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I've tried pulling cranks 3 times now (once on High Rock and twice at Tuckertown), and have only boated 2 crappie. I'm pulling Bandit 300's and Arkie 350's around 1.4-1.5 mph with lines out at differing depths and not getting bit. Trolled from 8 foot to 31 foot yesterday, and finally switched over to catfishing. Any suggestions? I've caught more catfish than crappie pulling these cranks.
At what depth are you seeing bait balls on the graph? Need to troll slightly above their level. A foot or 2 above them as a start.
Use bandit depth chart to estimate your running depth.Likely you"re not in the "sweet"spot yet.
Keep your chin up you will find them. Don't be surprised if in the heat of summer the crappie are fairly deep...
Another suggestion is to troll in areas with bottom depth transitions.You will see a huge difference in shad schools and crappie there both.....There is no shortage of unproductive areas to fish...Good Luck..
Might also try faster .. 1.8 to 2.5 is productive at times
on high rock, the s turn in flat swamp, the three humps in front of blacks bottom and by the island and hump at the mouth of second creek are good places to cut your teeth, color makes a big difference, and depth is paramount, i just got a decent video camera and plan on making a trolling video for yall as i cant fit everyine in the boat for free, but u have to understand that its a great way to cover alot of water and find fish u normally wouldnt but around here i cant say that its necessarly the best way to catchem, just another tool in the belt
Do those lakes have mainly white crappie? or black crappie ? You can catch black crappie on cranks but black crappie relate and tend to hang out near cover ( wood ). The whites in the summertime tend to stay out in open water suspended or following shad or other baitfish...This is why cranking works so good on them. If you have white crappie...find the shad and go to pulling...trey to keep your baits above them.Quote:
Originally Posted by nccater
G, the reason I go to Tuckertown and High Rock is because those are the 2 lakes with the white crappie population within 1.5 hour's drive for me. Only other choice would be the 50,000 acre Kerr Lake.
Knight Shadow, my TM will only pull me at 1.5 mph. Anyone ever tried cranking with outboard and a drift sock?
Outboard works fine and will do the trick, be very carefull with the sock and not let it get in the prop.
I remember when I started cranking, man it seemed like a was going to pull the lips off them cranks and not catching nothing. Some lakes are just not good cranking lakes but that wasn't my problem, just had to figure it out. Best advise is to get in a boat with someone who is successful there and pick their brain and watch. I was hard headed and did not do this but it is the best way, how I cut my teeth spider rigging.
Good luck.
Yes, outboard will work. There are several different ways to slow it down..Be careful with the sox. JOHN, can't. Believe you WERE hard headed!!!!!
Thanks for the input guys. Anything I can learn is helpful. I will eventually figure it out and get on some good spots. Thanks again.
What size is your outboard and boat nccater? You ever look at your lowest idle speed while under power? My 40hp will get my 16' down to 1.8 - 2mph with just being bumped in gear. I would opt for a trolling plate as opposed to a sock, chains, buckets or etc. if you can't get that slow at idle. Only thing I want to pulling behind the boat is 4 - 8 crank baits. :twocents
17 foot aluminum War Eagle with a 60 hp Etec. Drift sock is all I have right now, don't really want to invest any more into the boat right now. I need to see how slow I can go by just engaging throttle. Thanks for the input
From personal experience I can tell you a sock in the prop isn't all that much fun.You can catch fish at 1.1 to 2. whatever MPH .Your 1.4-1.5 with the trolling motor will work once you 1)get in an area with shad balls n crappie and 2) get to the right crank bait depth. I like the suggestion of going with someone to help get you started....Good Luck
"You have the fish cornered in the lake now all you have to do is catch them"
I crank with my big motor. My TM will not run sustained over the second speed setting for any more than a few minutes before shutting off so I can only go .8 with it. Great for power trolling and I have pushed cranks and caught crappie that slow a few times. I just started pulling and use my big outboard and a bucket. Kept me at around 1.8-2.1 all weekend and the fish didn't seem to mind the noise. Caught them on down rods and flatlines. Just have to pay attention to that line out the back. I used a bridle off the back cleats and had a big float where the line came off the bridle. It seemed to stay up high and didn't give me any issues.
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A trolling plate like the Trollamatic works great...I used one on a 115 Yamaha four stroke for about six years.
nccater, trolling plates work great, but I finally got my pontoon set up to troll. It trolls about 2.2 to 2.5 depending on conditions. I took two 5 gallon buckets and cut 4 - 1 inch holes in the bottom. Connected lines and a swivel from lowes for twisting and have instant drift socks. They slow me down to between 1.8 to 2.0.
Didn't know you had pontoon Craig. Did you sell your Skiff?Quote:
Originally Posted by cwright
Yep. Miss it, but wife wanted a pontoon we could just leave in. Missing going to other lakes though.
It has the fishing station in the back and works great trolling for big cats. When they start biting again on Tillery I will give you a shout and we will take her out.
Sounds good. Ready to get on Tillery again.Quote:
Originally Posted by cwright