Trolling – man does it work and sometimes better than casting & reeling !

A bud of mine convinced me to try trolling small crankbaits down the middle of a somewhat narrow lake after a day of mediocre fishing soft plastics. It was towards the end of the day when we were planning on leaving – from 4:30 – 6 pm but I thought – what the heck! Sure enough decent crappie, perch and a few bass slammed our cranks that dove to mid-depth in 8′. He used small Big O’s and I used a lure that I hadn’t cast in decades – a Rapala Risto Rap. At times we had doubles with different species caught at the same time.

A #2 speed setting was used on the Minn Kota with the boat going in a straight line. We noted areas that held fish using landmarks and made sure to troll back to those locations. So cool seeing the light action rod tip bend way back when a fish was hooked. Most important was keeping algae off the lure. Fish will not bite when crap is stuck on the hooks, line or bill.

When the day is tough, try trolling.

If really weedy I use Beetle Spins if more open I use crankbaits, it is fun. Running the Beetle Spins over weeds I have caught 24 inch Walleyes, a 38 inch Northern tons of Bass. It is fun trying to get these bigger fish in on light Crappies rods and reels.

Great report Spoon

Good tip Tom and thanks Tim.
I have a slew of old stored crankbaits that may work as well that dive the same depth and have the same wiggle. BTW 8# test braid/2# diam. did great with my 6′ light action rod. Kastking braid from Amazon is the best I’ve ever use and the cheapest by far.

I’m going to give this a shot. I’ve been looking at the Bandit 300 series that can dive to around 10 ft. Did you use deep divers Spoon Minnow or throw split shot on the line?

mahtofire14 wrote:

I’m going to give this a shot. I’ve been looking at the Bandit 300 series that can dive to around 10 ft. Did you use deep divers Spoon Minnow or throw split shot on the line?

I used med. divers – one that goes a bit deeper than the other.I going to search my stock for divers that will go to 10′ for this other lake that is deeper.

Today was calm and cloudy and the

only

way I could catch decent fish.

Going to buy another clamp on rod holder so I can run two lures at the same time. One or the other caught fish today. One rod must have had a nice fish because it was almost pulled overboard.

mahtofire14 wrote:

I’m going to give this a shot. I’ve been looking at the Bandit 300 series that can dive to around 10 ft. Did you use deep divers Spoon Minnow or throw split shot on the line?

I used med. divers – one that goes a bit deeper than the other.I going to search my stock for divers that will go to 10′ for this other lake that is deeper.

Today was calm and cloudy and the only way I could catch decent fish.

Going to buy another clamp on rod holder so I can run two lures at the same time. One or the other caught fish today. One rod must have had a nice fish on because the rod was almost pulled overboard!

put a small split shot 2ft above bait will help a lot to keep baits clean from floating weeds

Thanks, I’ll try that. The black dead algae sometimes floats mid-depth and I can see when the vibrating rod tip is still indicating that it’s on the lure or hooks. Maybe the split shot will help.

When fishing deep suspended Crappies I use a mix of shallow and deep divers either behind 3 ways or bottom bouncers, speed can play an extreme part. Have had when .6 mph jumped to 2.3 in a matter of hours to keep consistent bites going.

I used two different depth crankbaits today and caught a few crappie and a sunfish over 18′ of water. All other bites were dead. Bright sunny, windy day – 80 degrees. Can’t wait til normal temps kick in for Oct. and I don’t have to rely on trolling to catch fish.

Spoon Minnow wrote:

I used two different depth crankbaits today and caught a few crappie and a sunfish over 18′ of water. All other bites were dead. Bright sunny, windy day – 80 degrees. Can’t wait til normal temps kick in for Oct. and I don’t have to rely on trolling to catch fish.

Almost all of my bigger Crappies have consistently come from trolling as the larger fish will more likely be in open water, unafraid to get eaten versus the smaller fish. I find using 12-14 foot very soft Crappie rods work the best.

I will use my SI and mark areas of fish then set up a trolling pattern, and fish on.

That’s how I was taught to troll and find quality fish in deeper water.

Thanks for the info guys. I am hoping to try this on Thursday in a clear deep lake. I bought a few of the bandit 300 series cranks and man do they seem big for crappie. But they are designed for them so we’ll see!

mahtofire14 wrote:

Thanks for the info guys. I am hoping to try this on Thursday in a clear deep lake. I bought a few of the bandit 300 series cranks and man do they seem big for crappie. But they are designed for them so we’ll see!

