Thread: pullin' cranks

Creekslick is pretty good at pulling cranks. He could probably give you some good pointers.

thanks, rockmike

We've been doing it now for 4 years. I can't even begin to tell you the number of crappie we've caught over the years. We troll mainly Bandit 300s sometimes the 200s. We troll around 1.2-2.2mph. We troll using our big motor with a trolling plate to maintain the slow speeds. I have a 90hp.
The best time to push cranks are after the spawn when the crappie move back to the deep water.
We're set up with trolling racks out of the back of the boat, and also on the sides. We use bass poles to troll out the back. Some folks use line counters, we've tried using them, but I think there more work than they're good. The poles that we troll out of the sides, we use 2oz egg sinkers to get them deeper with little line out. We don't use any weights out the back we just long line them.
-The line that we use is high vis p-line 8lb.
-Color of cranks: they vary with all the lakes that we fish.

I use a 20' pontoon with a 60 hp 4-stroke motor and trolling plate. I try to keep my speed between 1.5 and 2 mph. When I first started I used spinning reels with 6 foot rods then switched to some of my spider rigging rods and line counter reels. Last year I used a 14'er, 10'er and a 8'er out each side of the boat.This year I am adding a 18'er. I stagger the depth until I found them then set all rod at that depth. I use Bandit 300. Mistake, Blue Spatter Back, and shad color are my favorite but it's like jigs colors everyone has their go to color. I don't try to push them with extra weights because the lake where I troll was not clear cut before it was flooded so if you have 6-8 poles out and one gets hung if you stop to get it unhung the others sink to the bottom and get hung to. At 5 dollar a crank bait I try not to lose very many. One more thing you need is some good rod holders. The line I use is Power Pro Braid 30lb test 8lb diameter. I started with 10lb mono but was loosing too many baits. Hope this helps you some.

Originally Posted by Hog Slab

We've been doing it now for 4 years. I can't even begin to tell you the number of crappie we've caught over the years. We troll mainly Bandit 300s sometimes the 200s. We troll around 1.2-2.2mph. We troll using our big motor with a trolling plate to maintain the slow speeds. I have a 90hp.
The best time to push cranks are after the spawn when the crappie move back to the deep water.
We're set up with trolling racks out of the back of the boat, and also on the sides. We use bass poles to troll out the back. Some folks use line counters, we've tried using them, but I think there more work than they're good. The poles that we troll out of the sides, we use 2oz egg sinkers to get them deeper with little line out. We don't use any weights out the back we just long line them.
-The line that we use is high vis p-line 8lb.
-Color of cranks: they vary with all the lakes that we fish.

Thanks for the info guy's. I'm really looking forward to trying them on Horseshoe lake this spring.

thanks creekslick. I appreciate the info.

Can't help you too much with the technique, but I know that most folks just make as long of a cast as possible and go from there. Make sure you've got a plug knocker so that you can get those expensive baits back. I haven't really fished the technique seriously, but plan to figure it out this spring when Creekslick finds me at his front door...:D

If you want to get a little more technical, here's a graph another member posted a while back. I also have the graphs for 100s and 200s as well if you want those. Good luck and let us know how you do...this technique should be very good for post-spawn Horseshoe slabs.

Ceb is right on about the plug knocker, I have a knocker and a pole. But sometime no matter what you do you can't get them loose.

Ceb when they start at Greers I will give you and Jerry a shout.