Magnolia Crappie Club Blog

By Bernard Williams, Magnolia Crappie Club

Nothing, I mean nothing beats a skillet full of fresh crappie filets fried up in the late summer afternoon.  Only problem, you’ve put up your crappie gear for cooler temperatures or the ones you’re catching just aren’t any size.  I have a suggestion; go to the old bass tackle box and pull out the crankbaits. Yes, I said it, bass fisherman do not have exclusive rights on the crankbaits and manufactures are recognizing this fact.

Crappie fisherman are now buying as many if not more crankbaits than bass fisherman buy.  While most bass fisherman may buy two or three at a time, we buy four or five of the same size and color.  Bandit has introduced its Crappie Colors, Bass Pro has the Wally Marshall cranks, and Cabelas have their line of “Crappie Cranks”.  So what I’m saying is if you’re not familiar with this new phenomenal technique just keep reading.

Learning to pull or push crankbaits is really not that hard to learn, but in the beginning it requires a minimal purchase of cranks. These usually run from $2.99 up to $5.00. I suggest buying the Specials from Bandit’s website and repainting them or buying the crappie catching colors from Grizzly Jigs saving the time and mess of trying to paint crankbaits.

The Initial Purchase – Ouch!
Ok, say we just got our couple dozen cranks in awesome pink, orange crush, chartreuse green back, chartreuse sparkle, and fire tiger, we’re almost ready to get rolling.  You could purchase Bandits in the 200 or 300 series, Storms Wiggle Warts, Brad’s Wigglers, Wally’s, Cabelas, Bomber, or any crank that runs in the 8’ to 20’ range, it doesn’t matter. Make sure they’re in the 3/8oz to 1/2oz weight and 2” to 3” length.

The Rods, Reels, and Line
My preference is B’n’M Trolling Rods in the 8’, 10’, 12’ and 14’ range.  Many experience pullers use 16’ and 18’ rods, but I don’t recommend this for the person just getting started.

However, rods of length 6’ to 8’ with a medium to fast action will work, but if you want to start out right, get the trolling rods designed for this technique.

Reels, many experienced pullers swear you don’t need fancy line-counter reels but I think some kind of line distance measuring system or device is necessary.  Some of my fellow Magnolia Crappie Club members use a line counter attached to the rod or they stretch out 200’ and mark every 10’.  This works until you break of too much line.  My preference is the  Okuma Magda Pro 15 Line counter Reel.  They range from $25 to $40.

We next need to spool our spinning or bait-casting reels with 10# hi-vis mono or 15# to 20# braid. Either will do, but the braid will save your cranks, plus it gets the baits down with less line out.  My preference is 15# Vicious Braid with a 4# diameter.  Spool the reels with a large amount of backing seeing that you only need about 150 yards at the most on each reel. Its very important calibrate your reels.  Make sure 50’ showing on the counter is actually 50’ of line.

Rod Holders
Rod holders are necessary for this technique.  I recommend good quality rod holders like the ones Driftmaster offer.  They offer a trolling system that can be used on any boat. They are strong, withholding the ferocious hits from stripers and catfish.  You don’t want to risk your rod and reel investment to just any rod holder.  Don’t skimp on this one, it’s very important that the rods are secure and they can be adjusted easily.  These can be mounted at the back of the boat but I prefer to pull them on each side of the boat.

Depth Finders / GPS / Lake Maps

Again, I know plenty of experienced pullers that don’t use GPS or Lake Maps, but they work. I started with a low-end Eagle and a hand-held GPS.  The GPS eliminates the need for marker buoys and they save time. My preference is the Humminbird Side Imaging Systems, from the 797si to the 998si system.  These systems all you to mark way points of where you caught fish as well as side scan up to 420’ and also use the down scan sonar.  The ability to split the screen with the contours on one side and sonar on the other side is phenomenal.  It takes all the guess work out of fishing.

For a good lake map I prefer the Navionics Hot Maps in whatever region you fish.  This 2GB SD card contains three-dimensional bottom-view and panoramic lake pictures. It includes over 1,000 of high-definition maps with 1-ft. contours and 15,000 lakes.  Throw the paper maps out the window, it’s nearly impossible to lineup on an area with a paper map.  This is the way to go if you want to do it right the fist time.

