Need to slow my rig down,,,,,

I of late have been going through my thoughts in what I may be doing wrong when spider rigging for crappie here because of my lack of success,,, zi a know I'm not that bad a fisherman as most days in my past I always managed to bring home the supper,,,But as of late,,, I have had to look at what I may be doing wrong or perhaps just off alittle such as my speed of spider rigging,,,, I notice the past several outings my boat seemed fast... I am managing around .07- .09 mph where most say I Shoukd be at around .03-.05 mph,,,, I checked both Helix 5 finders and both are correct on my speed,,, I am using an older Motorguide Brute 24 v 68 ft lb motor and it just won't slow its roll enough to spidering without dragging a chain... Any suggestions on how else to slow it down with maybe rigging some sort of Rheostat? Any suggestions will help

No nothing bout any rheostat, but it could work. Keep your motor in the water, drag a chain(s) or wind sock(s). No short cuts unless you change equipment.

Anyone know if changing my 3 prop trolling motor blasé to a 2 blade will slow it down any?

The 3 is supposed to give more speed than the 2. On my old MG motor I didn't see any real difference. But, my boat is a lot lighter than yours so it just might knock off what you need. When it fairly calm you can just bump it off and on to kinda control the speed. I would just drag a bucket or chain.

Like cray said. Just hit the power now an then. Keep on the lowest setting unless you are losing ground to the wind.


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I would think that would spook the fish more when it goes on and off more often,,,, But ya never know till ya try,,,thanks y'all for the tips,k,

theres hundreds of different things u can do if know exactly what speed u want. Truth is I don't think those fish know what speed they want it! Try going with the wind and adjusting your weight on your rigs before u start digging into that motor. There's nothing wrong with the speed you mentioned but your going to have to soup up your rigs if your needing to get your baits down. If that doesn't help you can try a bucket, chains, drift sox, new prop, new motor, outboard down, outboard up, trolling motor down deep, trolling motor up shallow, add weight to boat, add water to boat....

That's how I still do it. I don;t move faqst at all on Barnett. heck, it the winter, I may go 0.2 MPH MAX. Just bump it every once in a while, it won;t mess them up when they are 10-12 foot deep

On and off is the ticket at this point, know guys that won't give up their foot controls and they do this all day long.

For spider rigging having a way to measure speed is nice just to know that you are moving when you want to, but I think it gets in the way more than anything. Most of the time I fish Reelfoot so I am just running the trolling motor to get to the next piece of structure, then I let off and let my chains stop me.

I don't have a speed indicator on my depth finder. I bump the switch, watch the lines. If deep enough to hit bottom you can stir up a little mud. Can get a bite on the fall, dragging mud or on the rise. I've replaced 3 switches in 12 years.

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Originally Posted by bird down

theres hundreds of different things u can do if know exactly what speed u want. Truth is I don't think those fish know what speed they want it! Try going with the wind and adjusting your weight on your rigs before u start digging into that motor. There's nothing wrong with the speed you mentioned but your going to have to soup up your rigs if your needing to get your baits down. If that doesn't help you can try a bucket, chains, drift sox, new prop, new motor, outboard down, outboard up, trolling motor down deep, trolling motor up shallow, add weight to boat, add water to boat....

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Very accurate post. GO WITH THE WIND as often as you can. It does make a huge difference. I have 5 different sizes of drift socks to lock in my speed. I like .5-.7 right now. I also agree that speed is less critical right now compared to keeping your bait at the right depth. The presentation is the key. I also said Right Now. Things change as far as speed in the cooler or warmer weather.

If your trolling motor is a 5 speed. Minn Kota Years Ago Made A maximizer box that works great for controlling your speed I got one and used it for a couple year until I got a hand control motor with a maximizer built in.

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I'd say your not putting the bait in there faces. You get it there and they will bite it. I use to push minnows at 1 mph in spring and fall. Keep the lines vertical find the right depth find where the majority of fish are and put it in there faces that's it. Most folks go slow but there really isn't a need for it unless it's super cold water temps.

Hot rod,,, what dictates depth of the crappie this time of year and how do I know how deep they are? JUst watching the finder doesn't seem to help,, so I usually run as deep as I can,, sorta bounce it off the bottom as I troll along,,,I use a modified Capps and Coleman setup buy having the weight inline and then just using a steel spreader on top and dragging the minnow on bottom behind weight around 12"....!both lines using teasers and tipped with minnows,,,i have tried using roadrunners on bottom and teaser on top,,, but it doesn't seem to matter right now,,, nothing is biting

Anything wrong with presenting a plain ole minnow? Perhaps different sizes until they tell you what THEY want? It sounds like getting fancy with teasers and roadrunners isn't getting you where you want to be. I would take a strong look at getting back to the basics and trying one minnow on a plain hook with the appropriate weight for the conditions. Something else you may want to try, if your graph is lit up with fish and they aren't biting......move until you can find some active fish. Pretty graphs don't put food in the freezer. No sense in fighting it and getting frustrated. Good luck.

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Originally Posted by yikess

Anything wrong with presenting a plain ole minnow? Perhaps different sizes until they tell you what THEY want? It sounds like getting fancy with teasers and roadrunners isn't getting you where you want to be. I would take a strong look at getting back to the basics and trying one minnow on a plain hook with the appropriate weight for the conditions. Something else you may want to try, if your graph is lit up with fish and they aren't biting......move until you can find some active fish. Pretty graphs don't put food in the freezer. No sense in fighting it and getting frustrated. Good luck.

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Hard to beat a minner on a Gold aderdeen !!!!!

What size weight is most guys running this time of year? Most waters are less then 15 ft round Butla right now,,, so,,,aim thinking maybe going 1/2oz to 3/4? MY mainline is 10 lb viscious and use 10 lb on my spider rigs,,,

For me most of the time at slow speed .2-.4 I run 1/2 oz in less than 10 ft. Over that 3/4. Latley been running 1 oz with pony heads at .6-.7. If you watch most of them people on Butla are fish 1/2 oz or less with double minnow rig with plain hooks. Also try to get a read on the depth of most of your Shad school's then fish below them. Crappie going to be below them feeding upward.

Your overthinking this. All u need is 1 weight and 2 hooks and 2 minnows. Put 3oz on bottom come up 2' loop knot hook then come up 2' loop knot hook. That's it. Play with depth till you find fish don't worry about fish finder. I use 12' rods I put the butt of pole in top of knee and when top hook touches water I pull 4' line out and that's it. I used road runners and jigs and 3 way swivels don't waste your money. They want meat. Of course my boat will set higher or lower than yours and my rod rack will be higher or lower than yours. You just play with depth until you catch and them. After that adjust other rods same. Use same tackle and rods on every rig. Keep it simple that's the main thing. Iam done with pushing minnows I single pole now in the fall and spring. Me and wife pull in the summer.

Check these out!

cornfieldcrappiegear

Over the summer I installed a DC motor speed controller that I bought from amazon for about $25. It gave me the ability to slow my trolling motor down without having to invest in a new variable speed model. I'll find it on amazon and send you the info.