First time pulling cranks

I decided to buy a few cranks and give it a go at my local lake. Wow! We kept 31 crappie and a couple of catfish. It was very hot out and water was 81 on Raccoon Lake but the fish were biting very well. I lost several fish and a coupe f cranks. we also caught quite a few white bass. I invested in more rod holders and crank baits. This kind of fishing is a blast and very easy to do. I was using arkie 220 series and only had three rods running.I just purchased this 1775 Lund Impact Sport and had a Helix 9 mounted with MinnKota Terrova Ipilot link trolling motor installed and it works perfectly trolling. I cant wait to do this again.

Was gonna hit Raccoon this weekend but just cant bring myself to deal with all the nuts out there in boats on the weekend.
Nice to see they are hitting though.

Congrats on some good action

Very nice! You learn fast.

I'm going to mount a home made rod rack with six rod holders on back so my wife and I can pull six cranks at a time and am going to get some weights to push from the front when we bring a friend or relative with us. I will try many other lakes with this technique.
I LOVE TO FISH MAN!!!

You can catch lots of fish just pulling with one rod. It's easier to watch and less problematic. All you have to do is get deep enough this time of hear. Hot Summer Dog Days. Stay above the Thermocline and you will catch lots of fish. Ad a trailer jig and attach it to the back treble hook on the crank bait. You will catch many more fish this way and they nearly always hit the trailer jig. 1/16 oz. lead head jig with a soft body on it. I use lighter weight line on the jig than on the main line. 10 lb test main line 6lb or 4 lb. test on the trailer jig line. 18" or so behind the cranks. This trick has been around since the 1940s and it was written about many years ago in a Guide Book from Herter's Company. It's still works just as well today as it did 60 years ago. A good quality line counting reel that's calibrated to read perfectly is a great asset. Happy Trolling. I use the Troller Bible and 300 and 700 series crank baits and ten pound test mono. I have a happy trollers plate attached to my motor that slows it down to about 0.5 to 1.0 mph when at idle speed. The lake I fish is 60 ft deep and I catch my fish suspended out over the deepest drop offs. The fish congregate right above the thermocline on the steep drops or just off the drops over the deeper water. Not sure why they stay there at this time of the year. Not sleeping or neutral as I catch a lot of LM bass in this area as well as bluegills. The crappie hang off the shallower drops in like 20 ft of water. The crappie will suspend or hang near the bottom in about 18 ft of water right above the thermocline like the other fish. But they like to have other breaks on the structure such as wood or stickups. Make sure that you have a crank bait lure retriever if you get hung up. They sometimes call them Plug Knockers

If you go to using bandit 300's or arkie 350's or the new PICO crankbaits, you will have less line out, easier to Boat your fish, they run deeper. Arkies, then bandits run deeper than the arkies alittle, but the new PICO's run 1 to 1.5 ft deeper than the bandits. Awesome way to locate crappies as well as long lining jigs. Enjoy! :ThumbsUp

Thank you for all the great info! This is just what I need. I will be buying some line counter reels in the future and the jig idea I have read about but I will still fish with as many rods as possible because I love to reel in fish! I will check out the trollers bible also and I need to study up on how to read my Helix unit (that unit is awesome but I still don't utilize it to its full potential) to be able to see the thermocline. I do plan on purchasing a lure retriever soon. Tight lines!

I bought some Arkies and Bandits but have not seen any PICO crankbaits.

Putting a jig on will boat a lot of smaller fish. Running 300's bites tend to be bigger fish. Nothing better than watching 3 or 4 rods go at a time.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by martyjmc66

I bought some Arkies and Bandits but have not seen any PICO crankbaits.

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link on the new PICO LURES.
Fishing Lures | Top Water Lures | Freshwater Lures | Saltwater Lures

later this fall they willl release a ton of different colors they are presently making right now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by martyjmc66

I bought some Arkies and Bandits but have not seen any PICO crankbaits.

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sounds like you got it bad now! lol great day of fishing, and many more to ya!

Heck the new Helix will pop the thermocline like a sore thumb. Just go 2D, Turn max mode on, and dial down sensitivity until you remove as much clutter as you like. I think it will show nicely even with max mode off. Love my Helix!

I went today with my wife and stepdaughter. We caught 2 keepers and 2 cats and a few whites and lost a big striper. Not as good as I had hoped with my new rod rack setup. I fished with 6 lines pulling and three pushing. I caught more pushing than pulling and the jigs added to my pushing rods only produced dinks and I mean dinks. Lol
The day was extraordinarily beautiful and we had a fantastic time.
I would add pics but it seems a little drawn out.

At least you were there

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those really do look good!

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