Dive Curves and Precision Trolling
Another tool I refer to a lot is the Precision Trollers Guide.  It gives you an estimate of how deep your crankbait is running compared to how much line is out.   The later versions have another curve showing the braided line results.  I was amazed at how accurate these dive curve charts were.  I actually ran across 12’ water and let out the distance it stated and it did in fact bump the bottom.  This guide contains dive curves for over 200 different lures.  At $40, it well worth its value.  These guys have eliminated all the guess work.

Trolling Speed

The common misconception that speed causes crankbaits to dive deeper is false.  A speed of 1 MPH to 2.5 MPH does not change the dive depths no matter what lure you use.  Trolling speed do have a major effect on the action of the lure. Some lures have no action at low speeds and others can’t be trolled fast, they will roll.  For a lure to obtain its best possible action you must observe it running close to the boat.  This also helps to determine if the lure is properly tuned.  A crankbait must run straight, if now you must tune your bait.  You do this by bending the line tie in the opposite direction that the lure is running.  That’s why lots of pros prefer Bandits, the run true out the box.

There are several ways to measure trolling speed, GPS and manual speed counters.  Both work, however at slow speeds, between 1.3 and 1.5 GPS seems to be the best choice.  On windy days the manual speed counters may come out of the water if attached to the trolling motor; this causes false readings.

Trolling Motor, Kicker Motor, or Trolling Plate on the Big Motor
I discussed this topic with some of the best trollers in the country. The two that comes to mine are Kent Driscoll who makes his living trolling crankbaits in the summer with his 4-stroke Yamaha and Kenny Browning who competes professionally on both Crappie Masters and Crappie USA, using a Terrova 101.  Both are very successful, but unless you have a quiet 4-stroke you will scare spooky crappie in shallow water.  On windy days the trolling motor requires very good batteries to maintain that constant speed.  I prefer the trolling motor with an auto pilot; this allows me to fish up to 10 poles by myself.

Minn Kota’s I-Pilot system, which automatically controls and steers your boat using GPS technology, allows you to record a path and retrace it later.  It has cruise control for perfect bait presentation. Everything is wireless; allowing you to fish and not worry about directing this boat.

Let’s Go Fishing – Finding the Right Spot
Try to pick an area of the lake that has the least amount of standing timber; a few deep stumps or brush piles is perfect.  I like to fish the flats leading to a river channel or an old lake bed.  I’ve found this combination to be very productive.  It gives the fish several advantages, the shad school on these flats and lake beds, and they’re very close to deep, cool, and oxygenated water.  When I find this type area I fish it thoroughly.  I mark the spots where I catch fish and I try to develop a pattern. Are they on the ledges and drop-offs or they’re in the deeper spots?

You should look for school of bait fish.  They show-up as tight balls this time of the year.  When you find the big long schools of shad on your sonar they will have crappie underneath. The screen shots to the right show how the shad and crappie school appear on the sonar.  You can see the underwater structure where the crappie are holding.  Spots like these produce numerous fish.  Be sure to set a waypoint for future references or buoy this area.

Color Selection
When I begin a day I check the weather conditions; is it a bright blue-sky day or is it overcast and cloudy? If it’s a bright none cloudy day, I start with mostly bright color crankbaits, however I will mix in a few dark baits if it’s early morning. Kent’s motto is “Bright Day, Bright Bait, Dark Overcast Day, and Dark Bait”. I generally stick to this but sometimes the fish will force you to vary somewhat.  Bright days sometimes call for lures with some chrome.  Chrome gives a lot of flash; flash causes reaction strikes.  I choose to use baits that have the lip painted.  By having the lip painted it give a longer silhouette coming thru the water.  Remember the summertime motto, “Big Bait, Big Fish”.

Summertime is generally bright and clear; I begin with my bright colors and run them shallow.  This gives me the ability to fish the shallow flats; flats where the shad congregate in the early morning.  As the water warms up, I move to the deeper areas and stretch the baits out.

