Thread: cranking for crappie

most people dont pull cranks till the water temp is 70 deg or warmer

Yes, I catch more of my crappie pulling cranks than anything else. I know there are some guys that actually do it all year long. Myself, I usually start when the water hits about 60 degrees, but a testy motor has kept me from doing any this year so far. What are you wanting to know specifically?

Just wondering if you cast or troll them. I catch most my fish casting jigs but was thinking crank baits would be more fun, like bass fishing.

most ppl troll cranks for crappie i started trying this some last yr about this time and into the summer months with what id call moderate success. there's an art to it and quite a bit of math involved, but dont worry others have it all figured out for u. its to in depth to really tell u about on here but if u wanna learn the ins and outs and really gain some knowledge on the topic, go to the mississippi forum. these guys have a whole bunch of info and a forum set aside just for trolling cranks. hope this helps.

I always troll several baits (you can cover much more water that way), but of course they would bite a cast bait too. The idea with trolling is pulling the baits behind the boat at the depth in which fish are holding. You might try "longlining" a single crank bait by giving it a good long cast behind the boat and pulling it with the trolling motor at about 1.7mph. You can always stop the motor when you catch a fish and cast for any more that might be in the same school. It would sort of be the "best of both worlds." Google the Magnolia crappie club in Mississippi. There is a great article on crank baits by them.

Trolling cranks is a real good way to catch Crappie, during the late spring thur summer & early fall. A lot of fun.

To follow up on something that Novo stated up above, we have tried several different plugs to pull. You have to find the true runners because if they have play in them or foul easy it will mess the lines all up. It is an enjoyable day on the water.....

go to the mississippi forum and at the top there is "pulling cranks 101" sticky, 153 pages of pulling cranks. you can read on the subject for hours.