Thread: pulling crankbaits

I cast far as I can from the boat, I use 6 ft rod preferably something light old Fiberglass rods work well because you can see the action of the bait on the tip of the rod very well. Also when the fish hits the soft tip absorbs some of the stress and doesn't pull the hooks out of the Papery mouth... I like Norman's crappie cranks blue or black back with silver belly or Arkansas shad I believe it's a Green gold glittery color they all run 7-9 ft deep... I use a GPS to stay within 1-1.4mph but you can tell by the tip if you need to speed up or slow down usually 2nd speed on tm works well or 30-35% on variable speed depending on wind conditions. Also Berkeley flicker shads work well. I don't use bandits they seem alittle too fat and wide wobbled but that's just my opinion...

I believe that Bandits are the #1 crank bait pulled by crappie fishermen. I started to collect them like match box cars and have somewhere around 100 of them. I also know that most pull them around 1.5-2.0 mph. This allows you to cover a lot more water than going slow like when you are long lining jigs.

You can google trolling crank baits for crappie and get a lot of information including this link.

I caught two 15"ers in the same day trolling them at Buggs but as for the Chick, I have never pulled them there.

Two 15s in a day!!! Better listen to tap on this one... Maybe that fat profile catches those fat slabs!

Does anyone ever just cast the crankbaits over brush instead of trolling?

You can get them deeper trolling as you can let out as much line as you want. I have thrown one occasionally but never caught a crappie doing so.

I've accidently caught a few over the years while bassin. Even caught one last year on a floating rogue. Nothing consistent though. Was just wondering. Never tried pulling or fishing over tops with cranks, usually just jigs. Thanks.

I have caught some wile tight lining by casting bridge edges.

I've pulled Bandit 100s and Strike King 4S's in Chick Lake with fair results. Haven't tried any that run deeper than these. SK has a tighter wobble than Bandit, both in white/chartreuse color have been productive. Keep hearing good things about Norman, need to try them.