Developing a Pattern – Figuring Out the Fish
My crankbait pulling mentor, Kenny Browning of Alabama, is the person most responsible for me developing the crankbait pulling skills.  Kenny learned his skills from several tournament circuit fisherman as well as paid guide trips.  Kenny’s motto is “Find the unmolested fish – Fish where other people don’t fish.  Go out and develop a pattern, it may be a pattern for early morning, mid-morning and early afternoon.  You got to figure out the fish”.  Kenny and I fish MCC and Crappie Masters Tournaments.  It’s not uncommon for Kenny to pre-fish for 5 to 7 days, checking different spots, different depths, and different colors.

Keeping a Fishing Log
I truly believe that in order for you to become a great fisherman, you must keep a detail log.  I’ve included a sample log form at the end of this article.  Feel free to use it each time you fish.  It may take a complete fishing cycle (year) for the information to become useful; I can assure you that this will become invaluable. Kenny keeps detail notes on every lake he fishes; he reviews his notes before and after a tournament and makes adjustments.

Tips and Tricks

• When pulling cranks, we’re looking for a reaction strike.  You’ve got to make your lure do something odd.  I sometimes make a slight turn to the left and back to the right.  This tells me if I need to speed up or slow down.
• Sometimes I grab the line and pull it out maybe a foot or two, this causes that lure to speed up and stop.  Believe me, it works.
• I take bright glow fingernail polish and stripe the belly of my baits. I like to have one with a glow orange belly, glow pink, and glow lime or chartreuse.  You can pick the polish up at many of the beauty supply stores.
• I like to use the clear with the metal flakes mixed in to give my baits a scale like feature.  Sometimes little subtle changes like the ones mentioned above are all you need to fill your limit.
• If you’re getting short strike, take the back hook off, connect a swivel to the split-ring, and then connect the back hook to the swivel.  I’ve even speeded up; this makes the crappie hit the bait a little harder thereby catching itself.
• Sometimes I add a teaser above the crankbait; this teaser can be a roadrunner or regular jig.  When you pull this thru a school of crappie, the teaser gets their attention, now they’re ready for the crankbait.
• During summertime early mornings, fish shallow water.  I’m referring to water that’s 8’ to 10’.  The baitfish are shallow, so are the crappie.
• Learn to use planner boards.  This works great when fishing clear and shallow water.  Planners get your lures away from the boat, especially if you’re using your engine or a kicker motor.

Advantages to Pulling Crankbaits

• Cover lots of water – pulling cranks at 1.4 MPH in 8 hours allow you to cover over 11 miles of water.  Now if you can’t find them in 10 or 11 miles you are in the wrong area, wrong lake or wrong time of year.
• Target suspended and scattered fish – Good sonar allows you see the baitfish schools and the fish underneath.  By setting your line length just above the fish allows you to stay in the strike zone all the time.
• Catch Bigger Fish – It’s no myth that big fish want a big bait.  Crankbaits provide that big bite for larger fish.  I’ve pulled cranks by guys that were slow trolling minnows, catching small fish and I come thru and catch pound and a half crappie.
• Reaction Strikes – Cranks can trigger reaction strikes where live baits or jigs will not.
• Catch lots of fish – Cranks offer you the ability to find schools of feeding crappie and stay with them by circling them back and forth.
• Catch Un-Molested Fish – Pulling cranks allow you to fish areas that others don’t. You can hit those areas such as flats and find the most active fish in a hurry.
• Perfect from Summer Guiding Trips -  I take clients out during the summer, they want to catch fish.  We can put up several umbrellas and pull cranks all day and not get that beaming sun.

Disadvantages

• Expensive, Expensive, and Expensive – My dad told me “You can’t drive a Cadillac with Volkswagen Money”.  If you can’t afford to drop a couple hundred dollars on a box of crankbaits, then this technique is not for you.  But if you want to go for the gusto, then give it a try.
• Crank Baits are Dangerous – I would not suggest you use this technique with small kids. Cranks can easily catch an eye, hand, or ear.  I know, I get stuck all the time.
• Hang-ups – I know guys that will stop when a crankbait hangs,  roll up all rods and backup and un-hang the crank.  I will at times do this if it’s a hot crank and I only have a few.
• No Timber – Cranks are designed to fish open water, ledges and flats with little or no structure. Do not try to fish them around timber unless you are ready to loose your cranks.
• Trash Fish – You catch lots of catfish, stripers, gars and other fish.  But I look at it like this, “One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Treasure”.

