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I fish mostly less that 12 foot of water and currently running 11 and 12 foot rods. About to sell em and get longer ones. Can’t decide between 14s and 16s? What are some of the pros and cons to each? Also, trying to decide between ACC crappie Stix or some Southern crappie Rods.
16's get the bait farther away from the boat in shallow water, That helps!
Yea that’s what made me decide to switch. I’m still very new to spider rigging and honestly didn’t know any better when buying my other rods. I realized real quick when I was on the water a few weeks ago when the boats with 16’ rods were doing much better than other boats. It was windy so had to be on the motor more so I’m sure that didnt help
I have 8 14 ft, 4 12ft and 2 10ft Southern Crappie. Adding 2 16ft next week to put on front . thought about getting 4, well see how it goes. I run shallow water too, usually 1p ft of lessa, a lot of times bait just running 2-4 ft. I switched all front rods over to baitcasters, much much easier, lift and thumb em down
I love my 16 footers from Southern Crappie to spider rig.
LittleJohn
I was in the exact same predicament. I didn’t know any better when I started and started with 10’ and 12’ rods. I quickly figured out that I needed longer rods. I went to 16’s and never looked back, and it definitely has made a lot of difference IMO. I pretty much exclusively fish in <10 FOW spider rigging and while at times 16’ rods can be a pain when you’re only fishing 3-4 ft deep, it will definitely increase your bites getting the baits away from boat noise. Just my .02
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I too started with a pair of 10' and a pair of 12'ers. This year I added a pair of 14'ers, and a pair of 16'ers. Today was my first day out using the 16' for spider rigging. My local lakes only allow 2 poles with two jigs each. They took a bit to get used to.
Couple of observations;
-16' poles in a 16' boat makes it difficult to untangle a rod tip. Lesson learned- don't let the tip whip around while you maneuver the pole.
-You must have someplace to put the rods so they aren't in the way when they aren't being used. Some prefer to lay them down in racks, I used a couple of those 3 pole holders. The type that hold the pole straight up in the air. Just make sure to remove them before going under bridges, on the water and off. lol
-Storage when not in use. I bought the shortest rod socks I could find and break the poles down into their three section, tighten up the line, stuff them in the rod sock and stuff the whole thing in a rod locker. When I rebuilt the boat I made a rod locker specifically for them.
Oh, by the way. Glad I bought them...
Yea that’s another concern is the rod length for my boat. I’m running a 1548 xpress and where I have to mount my spider is probably 18-24” back from the tip of the nose so right there I automatically lose that distance. I’m about to purchase some rod storage racks from a member on here so that should help in the transportation. I’m only running 4 rods so hopeful I can handle 16s. I will be running bait casters in hopes of making it easier to handle fish. Had a guy tell me that one difference he noticed between the 14s and 16s is that with the 14s he can use one hand to life fish but with the 16s it pretty much requires 2 hands. Any of y’all experience this??Quote:
Originally Posted by Hanr3
You may have seen these pictures when I’ve posted them before, but I fish out of a 1556, so I’m kind of in the same position you are as far as length of the boat. You get used to it and figure out what works the best.Quote:
Originally Posted by SlabSeeker0485
Attachment 292573
Attachment 292574
I mounted my transport racks in the accessory rail, and I assume your Xpress has the same or similar rail. Just showing another option to keep rods up off of the floor and out of the way. I have spinning reels on my trolling rods and make it work, so if you go with baitcasters it ought to work even better. Hope this helps.
Man this is very similar to my situation for sure. The rod rack I’m getting is gonna be channel mount just like ur setup. Glad to see someone else out there making a duck boat work for crappie fishing haha.Quote:
Originally Posted by DHC
It takes a little thought and planning sometimes, but it can definitely be done. Be sure and post some pictures when you get it all rigged up.Quote:
Originally Posted by SlabSeeker0485
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It also depends on how close you mount your rod holders to the front of the boat. In other words if you mount your rod holders 2 feet back from the front of the boat you automatically loose 2FT of rod length. Mine are close to the nose of my boat so I can get away with a little shorter rod.
I use 14' rods. 16' were too much trouble. Had 12' rods to start, and 14' seems to the perfect balance for me
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Attachment 292802Attachment 292803
14 foot Jenko s on a 16’8” v Hull
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I may be the odd ball here because I don't like anything over 12 foot. If the fish are shallow they are usually around some kind of cover and I won't be spider rigging anyway. I spider rig with 10's and 12's when the fish are in 8 foot or deeper. Way to many hassles bringing in fish, storage in the boat and even storage when out of the boat with the longer rods. The 10's and 12's can stay together from the beginning of the season until the end when I am done for the year. I make my own rod sleeves to fit my spider rig poles and the don't tangle in the boat. This also helps me cut down on how many poles I keep in the boat because if I want to pull jigs I can use the same rods. I fish every method there is for Crappie at some point in the year and being efficient as possible is important.
Just wanted to give you another perspective on spider rigging.
I will take it, I am back and forth on length. Getting ready to buy 3 poles to start this crazy hobby, I think 12's will fit much better in boat. I have no idea how to do this so I am going with this forum for help.
I didn't have any trouble one handing them. I needed one hand to manage the pole and the other to handle the net. If you need two hands, get out the spinach and Popeye up.Quote:
Originally Posted by SlabSeeker0485