Thread: Pushing Cranks

Not trying to be funny, but I can’t picture pushing cranks from the back of the boat. I’ve pulled cranks from the back with good success. I’ve pushed cranks from the front with good success.


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Originally Posted by bigcrappiemax

This is a two part question.

Has anyone ever 'pushed' cranks from the back of the boat, and if you have, did you catch fish doing it?

We've tried it a few times with zero Crappie caught. We do catch catfish, but that's not the goal.

I had tried pushing from the front off and on, just never did get the hang of it. I usually pull 2 pairs of planer boards and one off each back corner without board. The last time out, I tried adding a couple more rods with 4 ounce weights about 4 feet in front of the crankbait. Rods off the side, more towards the back, in between my board rods. To my surprise, I caught 2 or 3 out of the 12 I kept on them. Think I may be figuring it out.
One thing I did, I put the clickers on those 2 reels on, and backed off the drag so that when a fish hit it pulled line. That way I didn’t really have to watch them. Pick up a bite, tighten the drag and turn clicker off. I’m fishing 8 rods total by myself, so I have enough to watch allready lol.
And no I’m not on the big 4, there is no pole limit where I fish. Thinking of adding a couple more to the mix.


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Originally Posted by BroKenneth

Not trying to be funny, but I can’t picture pushing cranks from the back of the boat. I’ve pulled cranks from the back with good success. I’ve pushed cranks from the front with good success.


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Lol. Obviously they aren't being pushed for real. They are just rigged like I would if I were going to run them off the front. The boat I'm using doesn't have double seats up front so I was trying something different

Originally Posted by J White

I had tried pushing from the front off and on, just never did get the hang of it. I usually pull 2 pairs of planer boards and one off each back corner without board. The last time out, I tried adding a couple more rods with 4 ounce weights about 4 feet in front of the crankbait. Rods off the side, more towards the back, in between my board rods. To my surprise, I caught 2 or 3 out of the 12 I kept on them. Think I may be figuring it out.
One thing I did, I put the clickers on those 2 reels on, and backed off the drag so that when a fish hit it pulled line. That way I didn’t really have to watch them. Pick up a bite, tighten the drag and turn clicker off. I’m fishing 8 rods total by myself, so I have enough to watch allready lol.
And no I’m not on the big 4, there is no pole limit where I fish. Thinking of adding a couple more to the mix.


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I always push from the front with great success, so I thought I'd try it from the back. So far, it's a bust. The fish I'm catching now are about 14' down. I think maybe the boat is spooking them. Maybe when the fish get deeper it'll work better. Maybe not. I can't imagine watching 8 poles! 4 is a challenge for me.

Pulling cranks with planer boards gets the bait out away from the boat and works well but I’m sure you know that JM2C

HAVE YOU TRIED PUSHING AND PULLING TOGETHER ?

Originally Posted by bigcrappiemax

I always push from the front with great success, so I thought I'd try it from the back. So far, it's a bust. The fish I'm catching now are about 14' down. I think maybe the boat is spooking them. Maybe when the fish get deeper it'll work better. Maybe not. I can't imagine watching 8 poles! 4 is a challenge for me.

Yeah it may have just been a fluke for me. Near as I could tell I was pulling those about 13 feet. 20-25 feet of water. Maybe they were just extra hungry.


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Pushing from the rear. I'd say lighten up on the sinker and a little more line out. With my jig rigs I push the front rods with 2 and 3 oz sinkers. The rear rods with 1 1/2 and 2 oz, 2 to 4 feet deeper. With less weight you're not really going any deeper.