Thread: Deep Crappie

Originally Posted by crappie cowboy

When yall long line, and the fish are say over 10 feet deep, is the that to deep to long line? What would be the depth to not long line....

no that is not too deep !!! as far as a depth not to longline that I don't know the lake where I fish really ain't all that deep its only 40 plus feet at dam so we have longline all year long before and caught fish !!!

Long lining is possible up to 20 foot deep, but trolling in much deeper water can be great fishing if the fish are suspended. Again, electronics are the key to keeping your baits where the active fish are hanging out. If the fish are deep and hanging near the bottom, tight lining is the better technique.

I agree with Ink. This winter I was really "schooled" when I was trying to catch fish in 30' of water and my graph showed most of the fish I was trying to target at 15' down. I caught a whooping "4" crappie and later on found out that a friend caught the limit longlining with jigs 5' down. Who woulda thunk?!?

You can pull jigs very near the bottom in 20' of water but I haven't tried any deeper than that. I'd switch to tightlining if they're holding in deeper water at or near the bottom.

Thanks yall that helps my brain...

I am grasshopper at this with my first deep long line experience it was not fast action just steady. Targeting 1/8th jigs to 15 feet in 20 feet of water dragging over a bunch of laydowns was a nice first expierence. I saw small bunches around the laydowns so I dragged jigs over them.
Need more time to give any advice. You have the best here already commented so this was mine.

Originally Posted by CrappieKidd

I am grasshopper at this with my first deep long line experience it was not fast action just steady. Targeting 1/8th jigs to 15 feet in 20 feet of water dragging over a bunch of laydowns was a nice first expierence. I saw small bunches around the laydowns so I dragged jigs over them.
Need more time to give any advice. You have the best here already commented so this was mine.

WTG, and glad you are getting it down...thanks...

Just personally, and I am far from an "expert" (whatever that means ), I love to longline troll when I target fish from about 3' to 16' down, the shallowest fish being now through April and the deepest in winter and mid-summer. Deeper than that I will usually drop shot or tight line minnows at the depth of the fish. That being said, a friend of mine will pinch on a 1/2 oz weight about a foot above a jig and troll regardless of the depth of the fish. So while I believe trolling is a 12 month technique, there are certain times (i.e. spring and fall) that it can be darn easy to just toss out a 1/16 oz jig and catch fish longlining.

I pulled some 1/4 oz RR a few years back on Greenwood to get down to some 20' deep crappie and did catch some with them at that depth. I was hoping I would catch them or knock some out when the jig hit them

The time you spend on the water is never wasted as long as you are learning what it takes to keep you jigs at a given depth. Take notes of what you learn, it is easy to get lazy and just throw out some jigs but when you have to whole combination together the fishing will be more enjoyable.