Conclusion
I don’t profess to be an expert at this technique, I learn something new each time I employ this technique.  I do say if you want to add another tournament winning, hot summer catching technique to your repertoire, then give this a try.  It will take a while to prefect, but once you have it down you will love to pull cranks.  It will expand your crappie catching season from end of spring to beginning of winter.  And as my friend Paul Johnson, president of Magnolia Crappie Club says “It’ll catch’um as Big as They Grow”.

By Bernard Williams
Magnolia Crappie Club

Introduction
I began pulling jigs (long-lining, flat-lining) out of necessity. My partner Don Terry of Jackson, MS and I fish with the Magnolia Crappie Club. We just could not complete with the world class spider-riggers and jig fishermen. You see, we had to compete with the likes of Rabbit Rodgers, Shelton Culpepper, Hugh Kutz, Paul Johnson, Kent Driscoll, John Harrison and others. These guys are good. I mean real-real good.

I’ve seen this method produce many winning sacks. Two of the best in the country fish in the Magnolia Crappie Club. The two tournament-circuit crappie fishermen that I’m referring to are Earl Brink Jr. of Show-Down Tackle (3 Time National Champion) and Kenny Browning (3rd Place Finisher Crappie Masters 2009 National Championship). Earl had learned this technique fishing and guiding for walleye up north (Lake Michigan), and Kenny had perfected his skills on the Alabama chain of lakes (Weiss, Logan Martin, and Neely-Henry).

My First Lesson
I called Earl in Cummings, GA and he called Kenny in Brandon, MS and setup a trip on my home lake, Ross Barnett Reservoir near Jackson, Mississippi. Kenny was unfamiliar with this lake; he had only fished it a few times since moving from Gadsden, AL, so we were doing each other a good deed. He wanted to find fishing spots, I wanted to learn how to long-line. I’ve seen Earl and Kenny catch two limits in a few hours. We pulled up to one of the most fished spots on the lake. We call it the S-Curve. The Pearl River makes an “S” as it winds its course through the lake. It’s a “just what the doctor ordered” place to catch staging crappie.

I said to Kenny, the fish are here but so are the fishermen at least 15 boats. He said “No Problem”. He killed the engine, deployed the MinnKota Terrova 101 trolling motor, turned on the auto-pilot and we took off. For all you who have never heard of an auto-pilot, its name says it all. It will keep you on course no matter what the wind does. It has a state-of-the-art compass system in the head of the motor that keep the boat on the set course heading.

Kenny turned the motor on constant; set the speed about 1 mph and we were off. We started casting the rods that had two 1/8th marabou soft body jig made by Show-Down Tackle, on each rod. We made normal casts and placed each rod in a rod holder on the back and sides of the boat. He had two (2) 16’ rods and two (2) 12’ rods for the front left and right sides of the boat. I had four (4) 8’ rods and two (2) 9’ rods for the back of the boat. As soon as I placed a rod in the holder the slack was picked up in a few seconds by our constant boat speed.

Before I could get the third rod set, the first rod was bent with a monster slab crappie. I said to Kenny, stop the boat. No, no he cried. Just take your time and reel the fish, not too fast or you’ll pull the jig out of the fish’s mouth. The fish must be directed thru your other set lines, trying not to entangle them. This scenario occurred over and over throughout the afternoon.

Kenny said this is your first lesson in long-lining. “The boat must never, never stop”; if a rod hangs you break the jig or the line and re-tie the jigs, but you never stop the boat. Stopping the boat causes all the jigs to go to the bottom hang or become so tangled only a knife will clear up the mess you’ve created.

To make a long story short, we really caught the crappie. We weighed our 7 biggest fish at more than 15.5 pounds. So now, I know it works. I watched what he did, asked questions about jig size, boat speed, how to make turns and distance of cast. That was my initial training. I had to put into practice and improve my skills from that moment, mainly thru trial and error. I needed the right trolling motor. The rod-holders had to be mounted correctly.

