Crankbaits for crappies

[Iowabucks]

I have never had the oppourtunity to troll crankbaits for crappies. I am going to give it a try tommorrow.

I went out looking for a couple Rebel Deep Wee R baits and none of the places i tried had any. I did pick up a couple smaller crankbaits and am going to give them a try. I got a Rebel minnow, Strike King Bitsy Minnow, and a Matzuo Nano Crank. All these range from 1 1/4" to 2". The Matzuo says it has a diving depth of 3' (and i'm guessing the other baits are about the same) but i'm sure i'm going to need to get down deeper than that.

What is the best way of making it dive deeper. Rigging carolina style? How much weight would be used fishing with 4 or 6lb test?

Tommorrow will be deeper water but alot of places i fish are not any deeper than 5 or 6 feet. Would it not be worthwhile trolling crankbaits there? We mostly just fish those shallow spots with jig/minnow combinations under a float.

[feelay]

Bandit 300's are what we typically use. Depending on how far back you run them, you can cover depths from 8' to 20'.

[feelay]

Everything you ever wanted to know about trolling crank baits is here!http://www.crappie.com/crappie/missi...nks-101-a.html

[soswine]

feelay, what makes the bandit stand out for crappie trollin? Say as opposed to a shad rap or any other crank maker?

[satdoc1]

Bandits were designed for crappie fishing. They are also used by Green Carpers too.

[jeepguyjames]

we troll cranks alot in the summer and have had the best luck by a large percentage with the bandits. the wally marshalls arent bad, along with the deep wees, but bandits are far better than any we have used

[rambler1141]

I was fishing a small lake with NO structure other than a point that went from shore to 8 feet deep in about 400 yds. I used two 4" Cabellas minnows, one silver/blue back and one clear/blue back, with rattles, trolled on long line. Every time I crossed the point at the six foot level, I caught fish on both plugs. They were 12"-16" bass, 12"-13" crappie and 9"-11" bluegill. I didn't catch a lot, but it was fun and moving all the time was a plus, too, 'cause it was over 90 degrees with no clouds or breeze.

["G"]

Click here for depth charts for Bandits. http://www.crappie.com/crappie/archi...pth-chart.html

[chaunc]

A lot of the western PA guys use #5 shadraps on 6lb braid. Silver/ blk is top choice followed by perch. We catch bass and walleye on them too.