Trolling Crankbaits All Summer Long - by Brad Wiegmann

It’s sizzling hot outside. The lake feels like bath tub water, but that’s not going to stop you from crappie fishing. In fact, you have had a pretty good time catching crappie all summer long trolling crankbaits.


Truth is it comes as no surprise to crappie anglers everywhere that have mastered the technique of trolling crankbaits. Mitch Glenn, owner of Pico Fishing Lures, would be one of those anglers loving the summer months just because it’s a great time to catch crappie on crankbaits.


Elevated water temperatures seem to be the one common factor when it comes to catching crappie trolling in the summertime. In a recent trip with Glenn trolling crankbaits, he explained how crappie like to position on the breakline between the flats and the old river channel when feeding on baitfish. The breakline turned out to be where we caught most of the crappie trolling.

Glenn likes to push two Pico INT crankbaits (PICO Lures) with B’n’M Poles Capps & Coleman Series Trolling Rods (B'n'M Fishing) in the front holders while pulling two Pico INT crankbaits with another two B’n’M Poles Trolling Rods in the other two rod holders. He will use the same four rod set up on the other side of the bow and utilize the longest rods in the front holder till he gets to the smallest length rod in the back holder. By doing this set up, Glenn can keep his crankbaits separated and from tangling.


A thermocline at 20 feet had the crappie and baitfish shallow mostly in the 7- to 12-foot depth range. Glenn rigged up the pulling rods with crankbaits while letting out between 70- to 40-feet of line to cover the 10- to 12-foot range. On the pushing rods, Glenn utilized a Scott Vance 3-ounce pushing weight letting out the pushing rods 10- to 12-foot of line to target the 7- to 9-foot range.

Speed is the key to catching crappie when trolling. Glenn uses an electric trolling motor to control his speed. Normally, Glenn will go from 1.6- to 2.2-mph targeting where the electronics are showing images of crappie and baitfish.


What color of crankbait always seems to be a hot topic between anglers. “The colors of Pico INT crankbaits actually came from feedback from many of the members of www.crappie.com website. So, we know these are popular color patterns, but more importantly they catch crappie,” said Glenn.


He uses bright colored crankbaits on bluebird sky days with lots of sunshine. Glenn uses the Pico INT pinks colored crankbait patterns and white shad colored Pico INT crankbait patterns to match the schools of baitfish in the area. Early in the morning, late evening or on cloudy days, Glenn will also use red colored Pico INT crankbaits patterned crankbaits imitating crawfish or bream when trolling for crappie in the summertime.


One thing Glenn mentioned about crankbaits is tuning them if they don’t run straight. “Pico INT crankbaits always run true out of the package. By that I mean straight and not running to the left or right. Of course any crankbait can start running off center if bumped so many times into cover or structure. To correct that and to tune the crankbait, I will take pliers and move the eye-tie slightly the opposite direction the crankbait is running and vice-versa,” said Glenn.


Trolling crankbaits in the summertime is a numbers game. Glenn noted that you will catch lots of crappie in the summertime although some of the crappie will not be big, you will catch crappie trolling crankbaits all summer long.

- by Brad Wiegmann

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