Boat Speed
The first lesson – Your boat speed is one of the controlling factors in the depth of your lures. The faster you pull the jigs the higher in the water column the jigs will run. Wind is our most formidable opponent. We have to use it in our favor. If you can’t go with the high wind, try going at an angle with the wind. Try anything except going directly into a high wind.

Play with the speed control until you locate the fish. If you see the rods bouncing off the bottom speed up or give the reel a turn or two. If you’re fishing humps and ledges simply speed up and get over the hump or ledge and then slow down when you are clear these obstacles.

Cast Length
The second controlling factor is how far behind the boat your jigs are pulling. There is no science, set rule, no regulations to follow; only trial and error. If you do not want to adjust your speed, adjust your line length. Flip the bails and let it off the line, be careful larger size jigs will hang quickly. Go in the back yard, make a long cast and then step it off. This will give you an idea of the cast distance.

Line Size
Some of you fisherman tend to stay with the same line weight. I have found that the smaller the diameter the line the deeper the jig will run. I’ve also tested Vicious braided, co-polymers, mono-filament, and fluorocarbon. Braid tends to run lots deeper than mono. Vicious braid helps to get the jigs deep and into the strike zone. When fishing shallow water the buoyancy of Vicious Mono-filament keep the jigs from sinking too fast. Vicious Fluorocarbon works great in real clear water. This will take some testing, trial-and-error.

Tying Jigs on the Line
I mainly fish a double jig rig; I try to tie my jigs about 4 feet apart using double loop knots. I prefer double overhand loop knots for both bottom and top jig with about a 4” – 6” loop for the top and no more than 2” – 3” loop for the bottom jig. This gives both jigs an independent presentation.

Slide two jigs on the line. Slide the top jig up far enough to make a 2” – 3” double loop knot on the bottom jig. Slide the second jig up 4’ to 5’. Then make another double loop knot. The jigs should hang independent of each other, i.e. they should swing back and forth when the line is moved. You will catch two fish from time to time.

Reeling in the Fish
You must be careful when reeling in a fish. With the boat traveling at trolling speed; be sure to reel the fish in slowly. The fish must be directed thru multiple lines without tangling, and without pulling the hook out of the fish’s mouth. Be sure to have a long handle net (EGO) on hand to capture the fish when he reaches the boat. Do not try to lift a fish with the rod. This is the primary cause in broken rod tips.

Rod Spacing
Another important factor in using this technique is proper spacing of you rods. Allow at least 3’ – 4’ between each rod tip. With 16’ rods on each side, you can completely cover an area up to 40 feet wide. Making several passes over an area allows you to quickly cover a wide section of water.

Using the BAIT-PUMP
I’ve found that at times when the fish just wouldn’t corporate, we simply pumped some crappie nibble into the end of the tube jig and bam, bam. This is one of latest and greatest addition to my tackle arsenal.

Using the GPS with a Lake Map Chip
A good quality GPS and a Navionics Hotspot chip is a necessary addition to your long-lining equipment. While paper contour maps are a great way to study before you reach the lake, it’s a guessing game when you’re on the water. With the lake map chip you can see what’s coming before you actually reach that point and see where your boat is in reference to the area you want to fish.

The contours can be zoomed to a view that allows you to stay at a certain water depths. You can see points, humps, ditches, flats and other areas that hold fish.

With a split screen view you can see the lake map and a sonar view. Using this view you can mark fish and say on the correct course. Zooming in from .5 miles to .18 miles gives you more contour lines while trolling. Zooming to .06 miles give a very detailed view of the area.

This view is used while searching a lake at a high speed. It’s of very little use when fishing, mainly because you cannot see the contours.

When I start trolling I zoom to this level. I can see what’s around and ahead of me.

I could troll some of my jigs on the high side off the left side and some in the deep water.

A good GPS allows you to see your route and save it for future trips. If your route was productive you can turn around and follow that same route over and over.

