Spider Rigging?

[deep-v]

I have been fishing for crappies for many years in western PA, but until I started reading this board had never heard of Spider Rigging before.

May I ask what it is, and how you guys go about it?

Thank you,
deep-v

[J White]

I was hoping one of the guys that does this regularly would reply,
but it seems they are either shy or otherwise occupied -
basically it involves fanning out long crappie poles in rod holders from the
front of a boat, and easing around prime spots with the electric troller,
keeping the lines almost vertical - some use jigs, some minnows or both.
I think it is pretty common to use multiple hooks per line, and 8,10, or more
rods, so some states aren't going to play nice with this. I think there are
about as many variations as there are folks who do this - some put rods out
the back, too. You can probably find a lot of stuff on here if you do some
searches on it. Good fishing to you, Jeff

[fishboy]

Try this site.
http://www.crappiestuff.com/spider_rigging_101.html

[slabbandit]

Spider Rigging is the way we fish our lake, (Lake Nimrod), about 80 to 90 percent of the time. If we are not vertical jigging brushpiles or cane beds we're Spider Rigging or trollin' as these Arkansas boys call it.

It consist of equally fanning or spreading 4 to 6 11-13' poles across the front thus giving the appearance of a giant spider sticking out the front of your boat. The long poles are held in a rack, ( either store bought or homemade), of sturdy rod holders.

You can either tightline or use corks, I've seen it done both ways. Rigging up can be as simple as a 1/4 oz. pinch on lead about 12 inches above a crappie hook on the tightline rigs to the elaborate double minnow rigs used by many of the tourn. pros.

Boat speed is important, you don't want to move as fast as trolling crankbaits. I tightline spider rig now days but back when I used slip corks I didn't want to move fast enough to pull the line up through the cork.

My Father-in-Law, who is one of the better crappie fisherman on our 3500 acre lake, prefers to not use corks and he really likes the new Roadrunner heads with the red hooks and the barb to hold a Midsouth Super Jig on the head. He buys the 1/8 oz. heads and adds another 1/8 - 1/4 oz. of weight above the Roadrunner head about 10 -12 inches. He always hooks a minnow through the lips or eyes on the Roadrunner after putting on whatever color jig skirt he wants to try.

We like to troll around with our trolling motor in the shallow flats that average 5 to 12 ft. deep. THIS IS AN EXCELLENT TECHNIQUE TO CATCH A LOT OF FISH IN A SHORT TIME! This is why this is the #1 technique that the pros use when fishing tournaments on strange lakes.

Trollin' or Spider Rigging the flats is not the only place to use this method. Most pros will follow creek channel edges or bump into the stumps on the main river and creek channel ledges. These places are actually where the larger slabs are located.


CATCH A BIG-UN

[krappiekrazy]

I read somewhere that a picture is worth a 1000 words.

[chaunc]

I have been fishing for crappies for many years in western PA, but until I started reading this board had never heard of Spider Rigging before.

May I ask what it is, and how you guys go about it?

Thank you,
deep-v

Deep-v, i spider rig when i go to Ky. lake. I have my rack in the boat. I slow troll a couple lakes in our area. It just aint the same when you're only allowed 2 poles. I like rigging jigs and nibbles and trolling points and humps. I'll show you what i mean on saturday. Smitty

[1weezer]

Try reading "Spider Rigging 101" on www.crappiestuff.com. If you have any trouble getting into the site, let me know and I will send you a copy of it.
Good luck!

[deep-v]

Thank you all for the info, I appreciate it.

Like Chaunc said, we are only permitted to use two rods/person here in PA. Probably why I have never seen it here.

Now that I know what it is, I was watching a crappie fishing show last week on the sportsman channel and they were fishing this way but I did not know it was called spider rigging.

Thanks again,
deep-v