Thread: Crankin Info

In my opinion cranking works better in lakes that have white crappie. The whites seem to spend their summers suspended in open water whereas the blacks like to be near cover and in the shade. We do catch a speck every now and then cranking but its mainly whites.

Mark, I have caught two hundred and fifty crappie in my two trips to Mississippi and only was a black crappie! G nailed the nail on the head with his explanation.

I fish a lake from time to time that has a lot of black crappy in it, not so many whites and its tuff crankin.
My advise is that you find a lake close that has a good many whites in it to learn the technique and then fish the lake you speak of. Starting on a tuff lake is very discouraging and makes learning very hard too.

My home lake is gin clear with far more black crappie than white ones. (But when you do catch a white one, it is a HOSS.)

The specks do like to stay in cover most of the day. The exception is on cloudy days. On these days the fish will usually be relating to the cover, but they will not hold tight to it.

Also, from an hour before daylight to an hour after duse I can catch them like white crappie because they roam the open water. The lake I speak of is so clear by this time of year that greater than 50% of the fish I catch over 12" have the stripe running down the nose ( they are not magnolia crappie, btw). In my opinion, it's not so much that black crappie in my local lake are stuck on brush by preference, but by necessity from the blinding sun preventing them from feeding.

Another thing that helps is using more shallow running 200 series (or equivalent) cranks so the bait is farther behind the boat- giving more time for the fish to settle down. Another thing you'd be better off doing: tie on a 20 ft leader of 6 lb flouro. It's the difference-maker for me.

If you feel confident in your knowledge of any particular brush pile that is holding fish, and it's max height in the water column, then you can pull over the top of it before the sun gets too high and hammer them.

Don't be discouraged- specks will hit a crank, given the correct conditions.

Originally Posted by SlaterSlinger

My home lake is gin clear with far more black crappie than white ones. (But when you do catch a white one, it is a HOSS.)

The specks do like to stay in cover most of the day. The exception is on cloudy days. On these days the fish will usually be relating to the cover, but they will not hold tight to it.

Also, from an hour before daylight to an hour after duse I can catch them like white crappie because they roam the open water. The lake I speak of is so clear by this time of year that greater than 50% of the fish I catch over 12" have the stripe running down the nose ( they are not magnolia crappie, btw). In my opinion, it's not so much that black crappie in my local lake are stuck on brush by preference, but by necessity from the blinding sun preventing them from feeding.

Another thing that helps is using more shallow running 200 series (or equivalent) cranks so the bait is farther behind the boat- giving more time for the fish to settle down. Another thing you'd be better off doing: tie on a 20 ft leader of 6 lb flouro. It's the difference-maker for me.

If you feel confident in your knowledge of any particular brush pile that is holding fish, and it's max height in the water column, then you can pull over the top of it before the sun gets too high and hammer them.

Don't be discouraged- specks will hit a crank, given the correct conditions.

Good info

Caught several hundred whites in Enid this summer. First black yesterday.

Thanks for the help guy , a lot of good info I may still give it a try.