First timer trolling cranks

[badbrad]

Fished Kentucky lake this weekend and tried trolling crankbaits for the first time. Despite my novice skills I managed some good fish. Caught 29 Crappie Saturday, but only kept 13.....Had some excitement with a 3lb largemouth that decided to nail my crankbait, Also caught a nice catfish.

Today, not as many fish but had a lot nicer ones. One measured 16 1/4 inches long and just barely missed 2lbs.

The picture of my trolling motor is my "Poor Boy auto-pilot"

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[randybenham]

how did you rig up your rods? were you holding them, in rod holders, or using planers? it looks like you were using a deep diver, & I want some good tips the next time I get on some bigger water. When I did the crank trolling, I didn't have a lot of time to experiment, but I am going to do more of this here in arkansas. Some other knowledge from you...... how fast were you trolling, were going in a straight line, or making S curves,.... We need more info! Oh, & by the way, great job! nice fish, & congrats on the success!

[slabmaster09]

Good job BB! I havnt ever trolled cranks but have thought about it.

[badbrad]

I was trolling with just two rods in my tite-lok rod-holders mounted on the front of the boat. I just used two rods so that I wouldn't be tangling up while trying to learn. I can see that using planer boards would probably work good. I trolled bandit 300 series chome and blk, pink, chartruese and mistake colors at speeds between 1.2 and 1.5 mph. I tried to find drops in 16 to 20 ft of water. I marked them with a bouy and then made long trolls across them.

There were some lulls in the activity, but it was pretty exciting when one hit the crankbait. I'm sure someone who really knows what there doing would have done much better, but I'm just trying to learn and figure I won't know unless I just get out there and try it.

[randybenham]

brad,
thanks. again, great job. I am definately getting to big deeper water to try this.

[SteveJ]

The picture of my trolling motor is my "Poor Boy auto-pilot"

I have an old Johnson TM and mine is just a 1/4" 4"X4" piece of alum. stock that I lay on the on/off sw. I troll on 24 volt and when I get a fish on I just kick it down to 12 volts so as not to get my lines tangled, use 4 rods.

[badbrad]

I'm still trying to work out the logistics on the trolling motor and what to do when you catch a fish. That was the only thing I could find that would hold the button down while I was trolling. I'd love to have an auto-pilot...but don't see one anywhere in my near future.

[Cane Pole]

From the wake behind that Johnson, looks like you got a pretty fast trolling speed. Cover a lot of water. No wonder those fishes looked so streamlined. Good catch.

[badbrad]

It was just to pretty a sunrise not to share it with everyone. Nothing better than running across the lake at that time of morning.

[Cane Pole]

It was just to pretty a sunrise not to share it with everyone. Nothing better than running across the lake at that time of morning.

AMEN and AMEN.