Thread: Do I have to start trolling jigs ?

I have been known to dip a jig in a treetop or two also. I just have quite a few crank baits left from my green carp days and want to try them out on crappie.

Troll, troll, troll is all I've ever done. Cork, sinker, minnow; tightline in the front, longline out the back. Jigs without minnow, jigs minnow tipped... troll fast or troll slow but keep the bait moving! If something you are doing isn't working, change your approach/presentation.
'Never give up...never, ever give up!' JIMMY V

That should have been your first lesson. If you are fishing banks and docks and not getting bit but long line trollers are catching fish what does that tell you. The fish are not on the banks or are not feeding. Majority of the crappie are suspended over deeper water and feeding. This is where being versatile will result in taking fish home or going home with an empty live well. On a trip to greenwood recently my buddy and I were targeting different depth. He was trolling shallower water and I was trolling deeper water fishing 1/8 oz jigs right on the bottom in 15 to 20 ft water. When we met about 1 pm I asked him how many fish he had 2 in live well. As we were talking I caught number 20 to fill my limit with all fish being over 10 inches. Being able to change technique easily will make a difference in catching fish or not. On my boat I am set up to carry trolling, tight lining, dock shooting and jigging pole at the same time. If I get to the lake and the wind is blowing to hard to tight line then I change to trolling or what ever it takes to put fish in the boat. You do not have to have 20 rods to troll with. You can do okay with 4 rods. You can go to a different technique when your first choice is not working. Remember being versatile is the key to consistently putting fish in the boat

I use to be "Old" school and nothing but cork/minnows. Now I 90 percent only troll. If the fish are in the pads, I'll fish early morning flipping minnows until the sun gets up. Than , I'll back-off and start trolling. Took time to learn how to do it but catch more fish on constant basis.

Let me know if you need any rods for long lining. I got a bunch I'm about to put on the classifieds section. I'm revamping my rod setup and going to 12ft. rods like lcookie mentioned in his video. Selling rods from 8ft-12ft. Mr. Crappie, BnM, and Crappie Maxx for the most part. Need to make some room and get wifey off my back!