Anyone pull cranks at Green?

[JLSandusky]

The majority of my fishing is done at Green or Cumberland either jigging or spider rigging. I never see anybody pulling cranks at Green but seems like it would be a decent lake to learn due to the various bottom structure. I have a small collection, maybe 15 or so, but I've never done it. I've read plenty and get the idea. Just wondering if anybody successfully catches fish, what seasons, and what structure. Just an open discussion, I'm not looking for all your secrets. Thanks in advance.

[CrappiePappy]

The majority of my fishing is done at Green or Cumberland either jigging or spider rigging. I never see anybody pulling cranks at Green but seems like it would be a decent lake to learn due to the various bottom structure. I have a small collection, maybe 15 or so, but I've never done it. I've read plenty and get the idea. Just wondering if anybody successfully catches fish, what seasons, and what structure. Just an open discussion, I'm not looking for all your secrets. Thanks in advance.

It's done all the time at Green. I think most of the people I know "Push" cranks, rather than actually "pull" them. By "Pushing cranks" I'm referring to using lead trolling weights ahead of the crank ... as opposed to "pulling" them without weights (longline trolling style).

I've tried it a few times, with others & by myself ... and caught fish. It seems to be one of the better methods to use when the lake water temps are over 70deg and pushing 80deg and the Crappie are on the flats and suspended around the Shad schools. When the Thermocline sets up, that will determine the maximum depth your cranks need to reach.

Then again ... last year, at the Spring Fling (early May), there were people catching Crappie on cranks ... out in 30fow !!

[slabseeker1]

I use 3 oz weights on down rods and alternate, one down, and beside it, longline. 4 rods across the stern, four off the bow using my 14' rods furtherest out and long line so I hopefully won't get tangles


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[JLSandusky]

I would be more comfortable to push than pull because I normally spider rig and it would feel more natural. I only have 4 rods that would handle the weight to push though. I do have a couple of line counter reels I bought last year but never used them. I guess I could try a mix of both. I have a XI5 so I can run the TM from anywhere in the boat. I guess I'll just have to try later in the spring and summer and see what happens. If I could catch some with cranks it should boost my confidence enough to put more money into the right equipment. I've been wanting to head down west to the big lakes to learn from "the pro". Maybe I'll just have to give him a call.

[Quackrstackr]

Be careful what you wish for. Pulling cranks can get expensive in a hurry when you find the snaggy stuff. I was with "the pro" one day when we lost $50 worth of cranks in about 0.2 seconds.

[chaunc]

Be careful what you wish for. Pulling cranks can get expensive in a hurry when you find the snaggy stuff. I was with "the pro" one day when we lost $50 worth of cranks in about 0.2 seconds.

This happened to me and my buddy. We ran across a stump field that rose out of fifteen feet to eight real quick. Lost all six cranks at one time. Was using eight dollar shad raps. Do the math.

[Retired2Fish]

This happened to me and my buddy. We ran across a stump field that rose out of fifteen feet to eight real quick. Lost all six cranks at one time. Was using eight dollar shad raps. Do the math.

That would take the fun out of it in a hurry!

[JLSandusky]

Yeah that would suck. I would likely only try in areas where I know the structure. I don't know why, but I just really want to see a big crankbait deep in a crappie's mouth.

[slabeye]

You must never get out of the river or fish pass April. Everybody and there brother are using cranks anymore...

[M R Dux]

Last April, 3 of us KY Lake boys headed east to attend the Green River Spring Fling. We brought 2 boats. Adam (Dutch552) had fished Green. Rickie and I had never seen it. Some inside info we got on the lake said it wasn't the place to be pulling cranks in April. Being the hard-headed redneck that I am, I loaded my boat with nothing but crank gear (it was already being used down here) and decided to swing for the fences! All or nothing!!

Rickie and I started out reasonably shallow and found found some brush piles that gave up a few fish. Adam started out deeper and got on better fish. We all started concentrating even deeper around cover and started doing well. It was one here, 2 there but we were putting 10+ inch fish in the box. At the end of the afternoon we had a respectable catch in both boats with the largest being a 14 incher Adam caught. We had traveled quite a ways and seen lots of the beautiful scenery on the lake. Our best areas were close to where we launched.

The next morning we went right back to the area that produced best from the day before. We got on decent keepers right away. As the morning moved on, we had to move with the crappie and ended up catching them 15 feet deep in 40 feet of water. No cover and not a lot of bait. We had a hard time getting away from the channel catfish that were suspended right amongst the crappie. We tried a lot of different baits and colors. Funny thing is we were doing best on the same baits and colors we had been doing well on KY Lake on.

I think between the 2 boats and 3 fishermen on Friday afternoon and 4 on Saturday morning, we ended up cleaning over 100 keepers plus several channels. Since we have become accustomed to 10 inch size limits here, we just weren't interested in keeping very many fish below 10 inches.

We just took what we were comfortable with and applied it to a lake we had never seen.