Trolling Motor
My choice in a trolling motor is the Minn Kota Trolling Motor. Be sure to get the 18’ foot control or the remote co-pilot. The Universal-Sonar is a great addition, it keep you for having to mount a transducer on the motor foot. For you guys that have the extra funds, the new I-Pilot from MinnKota seems to a great addition. It comes as an addon to the Terrova’s and PowerDrive V2 models.

Equipment Summary

* Minn Kota Trolling Motor with Auto Pilot & Universal Sonar
* BnM Poles: 2 – 16ft – BJGP, 2 – 12ft – BJGP,
* 4 – Rodger Gant Different Poles – (2 – 9ft, 2 – 8ft)
* Driftmaster Rod holders – 2 mounted on the left and right side of the boat – 4 mounted on the back (2 on each side of the engine)
* Grizzly Tubes, Mid-South Super Jigs, Southern Pro Tubes & Curly Tails
* Show Down Rubber Body, Mylar Jigs and Hair Jigs (1/32nd, 1/16th, 1/8th, and 1/4th)
* Grizzly Painted heads round heads (1/48th, 1/32nd, 1/16th, 3/32nd, 1/8th, and 3/16th)
* Quality GPS (Humminbird GPS or Lowrance / Eagle GPS, with a Map Card Slot)
* Blakemore Roadrunners (1/32nd, 1/16th, 3/32nd, 1/8th, and 3/16th)
* Navionics Hot Maps or Garmin Lake Maps (Lake Map Chip)
* Bait-Pump (Crappie Nibbles)
* Vicious Hi-Vis Monofilament Line (4#, 6# or 8#)
* High-Quality Marine Trolling Batteries (Optima)

Speed and Depth Chart – (Estimates)
We’ve charted this dragging our jigs over a sloping flat and charting the speed vs the jig dept. You may need to to come up with your own chart. These are not precise, please do not take these jig depths as the gospel.

Top Reasons to consider Long-lining

* Cover more water. Pulling jigs at .9 mph allows you to cover almost 8 miles during an average 8 hour fishing day.
* Cover different water depths. Pulling jigs at 30, 40, and 50ft allow you to cover multiple water columns
* Fish in windy conditions. We have caught fish in winds up to 18 mph.
* Eliminate Unproductive Water. Several passes in an area can tell you where not to fish.
* This method is perfect for any Season. In winter you will need to lighten your jigs and slow down your speed.
* Great for Suspended and Scattered Fish. By covering multiple depths, fishermen can catch fish that are scattered and suspended.
* Allows for the use of multiple jig colors, and multiple jig sizes at the same time.
* Catch large quantity and quality of fish very fast. Guides love this technique for this particular reason.
* No more getting “Crowed-Out” on a fishing spot. You can fish around multiple boats with no trouble
* No more live bait. Minnows are expensive, hard to keep alive.
* You don’t need a big boat, 16’ and up can be setup easily.

Long-lining Pitfalls

* Up-Front Expense. Getting setup will cost you. Some of my club members use their regular trolling motors but it requires someone on the trolling motor at all times.
* You are going to loose jigs and line. This is the first thing that crosses most fishermen’s mind. I have to admit I had this phobia. Earl Brink told me “You got a $25,000 BassCat and you worried about loosing $5 worth of jigs, you need to sell all that stuff and stay home”.
* Sometimes the fish just don’t want a jig.
* Batteries, Batteries, Batteries. You wear out you trolling motor batteries much fast. Good quality batteries don’t last long. They may need replacing after 18 months.
* Tangles, Tangles, Tangles. Sometimes they are unavoidable. Cut and retie, much quicker. You go back with good line that’s a plus.
* Old-timers will despise you. Yes this will happen; some of the old-timers think this should be outlawed.

Conclusion
I’ve shared a few of my tips, tricks and techniques, if you can use them to perfect your skills, great. If long-lining is not your “cup of tea” then so be it, it’s not for everyone. I do know if you apply some of the suggestions mentioned; you will improve your catch ratio. Some of my suggestions may help you save some money in the long run, if you by the right equipment in the beginning, it makes fishing a lot more relaxing and productive.

I ask in return is that you share some of your tips and tricks with other fishermen. Last but not least, always pay attention to the details; keep a log and notes on your fishing trips. Remember to catch what you can eat and release the rest, and take a kid fishing.