Crappie Trolling

[ttitan27]

Hit Percy Priest today to troll for crappie with my new planer boards I picked up from one of the members of a hunting forum i'm on quite often called TNDeer.com. We were trolling crankbaits which is a deepwater sport and most of the fish are still shallow so I really didn't expect much. Water was still 66 degrees and it usually isn't very good trolling crankbaits 13-15 foot deep till the water hits at least 75.

Anyway, we caught probably 12-15 crappie with only 6 being keepers plus a slew of white bass and one small hybrid. We ran two rods on the planer boards and two straight out the back of the boat and they all seemed to catch fish equally well. Definitely a learning curve on getting the setup right without tangling lines but it was fairly easy when you got things going.

We were trolling 1.7-2.2 mph pulling bandit 300 series lures and the boards did well. All in all, I like the boards and look forward to when the water warms up more and the trolling bite really turns on.

Here are the 6 keepers with a free plug for the company I got the boards from.

[Halli]

Cool beans that sounds like a start to many a day relaxing and cruising.

[mfbab]

If you want to fish shallower, try longlining some jigs, roadrunners are good.
You can throw them out about a cast length and drag behing the boat or clip them on the planers with 30-40' of line let out.
Run the boat about 1mph +/- over shallow flats, decent water clarity helps too.

[Dakota]

Very nice Titan27. Nice keepers. sounds like a good learning say too.


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[TNtroller]

To OP:

Can you provide a bit more detail on how you set the planer boards up for cranks? Did you let out enough line for the crank to run the depth wanted then put the board on the line and let out more line to get the board away from the boat??

[ttitan27]

Originally Posted by TNtroller

To OP:

Can you provide a bit more detail on how you set the planer boards up for cranks? Did you let out enough line for the crank to run the depth wanted then put the board on the line and let out more line to get the board away from the boat??

Yes, this is exactly what we did. I cast my crankbait about 50 feet and then clip the line to planer board and then just let out more line off the reel until you have the board however far away from the side of the boat that you want.

Someone else asked if you needed long rods to use planer boards. No you do not. From my observation yesterday, it really doesn't matter because the boards are doing the work for you.

This was the first time in my life to ever use planer boards so I am by absolutely no means a pro. These were just my observations. I have been trolling cranks for several years so I do have a feel for that.

[TNtroller]

Thanks for the info. I've pulled boards for a couple years now with just jigs/grubs but did not really think the boards would stay on top of the water with cranks behind them.

The boards work great pulling jigs & grubs when the fish are shallow. Pulling 8 boards can make for a busy day at times.

[bfish]

For cranks, I prefer dual boards and mast system, rather than inline boards.