If you can run some slender baits add weight if need be to get them down, many days I have had Crappies prefer slender versus fat crankbaits. Has a lot to do with the action and the mood of the fish.

Should have trolled today considering the 20mph wind and bright sky. Caught fish on grubs and Beetle Spins before I’d had enough trying to hold position.

Tom P. wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mahtofire14 wrote:</div>
Thanks for the info guys. I am hoping to try this on Thursday in a clear deep lake. I bought a few of the bandit 300 series cranks and man do they seem big for crappie. But they are designed for them so we’ll see!

If you can run some slender baits add weight if need be to get them down, many days I have had Crappies prefer slender versus fat crankbaits. Has a lot to do with the action and the mood of the fish.

I picked up a few of these types as well so I’ll give that a shot too. Thank you.

Spoon Minnow wrote:

Should have trolled today considering the 20mph wind and bright sky. Caught fish on grubs and Beetle Spins before I’d had enough trying to hold position.

I tried it for a bit this morning, then tried slip bobbering, then tried vertical jigging. The wind was just too much and then frustration set in. Why can I catch these buggers in the Winter and Spring but always struggle in the Fall?

I thought panfishing was supposed to be easy???

Spoon Minnow:

I spent yesterday in the wind on a local WI River flowage as we are in that timeframe of turnover and at least until I am able to determine what other fisherman are seeing out there for water temps while I’m bar tending tonight, I feel the most comfortable on this new body of water close to my new home.

Other fishing reports have fisherman catching crappie and small walleye in locations that we fished yesterday. Winds gusting to 22-23 mph and water temps here have been falling and are at 54-ish. Last Friday downstream 40 or so miles last Friday we fished for Musky in the River in temps of 55 down to 53 during the day.

What were you finding for water temps during your last trip out???

Mark

“What were you finding for water temps during your last trip out?”

Surface temp down to 60 but again fish when found will strike hard lures even in water at 39 degrees which happened last year in early Nov.
Today nice & cloudy with a manageable wind of around 10 mph. Excited to give it ago !
Frank

mahtofire14 wrote:

I picked up a few of these types as well so I’ll give that a shot too. Thank you.

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Spoon Minnow wrote:</div>
Should have trolled today considering the 20mph wind and bright sky. Caught fish on grubs and Beetle Spins before I’d had enough trying to hold position.

I tried it for a bit this morning, then tried slip bobbering, then tried vertical jigging. The wind was just too much and then frustration set in. Why can I catch these buggers in the Winter and Spring but always struggle in the Fall?

I thought panfishing was supposed to be easy???

Crappies are in transition and on the move this time of year.
During cold fronts, the Flowages I fish they will lay belly to the bottom you can see them on 2D and DI. Lake bottoms that are clean will all of a sudden have all these little bumps laying on the bottom.

I was using a buckshot with a minnow head vertical jigging in 19 fow, water temp 53.
Freakin Smoked em this afternoon! I couldn’t even get my lure close to the bottom before one would hit. Pretty much stacked up like cord wood.

Eelpoutguy wrote:

I was using a buckshot with a minnow head vertical jigging in 19 fow, water temp 53.
Freakin Smoked em this afternoon! I couldn’t even get my lure close to the bottom before one would hit. Pretty much stacked up like cord wood.

I think I’m just going to put my Precision Noodle or Bullwhip in the boat and use that instead of the long sticks. Maybe it will trick my mind into thinking I’m ice fishing…..going to give it another shot tomorrow.

Actually I was going to try that, but I just picked up one of these https://stcroixrods.com/collections/freshwater-panfish-series and wanted to try it out. Freakin love it. I also have an ugly stick for pan fish that I really enjoy catchin those crappies on.

Eelpoutguy wrote:

Actually I was going to try that, but I just picked up one of these https://stcroixrods.com/collections/freshwater-panfish-series and wanted to try it out. Freakin love it. I also have an ugly stick for pan fish that I really enjoy catchin those crappies on.

I have a St.Croix Premier, model PS46ULM, that’s a sweet boat rod for vertical situations. Its rated for 2-6 pound line and 1/16 ounce lures, but fishes lighter lures/baits very well. A 750 size reel works great on this rod.

I’ll add a St.Croix ice rod spring to the tip top using latex tubing and use the rod for very late season dock fishing where pilings get jigged using ice tackle….super effective. Small rods do super well when one doesn’t have to cast and they offer way more control over the baits.