Crappie fishing and experimenting cranking

[Lance34]

Great to be back on the water yesterday.  Got out about 11ish but didn't really get start until about 12. 

On my up to Edens I came up on a boat that had a mother with a couple of kids.  They where out tubing and blew the engine apparently and needed a tow back to Hickory.  

Told her to pay it forward at Hickory as I flipped around and headed back.

I didn't know how much time I had to fish being the threat of storm possibilities so I ran up to Edens to try out a new 9 foot jig pole I got from Southern Crappie Rods.  If your looking for a new crappie rod, look them up.  I felt at one point I was cheating with feeling the bite those black crappie make.   Boated 10 off of one pile.  Using Electric Chicken baby shad with a 1/8oz green and lime jig head and a pearl baby shad with a 1/8oz red jig head.  The top of the pile is about 16 feet down in about 23 feet of water.  I vertical jig down about 14-16 feet.  

After a bit of trying different spots with no success I decide to do something I've been reading about and wanted to give it a go.

Here goes:

It's pushing a crank bait using my my spider rig set up.  What you get is a 3oz in line trolling weight and tie it on about 3 feet above your crank.  

I placed out 4 rods up front like normal, just not using the holders directly in front of the trolling motor.  

What I've read is if you keep your lines at a 45 degree angle you'll keep your baits at the depth you want.

I was wanting to push baits around 12 and 15 feet deep.  So from where the weight touches the surface I count down 20 feet of line for 12 feet and 22 feet of line for 15 feet.  Moving at 1.5-1.8 mph.  

After spending a good amount of time rigging and making adjustments to my holders I was ready to give a try.  

It really does put a bend in the rods and I know guys passing by where probably thinking what the heck is that goober doing and I admit I was too.  But then I caught about a 14" slab pushing a size 7 pearl flicker shad.

It does make staying on your targets and turning easier. 

 I'm not completely sold on it yet though.  Mainly concern with the rod bend.  I feel I'm not going to get a good hook set and miss bites.  Plus doing it in clear water.  

Going to keep giving it a shot for a few trips.  

Again great to be back sling fish aboard.  God bless and have a safe time out there.  Here's some pics

[Stump bumper]

Looks like it works to me !!

[J-Doc]

I've not even tried pulling cranks yet.  Other than normal trolling with two rods.  Not pulled crappie cranks on jig poles yet.  

 

Crappie bite has been very hot or miss for me.  The bite is either super subtle or big thumps. Varies from trip to trip. 

[Lance34]

3 hours ago, J-Doc said:

I've not even tried pulling cranks yet.  Other than normal trolling with two rods.  Not pulled crappie cranks on jig poles yet.  

 

Crappie bite has been very hot or miss for me.  The bite is either super subtle or big thumps. Varies from trip to trip. 

They where biting really light yesterday and on and off.   

No hard thumpers either.  It was kind of like a lite tug, lift, or just felt a little weight change. When something just didn't feel right with the line in my finger I would set the hook.  Honestly think using a 15#braid with a diameter of 4# helps me a ton.  

 

Yeah i usally just turn my spider rig holder size ways and use 2 of my 12 foot rigging rods and right behind them are some 8 foot BnM PST rods.  You need 4 foot rod length differences to avoid tangles.   Everything else is pretty much the same.  Pulling flickers with 10# fluorocarbon 80-150 feet out the side at 1.5-2mph

But, I'm going to keep giving pushing a try for now.  Its a lot easier to control depth, not having all that line out and no wide sweeping turns.

 

[dan hufferd]

When you are bottom bouncing the rule is usually 1 oz per 10 ft, 20' 2oz etc, but you go much slower 1.2 mph or less. The cool thing about what you are doing is that now you can push or pull any bait at what ever depth. Try some floating stick baits, and little square bills. Braid with a leader of choice will keep you from changing line every other trip.

Very nice thanks for posting