The Crankbait Chronicles By Bernard Williams

Welcome to another article in the continuing chronicle of crankbait trolling. If you overlooked one of the former articles just hold on, we’ll have them for you real soon. In the last article we debated the how’s, this article will analyze the when to do it, where to do it and what to use. What I mean is; when is the time to yank out the cranks and hit the lake. Start too premature and your catch may be limited, too late and you miss lots of summer crappie catching fun. I’ll share my favorite Lakes for hot action. I’ll also give you my preference on what equipment you need to make this method successful.

Water Temperature

Water Temperature is one reason to consider, nevertheless there are others. In this segment we clarify what effect water temperature has on catching crappie on crankbaits. I must caution you, I’ve caught coolers full of crappie on cranks throughout the late fall and winter months. I’m not saying you can’t catch crappie in other seasons but I tend to have better-quality and consistent catches during the summer months.
Well my experience tells me that when the water temperature reaches 85˚during the day and holds 80˚ or higher during the night, in my view it’s time to break out the cranks. Here in Mississippi temperatures during the early days of May jump to around 90˚ or a little above at times. Now this is when we call cranking time.


Shad Balls

The primary reason water temperature is important is the temperature causes shad to school tightly. We call this “balling up”. When the shad ball up, the crappie will feed freely and remain close by these shad balls. Finding these shad balls is a matter of knowing where to look. I normally narrow my search to river or creek channels first or old lake beds and flats next.


Time of Day

Why would you say time of day is important? Well to increases your odds and not waste your time we can narrow our search to a specific time of day. The Hot Times in my opinion are mid-morning until late-afternoon. On our southern lakes the sun starts to beam hot around 10 to 11 am. This becomes prime time for cranking.
Crankbait Trolling is really not an early morning or late evening technique. You will catch fish during these times but our primary times are when it’s almost too hot to fish. I’ve seen the air temperature hover around 97˚ and water temperature hit 90˚ around 10:30 am and it’s just like someone flipping the light switch on, the fish become very aggressive and the bite hits the maximum.


The Perfect Lake

To get the most out of trolling crankbaits for crappie you must choose a lake that’s favorable to using this method. Some lakes are just not crankbait-able; what I mean is lakes with lots of timber are almost impossible to utilize this technique. If you think you would like to learn to pull cranks, then the lakes you should consider are the COE Lakes in north Mississippi.

These lakes were built in the early 50’s and the majority of these lakes are clear bottom with only man-made structure placed in strategic areas. They contain lots of feeder creeks and river channels with large open water flats. These are the ideal lakes for trolling crankbaits. This is the areas that you should focus your efforts.

If I had to pick one lake out of all it would be Sardis Lake. Sardis it located along I-55 about 40 miles south of Memphis, TN in Sardis MS. I really think crankbait trolling was invented at Sardis. According to Kent Driscoll, Sardis fishermen were using this method nearly 20 years ago. During prime crankbait season at Sardis you really don’t need a guide, just follow the crowd. It’s not uncommon to see 30 to 40 pontoons pushing cranks, and another 50 to 75 boats pulling cranks during an average weekend. So before I would go out and spend a few hundred dollars on the gear, take a trip to a good crankbait lake and contact a local crappie guide and book a trip. You can read articles but fishing with an expert can save you lots of money in the long run, and you may decide that this is not you forte.
The action can become fast and furious in a hurry. Having numerous fish on at one time can become exasperating. I’ve had to roll up the rods and place them in the holders at times to just to catch my breath. When the action is hot the fishing can become work. I mean as fast as you can take one fish off and make the cast you have another rod bowing up. Don’t get me mistaken, it can be exciting, but when you can’t take a break for an hour or so, you can get burned out rapidly.

Trolling Poles, Line Counter Reels and Rod-Holders

I now will elaborate a little on the gear I use for pulling crankbaits. I use B-n-M Pro-Staff Trolling Poles (2-PST16-16’, 2-PST14-14’, 2-PST12-12’, 2-PST10-10’, and 2-PST8-8’). These poles were engineered for trolling crankbaits. They have the proper tip action as well as the backbone needed to direct big slabs thru your other lines with tangling. I use 16’ poles to get the spread. With two 16’ on the side and the width of my boat, I’m covering over 40’ on each pass.



I use Okuma Magna Pro Line Counter Reels for the precision. When I catch a fish at 60’ I can place all rods at 60’ and narrow my search. These are excellent reels for pulling crank baits considering you are pulling from 6 to 8 rods at one time. High-end line counter reels are expensive. These reels fit well with my budget and allow me to have a spare on had just in case.

I use braided line to get my lures down to the strike zone quickly. Braid has less drag and stretch than mono, it also don’t break as easy.

I use Driftmaster Rod Holders. The lakes I fish have rough fish (stripers, gar, and large catfish). It’s a sad feeling when you look around and see 3 or 4 rods being pulled in the water caused by rod holders that weren’t designed for crankbait trolling. That’s why I chose Driftmaster, along with the lifetime warranty. They allow you to raise the pole tips much easier and spread the rods quickly without a wrench.

Crankbait Preference

My brand preference for crankbaits is Bandit Lures in the 200 and 300 series. Bandit crankbaits run true out of the box. You don’t want your lures swimming left or right, you want them to swim in a straight line. I’ve tried other brands and for the money Bandits are the best by far. Bandit has even added a line of crappie colors.

Another good feature about Bandits is the Daiichi Bleeding Bait Treble Hooks in size 8, no need to change out the hooks. The rattle chamber is different on Bandits; the rattle has a different pitch from other baits. This causes a lot of reaction strikes. Strikes that occur when the fish wasn’t hungry just didn’t want that intrusion in their territory. Bandits have a tight wiggle that causes a different vibration coming though the water. I honestly believe this causes the fish to take notice of the bait.

Crankbait Colors

As always I like to mention a few of my favorite “Fish-Catching” colors. I’ve tried these colors on many lakes in numerous weather conditions. I will rank them by their catch ratio.

Conclusion

The Crankbait Chronicles will be a continuing series of articles about Trolling Crankbaits for crappie. This method can become addictive and expensive; I try to save you money getting setup. As always I try not to give too much material to digest. I try to lead you in the route you need to go and let you find you way. In the end it still takes “Time on the Water”. Honestly speaking, I receive zilch from the product vendors mentioned above. I reference them specifically because they fit my purpose. They work for me and they’ll work for you.

Lastly, I’m not a skilled outdoor writer; I’m just a devoted fisherman just like most of you. I enjoy sharing my information and tricks. I also guide some in the spring and fall, not enough to be called a professional guide. I fish competitively with the Magnolia Crappie Club, the oldest and leading crappie club in the country; a lot of what I’ve learned comes from trial and error and getting beat in our club competitions. These tips have helped me become a better-quality fisherman, and it will improve your skills also also if you apply some of the things I revealed. If you have questions, drop me an email or message. Contact Bernard Williams email:[email protected] or mobile:601-454-0196. By Bernard Williams, Magnolia Crappie Club