, but spawn is close. Soon as the spawn is over, crank baits will be good for the bigger fish, where I fish. Cranks work off of reaction bites.
Where you pulling,I fish ky lake and have better luck when I try jigs myself.Two weeks ago I probably caught 50 crappie,most small pulling jigs.Cranks work better on my opinion when water temp hits 70 deg where I pull them.Quote:
Originally Posted by trypman1
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Blueball, I agree with you, I was just testing the waters for cranks! I love trolling jigs this time of year.
All this yak about pulling and cranking wanna make me go to lake and do some yanking.
Trolling cranks tip( always bring ur cork and fly rod:fish trolling cranks sucks them batteries hard)
Two 24 volt battery setups and a trolling plate in my boat,[emoji12]Quote:
Originally Posted by harley2004
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we have two 24 volt setup also Terrova 80 pd thrust, I pilot wireless gps system. Love this boat it does all the work. gonna fish all weekend but it won't be with cranks.
What kind of trolling plate do you use? When I have two trips in one day I can't pull cranks that long. Extra set of 3 batteries isn't an option. Thanks, RichQuote:
Originally Posted by blueball
Trollamatic ,it's a automatic trolling plate,it raises and Lowers itself on how fast you are going.I did loose a couple mph on my top end after I installed it.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...2741fc3167.jpg
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Happy trollers have 2 setting where you can run different speeds. Batteries just used to stear.
What happens if you leave it down,that's why I went automaticQuote:
Originally Posted by tenncrappie
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If you leave it down you know it when you try to throttle up. All you need is idle speed to go 1.2 to 1.5 which gets the cranks down in the strike zone.
I've been hammering crappie on KY Lake for over 2 weeks on cranks. Started when water temps were less than 60. With all the wind we've had lately, I went to cranks out of necessity because my Excel handles better going into the wind at a speed that is right for pulling cranks. 3 fish in just over a week heavier than 2 pounds by clients all on cranks. Probably had 10 folks in that time frame who have all caught what they claim is their largest crappie, all on cranks.
Yep,have heard of people leaving them down any throttling up and bending the trolling plate,but I have no experience with the manual type,that's why I was asking[emoji3]Quote:
Originally Posted by tenncrappie
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Can't find at Lakeontariounited...will this work ya think? http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/produ...529ef06f86ef8c
Quote:
Originally Posted by blueball
I ran a trol-a-matic on my 75 Yamaha on my Horizon 1860. It worked great but I don't want to put tons of hours on my new outboard using it trolling. That's what the 112 MinnKota and 3 Trojan 1275 golf cart batteries are for.
Word of caution when using a trolling plate like the trol-a-matic, you can forget being able to back the boat up in any sane manner.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrdux
Do you think those trojans would hold up to 10 hours of trolling on my pontoon?
???I've never ran them down on my Bay Pro.Quote:
Originally Posted by BIGBADDAD
My Pondtoon is a fantastic crank pulling boat. Even I can do it. I don't worry about taking on water, but it is best to wear boots when the water gets rough.
In '15 when everyone was chasing the shallow spawning fish, I was trolling cranks in the deeper water where they were staging and catching lots of fish. It works well and I had some real good times. That isn't even taking the occasional surprise fish like cats, Largemouth, Smallmouth and Kentuckies into account.