“Fishing” vs. cranks – questions/observations

I know there are some people on the site that swear by pulling cranks. Others love corking or rigging or pulling spinners. I personally don’t like the idea of trolling crankbaits. To me it seems like I’m not really “fishing”, if you know what I mean. I like the idea of having my pole in my hands (insert joke here) and doing something with it.

What do you guys think? It’s funny sometimes cause you can be talking fishing with somebody and you have two WAY different ideas of how to do things are what you like even if you’ve fished the same last as them for 30 years. Kind of interesting. I just associate long trolling runs with salmon fishing or something … put stuff out and real ’em in as they bite. Not my cup of tea, but I can see how it is a) effective and b) how some people could like it.

Anybody out there totally stuck to one form of fishing vs. the next?

A lot of people do not like pulling cranks because they are no good at it…. anyone can pull a crank on a weed line but get into long line and lead core trying to run cranks at fish suspended 8 foot off the bottom in 34 FOW is where it becomes an art. Try to pull cranks in the open basin on mille lacs and then just say its just put it out there and reel em in as the bite.

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A lot of people do not like pulling cranks because they are no good at it…. anyone can pull a crank on a weed line but get into long line and lead core trying to run cranks at fish suspended 8 foot off the bottom in 34 FOW is where it becomes an art. Try to pull cranks in the open basin on mille lacs and then just say its just put it out there and reel em in as the bite.

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Oh yes, don’t get me wrong. I apologize if I wasn’t clear, there’s definitely an art to it. One big reason I’d never fish that way is I have no idea what the heck I’d be doing in the first place so it wouldn’t be worth it to even try. No doubt it takes a lot of skill to perfect the style, that’s for sure. It’s a LOT of work to set up too, that much I can gather.

That said, still not something I’d really aspire to learn either. But I hear ya, I’d need to learn a lot to be able to do it affectively, no doubt. It’s outside of my skill set at the moment.

I enjoy all forms of walleye fishing and use the most effective tactic that produces. If that means slip bobbers then thats what I do, if it means pulling lead then thats where I’m at. Now that I don’t target walleyes as much pulling cranks is the easiest way for me. Now my main focus is muskies I hate trolling for them, while I’m a good walleye troller I just cant put it togeather for muskies so I just cast….

I do real fishing, called catfishing. LOL
BK will agree with me!

Kevin

if you aren’t versatile in presentations then you will never be the best fisherman. some of the biggest walleye i’ve seen or caught have been trolling the sippi with cranks. give it a try sometime in the fall and when u catch a big fish and can have a beer in your hand you’ll like it.

Just giving my 2 cents. Get the trolling bible and line counters is the way to start. I use trolling as a way to find active fish. I was out on mille lacs Friday evening and killed em pulling cranks in no mans land which set us up for an even better bobber bite later on. Fished til 4:30am and fish were still biting when we left but lack of sleep got the best of us with still having a 2 hour drive home.

Some good points being made. And I’d say those who say it’s good to be well-rounded, you’re absolutely right. For many out there – myself included – it’s probably a combination of lack of equipment and lack of knowledge as to why we haven’t fished this way.

I haven’t ever fished during the late fall – trolling or otherwise – but that is something I’d like to try at some point. Deep basin and no man’s land trolling – while definitely effective for many – doesn’t really float my boat (don’t pardon the pun).

Any of you guys out there that focus on rigging, spinners, or bobbers dabble in pulling cranks at all?

Do what feels right.

Trolling bores the living crap out of me. Don’t get me wrong, in the right spots and in crunch time it can out shine everything else. Hats off to the guys who put in long hours pulling baits.

I know what you mean about being hands on. Feeling the bite is where it’s at in my boat, be it casting cranks, rigging, swimming jigs or ripping spoons. More times than not I’ll chase the castable fish and leave the trolling bite to the pros.

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Any of you guys out there that focus on rigging, spinners, or bobbers dabble in pulling cranks at all?

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It’s all about having one more tool in the box so to say. Fishing this last week on Mille Lacs had a pretty good corking and rigging bite on the mud flats we were fishing. By Thur those fish were tuff to get. They were well off bottom. Believe me, rigging and corking is just as boring as trolling if you are not getting bit! Anyway, while fishing these areas we noticed both on the graph and watching the surface, there were fish way up on top. Hard to throw a bobber set at 5 feet over 31 feet, so out comes the trolling rods and we were back on a nice bite.

-J.

I hear ya sundogg44 – trolling cranks in the open basin is not for everyone. I believe it comes down to a few things.

Confidence – a lot of anglers give it the old college try (couple of hours), give up and go back to what they know best – rigging, pulling blades, corking etc… It takes a lot of patience and practice and I always ask them how long did it take them to perfect their other methods of fishing? I usually get a smile and a nod.

Control – some people don’t feel like they have control of what they are doing when trolling cranks in the open basin since they do not have their fishing rod in their hands. Walleye anglers for years and years have been programmed to fish structure and to maintain your boat control on that structure. It’s totally different in the open basin and you are there to cover water and find the active feeding fish. My father goes nuts in my boat when we are out in the open basin because he feels that he has no control of the outcome.

