Looking For A Crappie Crankbait Expert

[rlcarter]

streamer that is awesome that you got into them just a couple of hours before the tourney ended. i have been fishing the hight point area and just wonder if i need to move back toward cedar ridge for deeper water..the video that i watched said that this should last all summer, do any of you guys agree with that..do they usually hit the crankbaits better early in the morning or late in the afternoon??

Rusty

[Stoneroller]

I have a gps/sonar on my kayak and just paddle at a nice slow mostly consistant 1mph. also, use a floating crankbait, not a sinking one, that way your baits float to the surface if you have to stop and don't get tangled up. ie dont use a rapala countdown type of crank.

note that some waters allow only 2 pole and line fishing, make sure you know the local regulations before setting up a spread of rods.

[drsnag]

Bandit 300 has been the hot lure for me. I fished a local crappie tourney a week and a half back and won it on bandit 300's. It was for largest 15 fish, we ended with 9.8lbs and big fish of 14oz. We didn't have any huge slabs that day, but of the 15 we weighed in, we had an 11.5" average per fish. We only had 2 keepers in the well 2hrs before weigh in. Then we got into them and boated 20 keepers in an hour and a half. There were people in that tourney that caught more keepers than us, but big baits usually catch bigger fish. The hot colors were grenada shad, taco salad on that sunny day. Other good colors are solid pink, solid black, or black/pink. I've been trolling cranks exclusively the last month, with the exception of this last monday when the winds were to strong to make it to my main lake areas. I've been trolling in the mile long bridge area. Some days I find them in 20-35fow in big spawning coves, other days they are on mainlake points with small coves from 14-30fow. These are free ranging fish, so sometimes you have to try some different areas before you get into them. But once you a couple good schools, just keep turning around and running over them and you'll get some exitement. We had 6 rods out, and about every pass over the school you would have 3 fish on at once. I troll cranks alot on stockton, so shoot me a message if you'd like, and I'll try to point you in the right direction. However, I'm no expert in this area, I just got into this method a few years back.

[drsnag]

hey, really excited about your post. we have been minnow fishing stockton for 20 years because we don't know any other way, I am interested in broadening our approach but have no insight. we only fish around the ruark bluff area where we camp, so birch, greaser etc are the only places i can get my dad. he is 70 and challenging to try anything new, but i want to give him that opportunity to do something new. any idea for this weekend while I have him there, i can get whatever lures needed tomorrow, just want to surprise him with a new technique. thank you so much for your perspective.

[jbeenemd]

When I was growing up in South Arkansas in the 50's we would go out and fish for crappie in the early morning by going to the brush pile or standing timber and dropping minnows by each one. As the day went on and it got hotter, we would crank up the electric motor and troll for crappie. My favorite bait was a dipsy doodle. Would also sometimes add a spinner with it. Back then we could get some that were made from pearl and had a single red dot in the center. I swear that did make a difference or maybe as a young kid it seemed that way.

Have not seen a new dipsy doodle in 30 years but they are available on ebay (just looked). They are a lot like the bandits that are available now. I still have a single dipsy doodle left but will never again put it in the water. Too many memories with it to lose it.

Jackie

[rye2be]

looking for some info on how to troll for crappie with crankbaits, tried running some bandit 300's for a little while this morning about 12 to 15ft deep, saw alot of fish on the graph but didnt get any bits..i am just starting to try to crankbait and was wondering if there was a certain color that works good on stockton, what speed that you like to troll at and what kind of banks do you usually do the best on or if you just get way out in the middle ..any info would be a great help on learning a new tactic..also fish brush in the high point area and only wound up with 4 keepers but did catch alot of small fish..

good fishin to all

Rusty

[Stockton Lake Guide Service]

looking for some info on how to troll for crappie with crankbaits, tried running some bandit 300's for a little while this morning about 12 to 15ft deep, saw alot of fish on the graph but didnt get any bits..i am just starting to try to crankbait and was wondering if there was a certain color that works good on stockton, what speed that you like to troll at and what kind of banks do you usually do the best on or if you just get way out in the middle ..any info would be a great help on learning a new tactic..also fish brush in the high point area and only wound up with 4 keepers but did catch alot of small fish..

good fishin to all

Rusty

I just talked to Rusty on the phone. He is headed out there on saturday morning, so we can all see if our advice pays off for him. still lots of fish suspended, but some seem to be moving to the brush piles. either way, trolling should get him some fish!!

[rlcarter]

well if i dont catch any fish it wont be because of bad advice thats just the way my luck goes, the important thing is that i will be with my son and enjoying the great outdoors and doing something that i love to do..so i will post when i get back and ill give it my best shot..thanks again to all of you guys for your advice..

Rusty

[Martin]

I don't fish Stockton alot, but I used to fish the walleye tournaments there.....We caught scads of crappie on the smallest Cordell Wally Diver...We were trolling the point for walleyes, but sometimes we'd just go out over deep water to skip to the next point, an wham...Found crappie out there about ten feet down over 75 or 90 feet of water...A # 5 Shad Rap was good too...I think that Cordell Wally Diver was the number one deal though....On speed, just put whatever crank you are going to try in the water next to the boat, and make sure it's wiggling good before letting it back 100 to 120 feet....Check that wiggle at 1.5 mph. If it works, that'd be a good MIN speed. Don't be afreaid to go faster or change your line length out....In general, the more line you let out, the deeper your crank will dive...I always use 10 lb powerpro or Fireline, but that's just me....

[rlcarter]

well it wasnt too bad..we wound up with 4 crappie, one bass and one drum..2 of the crappie were keepers..didnt find the fish until about 10 or 1030 and we were leaving at 11 or 1130..finally found some on a flat in about 26 fow running the bait about 15ft..didnt have time to get any new colors so the only color i had that they would bite was white ..just a word of caution when i was loading the boat i think i over heated myself, so all of you take care in this heat..thanks again for all you input my son had alot of fun and he caught the biggest fish which was the drum, he was bragging about that..

Rusty