"What's so wrong about "Pushing" ??"
Pappy, I set my boat and gear up with the mindset of a client who is stepping into my boat without a clue of what to do. A large % of my clients are challenged by the simplest of trolling gear, much less spider-rigging gear. If I was fishing myself or with experienced friends, I would be pushing cranks a large % of the time. After I had one client drop his power-trolling rig right in front of my trolling motor prop TWICE in ONE HOUR after me telling him multiple times to not drop it anywhere near the front of the boat, and getting 2 14' Southern Crappie Rods 143Ts ground up into 6 footers then spending 20 minutes taking the prop off the Terrova TWICE, I have come to the conclusion that pulling just works better for me in most situations.