Quantity versus Quality – if you are looking to take home some fish under the slot limit, trolling cranks in the open basin is not a good choice. For every walleye that I catch out there, less than 5% are under the current 18 inch slot limit and therefore it’s pretty much catch and release fishing. Some anglers want to take home fish and measure their success by catching fish under the slot. If you’re after a big fish or desire quality of size, the open basin is hard to beat. I’m certainly not saying that you can’t catch big fish pulling blades, rigging or corking. But IMHO, day after day and fish after fish it’s hard to beat the the quality in size of fish in the open basin.

Enjoyment – some anglers like to feel the bite and set the hook. You certainly don’t get to experience that in the open basin trolling crankbaits and therefore they don’t like to fish that way. However, there are other forms of enjoyment that you get. One is that I love to see a planer board thrash back and forth in the water knowing there is a big walleye on the end of that line. Or when the line counter reel clicker starts screaming and your leadcore rod starts pumping back and forth peeling off drag because a walleye fell victim to your crankbait below. Or when two lines go off at the same time and you have a double on! My point is trolling cranks in the open basin certainly is unique and can bring you different forms of enjoyment that other methods can’t produce.

I’ve been trolling cranks in the open basin for over 12 years now and from the end of May through mid Sept it’s pretty much all I do when fishing in my boat. I especially love taking inexperienced anglers or kids out there because all they have to worry about is reeling in that fish. It’s also fun to take other anglers out there that were somewhat pessimistic about trolling the open basin. Some actually go home and start buying planer boards, trolling rods and line counter reels. Again it’s not for everyone, but for me it’s my preferred method of fishing on Mille Lacs.

Very good points Brad.

Yesterday on Mille Lacs, it was tough getting those walleyes to bite on corks and rigs for us, but as soon as we started pulling lead, it was game on! I’d even go back to where we’d marked a nice pod of fish to rig and hardly a bite. We did catch a few rigging, but it was finess to the max for our boat with pulling lead the main ticket. If you want more intimacy, try holding onto the rod with out setting the hook! My friends dad had just a blast holding on to that rod waiting for the next bite! We caught around 40 or so with most over the 18 inch mark, but they did manage to bring home thier 8 “slot” fish home. I could have used two of them on Saturday during the tourney…

It is frustrating to start/learn any new fishing tactic or method. This is my first year trolling spinners. I started out not getting much action, but things are really coming together. As you get it dialed in things start to happen and you get hooked. IDO has been a tremendous resource for me to learn the how-to of trolling spinners. From there it’s all just time on the water. practice makes perfect. This fall and next year I will be working on dialing in the cranks.

IMO trolling is a necessary evil. I won’t argue that it’s more fun to fish hand-to-hand casting cranks or pitching shallow, but as stated before nothing is all that exciting if you aren’t catching fish.

Most of who I’d consider to be great walleye fisherman are at least good trollers and they use that skill on new bodies of water to learn it for themselves. Much easier to cover water at 2.5 mph dragging a crankbait than at live bait speeds and a lot more fish see what you are offering.

Brad, if nobody wants to go troll the basin with you give me a call and I’ll be up !

I have been fortunate enough to spend many days on the water, with a great guide and many other fellow IDO members who are great fisherman/sportsman.

I like trolling for a much simpler reason, serenity. When out in the open basin, you rarely have to deal with any other boat traffic. I cherish my time on the water where I can escape from work and stress. So it is not all about the fishing, it is about the “experience.”

Maybe a bit of a different perspective but I grew up Lindy rigging/spinner fishing crawlers/leeches/minnows and we either drifted if we had wind, or trolled if it was calm. Thats it, that was walleye fishing. I venture a guess that a good percentage of recreational Minnesota anglers still think this is “walleye fishing”.

I just never really got excited about walleyes, got into a few other things, but am now really juiced up again about fishing walleyes and its because of these new methods and techniques that I’ve learned about. I shouldn’t say new but new to me. I’ve been shown how effective they can be and I can’t help but think how I should have been doing this a long time ago.

Crankbaits play a big role in my new excitement as do leadcore and planer boards. And its not as easy as lets tie on some crankbaits and go motor around.

Great points being made all around and I think I agree with pretty much everything I read. It’s not that I wouldn’t like to try it once in awhile when the time is right, but the fact of the matter is I don’t have the time nor the willingness to learn the trade enough to do it well.

Maybe a couple years ago when I was up there every week and willing to try and learn new things by practice I would. Fast forward two years and I’m married with a kid due in September and all of a sudden my fishing time has diminished significantly!

So, I stick with some tried and true methods and do as well as I can as the conditions and bite allow. I just hope we get a little action this weekend. Up there ’til Monday, so we shall see whether we attack the eyes on the pond or go for a little pan/bass fishing on some smaller lakes to keep the lady interested enough to stick it out for a few hours.

Good chatter, all!