Article: Trolling Crank Baits for Black Crappies!!!

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Good job Rich

Awesome post! Thank you muchly. Here in MA, we are only allowed 2 rods per fisherman. Makes trolling an area challenging as the spread, with forward boat movement, is limited. We've adopted Roger Gant's method of side pulling instead. This concentrates our baits in a wide area, but within visible vicinity of each other. Generates strikes quite well - and yes, all we have are black crappie here too. We usually mix up our presentation between cranks and jig/plastic combinations, to see what it is they want most. We vary the jig head size to control depth and the TM pulling from the side, controls our speed. Has been working well for us as the season progresses.

Again.....great post!

Very informative article.

Crestliner, I have been watching your post on side trolling and agree with your coverage area. This is a tactic that we utilize when the wind is too tough for us to get an accurate trolling pattern going. We call it "Slip" trolling. We use the wind to push our boat and the trolling motor to simply keep us sideways to the wind. Drift socks can also be used to slow down our boat movement. Like you, we run a variety of rigs from soft plastics and different sized jig heads to vary out depths, to slip bobber rigs and minnows and cranks. You can cover a large variety of water and depths with that manner of trolling. Your boat setup allows for the creation of this setup without the need for wind. My tournament walleye boat doesn't so much but I do play with it on days when the wind is blowing and can push my boat along!

Thank you for publishing this article, wicklundrh! I share your addiction to trolling and affliction for buying Flicker Shad crankbaits. I do my best to terrorize the Black Crappie in this part of North Carolina, though we don't have the same type of deep weedbeds or Walleye in the lakes I fish. Most of the Black Crappie I catch are also relating to some form of structure, though at times I find them suspended 8-10 feet deep in loose schools over a 70 foot deep bottom, with no channel or recognizable bottom terrain changes involved. It may be that they are chasing shad in the deepest basin of the lake, or that part of the lake may just have a favorable temperature or pH in Summer. Who knows? As long as I can find 'em, those Flicker Shads will catch 'em. Some people (particularly bank-beating bass fishermen) look at me like I'm crazy, paddling my kayak around in the middle of the lake, until they see the numbers of quality Black Crappie it produces.

Thanks again for the article & good luck the rest of the season.

Jim

Good information thanks for taking the time to explain.

Another great article Rich!

Great read! Wouldn't expect anything less from you "Wick"

Enjoyed reading your post and photos. Lots of information and tips in here. Also, always good to see youngsters getting taught how to fish and enjoy the sport we love!

Nice article!My wife and I have been doing the same thing for many years for black crappie.Ultra light cranks,4-5-7 number cranks,jointed cranks,over weed beds, pretty much every kind of fish in the lake will be buried in the weeds,they just have to be enticed out of the cover.

Since I've started targeting these "spec's" in the local ponds around me, I've tried the different techniques from this forum, but I always end up trolling. Covering more water allows me to mark spots to try these tips on in the fluxuating temps and conditions. Culling thru the bass and bream is just a nice bi-product. The ultra light world is rubbing off on me after growing up in the keys and S. Fla. I trolled then, and still trolling. Rapala is the ticket for me, they just work! Lately been trying to make them hit a 3" paddle tail swim bait deep since water temps in high 80's. But I always end the nite on a troll.
Thanx

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