trolling for crappies

[slurpie]

Caught a few stray crappies trolling for eyes before but now gonna try and target them trolling. Is there a speed that works better like 1.2 vs 2 or is it trial and error? What type of rod do you use light or medium action? I got hornets rapalas, jointed rapalas a couple mini fat raps and some spinners should be able to get something to bite with those. Is it possible to use planer boards on crappies or they dont hit hard enough? So how would you spread the lines out if there is four people in the boat? Alot of questions but the seasons coming thanks for your input.

[CrappieAttitude]

If I was fishing four people in a boat for crappies, I would slowly move while casting a jig under a float. Keep moving very slowly until you catch a crappie, then stop the boat and continue working the area over. Once you find one, you should be able to catch more. You would probably miss a lot more than catch if you are constantly troling. They would have to be pretty aggressive in order to chase down rapalas.

[Bottle Fish]

Fully agree with CrappieAttitude. They are not necessarily know to be caught while trolling, but it does happen. All season I used a #3 dressed Mepps spinner with producing fish all year round. Never got skunked once.

[jigglestick]

we troll for them all the time with beetle spins. it's nice to not need minnows during the summer when they're hard to keep anyway.

real slow. just fast enough to make the blade spin.

right along the weed line in the evening as they're coming in to feed.

I use my electric, but if you have a small outboard, that can work too.

[FishinChad]

Great tactic when targeting slabs, doesnt work for all lakes but on at least one of the lakes I fish this is probably the best tactic if you are trying to find only the SLABS! Troll as slow as possible without your bait falling to the bottom, use small spinnerbaits and small rapala type lures, spinnerbait being my lure of choice. Something with the crappies in this lake, we always catch them trolling, big ones, gotten them on big spinnerbaits and even a 15.5" on a big muskie size bucktail.

[riverrat56]

I would have to disagree that trolling cranks isn't an effective presentation to catching crappies all year long, however my best luck has been 10 days either side of walleye opener.

Stick to #5 Shad raps, #4 Hornets, and #4 Jointed Shad Raps, these will effectivly target the biggest crappies in the system, but also still lets the smaller aggressive ones feed too. Crappies have a very large mouth for their size.

Areas to look to are the mouths of bays or shorelines adjacent to spawning areas/feeding areas. Many times the fish making short trips up into very shallow water, <5', but they will spend most of their time staging off of the first break in 7-11' of water. Drifting jigs or bobber fishing will find some fish, but if the schools are roaming, staying on the move is your best bet.

Any emerging weed lines are great places to key on as well, I like to keep my speed in the 1.5-2 mph range when pulling cranks.

Other key locations to troll for crappies are deep basins in a mostly shallow bay, any type of bottle neck area with deep water near by, and any type of area that will have current, such as a creek entering or leaving the lake.

Gear wise any type of walleye trolling rod will work, however you want to make sure that the setup has a ton of forgivness in it. I would recommend using at least a 10' mono leader, or just running all mono. Spinning gear can also be highly effective for trolling as well, any Medium light to Medium action rod should work fine. Normally I will run my cranks about 70' back, depended on water depth and clarity. With four people in the boat I would just stick to using 3 rods, one out each side and one straight out the back, running the longest poles out the sides, just take turns fighting the fish.

[Archerysniper]

This is the way I fish them most often covers lots of water and you dont have to stare at a bobber. It's just a smaller verison of walleye lindy rig. A 1/8 or smaller egg sinker a swivel a small gold spinner a few beads and a long shank gold hook. Put the hook in the minnows mouth out the gills and hook it back in it's side troll the weed edge when you feel a bite drop the rod tip towards the fish and then set the hook.

[metrojoe]

I troll with a set up similar to the one pictured above. Sometimes I use a twister tail or a tube jig, but most often I just tip the jig with a crappie minnow.

[usmtsrocks]

1/16 oz. jig with a 2" twister tail is all you need.

[south_metro_fish]

This is some good info I cant what to try some of this out this year. Does any one ever troll for them around snags on the river?

[Drewski]

A 1/16 oz jig with a power minnow works great.

[slovene]

We "troll" for craps in mid-summer near the edge of the weedline (near dropoff) in the cabbage or coontail using clip-on bobbers and a small tube jig. Start moving the boat real slow forward, about .5 mph, put the line/tube jig in the water and clip the bobber on the line at the point where the tube jig runs just above the weedtops. Let some line behind the boat, close the bail, and set in a rod holder. When the bobber bobs or goes down, fish on. Very simple method, but HIGHLY effective. Give it a try and good luck.

[PerchJerker]

Small cranks and small spinners like beetle spins are what I use. Drop the trolling motor and go just fast enough to get the spinner blade spinning, just fast enough to put some action on the crankbait.

If I had 4 people in the boat trolling for crappies ......

I would have the 2 guys in front start out with heavier baits like beetle-spin-type spinners or jigs with plastic bodies ---- and ideally those 2 guys would have long enough rods to get out to the side of the boat a ways.

For the 2 guys in back I'd have them start out with small crankbaits, maybe a small floating rap (maybe with a split shot a few feet up the line) nad a small hornet or fat rap for the other guy. Get those lines out behind the boat a ways.

I've caught some really nice crappies and even sunfish on big baits while going after other species, but if I was targeting panfish by trolling I'd go with what I described above. Good luck.

[slurpie]

thanks guys. Its not often i get 4 people in the boat but if the new law passes (or maybe its been shut down already) we could have 2 lines per person in mn. getting the boat ready and am excited to go catch some fish trolling.

[Scott M]

My first "slab" crappie as a kid came on a huge red and white bass oreno in a late spring near some sunken brush "up north." Since then I've caught a few more non-target crappies while trolling and have targeted a few with trolling. I remember one slow fishing opener leaving Mille Lacs and swinging down to Chisago county to troll for some crappies. They bit all afternoon and we salvaged a lost day.

[panfish11]

i like to slow troll with mini fat raps they always work for me. i also troll with small jigs with twister tails.

Good luck!