Thread: Tips on how to Spider-Rig

2 poles in IL........
Sorry cant help with the rest.

Originally Posted by barrelslime

2 poles in IL........
Sorry cant help with the rest.

Not true for every lake, read the rules on the IDNR site. Unless specified with a 2 pole and 2 hook per line, you can use 3 poles with 2 hooks per line. For more info on how-to you should post this in the main forum.

Per the Illinois 2010 Fishing Guide...

TROLLING
Trolling is permissible, provided the angler
has not more than three poles and lines with
not more than two hooks or lures on each.

when spider rigging you are more than likely slow trolling, therefore, you are allowed 3 poles per person. I spider rigged on shelbyville a lot this past summer with great success. That being said, the best time to do this is when the crappies have scattered in the summer months and just roaming the flats chasing shad etc. I know a lot of people love to spider rig at sangchris as well. You can do it there year round and catch them, especially now when it sounds like they arent congregated into one specific location. Spider rigging can be very, very effective if used in the right times. 6 or 12 hooks is always better than 1 or 2 in the water..

As for the gear needed, I bought 2 driftmaster rod holder set ups, you can go to their website and look at them. It comes with a T-Bar and 4 rod holders and a floor mount. Dont just look into driftmaster though as there is lots of brands out there and many prefer different kinds. Heck, if your willing, you can even create your own. Rod wise a lot of people use 12ft minimum rods when spider rigging, 14ft are very nice and thats what many guides use because they are the most user friendly if you are not used to it. Down in Mississippi we used 16ft rods and fish were still spooking, iv saw 18ft rods and crappie24 says he wants 20ft ones. If your fishing shallow, I think the longer the better so you can get the baits to them before they spook. But if fishing deeper, 12 or 14ft rods would do just fine. I know we used Capps and Coleman rods. But BnM are Pro Series are very popular when spider rigging.

As for depths, just watch your graph. On shelbyville in the summer you can about guarantee the fish to be from 8-12ft deep in the summer over 15-25 foot of water. They are usually just above that first thermocline. In mississippi on grenada a buddy of ours who lives there and fishes it all the time says he has never caught a fish deeper than 10ft. Most of the time they are 3-8ft deep over however deep water. If your around here and wanting to fish in or around brush, just find out how high the brush comes to and set your depth there so you can troll right over the tops of the piles.

Most of the time we have used 1/2 oz egg sinkers on double minnow rigs when spider rigging and we troll at .03-.08mph. If your using jigs a lot of guys will use a 8th oz and a 16th or two 8ths and troll about .03-.05mph. Its all in what you prefer and a lot of it is just getting out and experiencing it and messing around. As always, watch others, see what they are doing and try and match their setups if they are catching them.

All in all its a fun and different way to catch fish. Its very effective at times and if you just want to sit back and relax this is a great way to do so... but sometimes its havoc when the fishing is good!

I mostly fish Evergreen,Its the closest to me 2hr. That is the only way we fish there,other than about a month in the summer when we pull cranks. I go with my daughter and soninlaw so we can use 6 poles and get 45 fish. I dont see why it wouldnt work on any lake. If you dont believe me just ask Sparky 197 0r Lhumphrey on this board 2 wonderful guys.

The guys pretty much posted what I would have said. The only difference for me is I usually drift with the wind and use the trolling motor to keep me in line. I bought a little rig from bass pro for 50 bucks with 4 holders. I found pretty quick that its not as easy as it appears. A couple guys at greenfield and jackson ville do it by holding a rod in each hand and raising and lowering the rod tips is what they prefer. Trial and error. If you search CDC you can find the bandit crankbaits info on how far behind the boat equals what depth the cranks run at. It will help. Keep it simple starting out you will find something along the way that works and refine it from there.

Fulldraw, What size War Eagle did you get? I purchased a 2072 this year and have it all setup for spider rigging and might be able to give you some setup ideas. I use two driftmasters on the right and in the center, but use the Tite-Lok Black Widow on the far left because of it's quick release base to get it out of the way of the trolling motor.

Here is a pic of my setup. Let me know if you have questions and I'll see if I can help.

How often do you check the minnows to see if they are alive while riggin? Do you constantly change out the dead ones? I don't have a problem when using only 2-3 poles, but in KY or MS when you conciveabley have 8 - 12 poles, that could be an issue. What is the rule of thumb in that case?

Often. Especially when the water is very warm. We have used up to 4# of minnows a day in a tournament. Birdman put out a pretty good reply.

Originally Posted by jtmavs

how often do you check the minnows to see if they are alive while riggin? Do you constantly change out the dead ones? I don't have a problem when using only 2-3 poles, but in ky or ms when you conciveabley have 8 - 12 poles, that could be an issue. What is the rule of thumb in that case?