Side pulling for early spring crappie

There isn’t anything wrong with crappie fishing guide Brad Whitehead’s boat, but he sure gets lots of strange looks. It’s probably because instead of trolling with the boat’s bow moving forward, Whitehead’s boat is being pulled sideways down the lake.


While it may be counter intuitive, Whitehead’s side pulling technique puts crappie in the livewell. “Side pulling for crappie isn’t something you see every day on the lake. Although if anglers knew how efficient it is at catching crappie everyone would be doing it,” said Whitehead.



Whitehead (Brad Whitehead Fishing Guide (256)381-7231) uses an aluminum 17 foot War Eagle Boats with a 50-hp Yamaha outboard rigging it with two depth finders and a hand control trolling motor. The trolling motor is attached on the boat’s side not on the transom. This allows Whitehead to pull the boat sideways in a controlled drift.


One thing Whitehead does is turn his outboard just slightly enough to assist with keeping the boat sideways. This will change according to how hard the wind is blowing or weight distribution in the boat while keeping it moving from .9- to 1.1-mph. By keeping the boat sideways every angler is fishing new water giving everyone equal opportunity to catch fish.


Now before you start drilling holes and hanging a trolling motor on the side of your boat there’s one thing you need to know. This is a deepwater technique. The water depth has to be deep enough for this technique to be successful.

“Side pulling is a great technique for putting in numbers of crappie, but you have to have deep water and keep control over your boat. I like to use a controlled drift using my trolling motor to keep the boat moving where I want it to go,” said Whitehead.


Keeping the boat in at least 20 feet deep of water, Whitehead will use multiple rods to cover a wide area as he drifts. The key is keeping the lure near the bottom at 2- to 4-feet from it. On Pickwick Lake Whitehead is targeting cut off stumps on deep flats where crappie like to congregate.



“Prime time to catch crappie side pulling is now until almost the end of May. I still catch them side pulling out on the flats even during the spawn. In fact, the crappie I’m targeting out on the flats have a lot less fishing pressure along with not being effected by cold fronts,” said Whitehead.


To keep the lures from tangling, Whitehead uses 10 foot B’n’M Poles (www.bnmpoles.com) The Difference rods rigged up with low profile reels. He uses 10 pound test high-vis Vicious monofilament line.


For lures, Whitehead will use two handmade 1/4-ounce hair jigs rigged with a 1 1/2-inch Charlie Brewer’s Slider Company (www.sliderfishng.com) Crappie Grub, Slider Curl Tail, or 2 1/8-inch Slider Minnow in a contrasting color pattern than the hair jig. He will space the two jigs 12- to 14-inches apart.


“I’m looking for a reaction strike when I’m side pulling. It’s really a numbers game where you can expect to catch lots of crappie, but not always the biggest,” said Whitehead.


Contrary to what common sense would indicate side pulling is a great technique. Whitehead has perfected the technique even though it’s getting him lots of strange looks on the lake.