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Trolling cranks. how to?

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hammer33

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Oct 26, 2018
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Want to learn to troll crankbaits. Probably fish Centerhill the most, then Cordell hull.
Can anyone recommend a good youtube or offer suggestions?
I don't get much time to fish and figured trolling would be a good method to search for fish.
Oh and before ya start..... :p Yeah Yeah.... cast out a crankbait and drive around....
 
I don't think trolling will work at Cordell, it's much too shallow. I mean, unless you used floating baits that were only gonna swim to 3ft or less.
 
hammer33 said:
Looking to catch walleye, bass, crappie, maybe some white bass, striper. Whatever will bite and fit in a skillet !
Click to expand...
We used to just move along at 2-3
mph, and let out 40-60 yards of line behind the boat. You have to watch the depth closely, of course.
It can be a fun and super-easy way to fish.
 
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Well from what I have read very specific speeds are needed , if you have a hand held gps I would look in the 1.5 mph range to start. I am sure there are some forums that have some great info, probably Mi Wi ect for general info, like our deer hunting it might not be 100% the same but close. Lead line is used by Scat and he would be somebody to ask. I know he fishes for rockfish but probably hooks into a lot of others.
 
I think everybody starts with just chucking a crankbait behind the boat and covering water. But if you're like me, you eventually start trying to complicate it 😄 You'll start wondering things like why you only catch fish going one way vs the other...start noticing one rod keeps getting hit while the others aren't...and a whole bunch of other stuff. Your GPS speed is only speed over ground...it doesn't reflect what your crankbaits are doing in the water. I tend to go by feel more than relying on the GPS speed. I look for the rod tip wobbles. And Iif you're trolling in dam tailwater places with strong current, everything you learn up on the lake goes out the window. Example: In my mind, a crankbait pulling INTO the current should dive to the bottom with less effort or boat speed. But its the opposite. Heck they make trolling water speed indicators just to calculate the offsets for that kind of stuff.
 
Crow Terminator said:
I think everybody starts with just chucking a crankbait behind the boat and covering water. But if you're like me, you eventually start trying to complicate it 😄 You'll start wondering things like why you only catch fish going one way vs the other...start noticing one rod keeps getting hit while the others aren't...and a whole bunch of other stuff. Your GPS speed is only speed over ground...it doesn't reflect what your crankbaits are doing in the water. I tend to go by feel more than relying on the GPS speed. I look for the rod tip wobbles. And Iif you're trolling in dam tailwater places with strong current, everything you learn up on the lake goes out the window. Example: In my mind, a crankbait pulling INTO the current should dive to the bottom with less effort or boat speed. But its the opposite. Heck they make trolling water speed indicators just to calculate the offsets for that kind of stuff.
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Yeah I get ya about complicating things. Have snap weights and one planer board. (not sure where the other one is).
During the walleye spawn at Rock Island, there are a bunch of boats vertical jigging. Then there are a couple old geezers (older than me! ) in an aluminum tiller steer boat just driving around pulling cranks. They usually have a fish or three on the stringer.

Just got back from Lake of the Woods and the guide trolled cranks off downriggers. He liked between 2.0 and 3.0 mph. I thought it was crazy using downriggers in 20' of water but he explained he wanted to know EXACTLY where his bait was.
 
All good points made above. At one time or another while trolling I've caught all those species you listed. For the most part I troll for fish, any fish. But sort of pretend you're trolling for bass and most anything is likely to hit. I've even caught catfish, gar, and drum trolling for "bass".

Use minnow-like lures such a Rapala - different sizes and depths until you find what is working on a given day. Mix in something shiny like a Kastmaster or Jake's spin-a-lure and you're good to go. Now if you want to target a particular species, say walleye, you will need to vary your rig somewhat.

Work around contours, points, humps, etc. But keep your lines out as much as you possibly can so that you can to take full advantage of trolling. Consider this: If you cast for fish for 4 to 6 hours, how much of that time is actually spent fishing instead of cast-moving-casting... Now think about trolling. You can almost fish from the time you leave the boat ramp until you return. The more time you have your lure in the water the better the chances of catching fish - even when you think you are in a place unlikely to hold fish.

Most important of all - go fishing and have fun.
 
We primarily striper fish August thru October on Norris and Cherokee lakes. Typically the fish feed 35 to 50 ft deep. We use 9" grandma lures that work best 2.5 to 2.9 mph. 80 yards of lead core gets the lure 35 ft deep. 140 yards of lead core gets the lure 50 ft deep. Of course that is while running the target speed.

Downriggers are handy, in that you don't have as much line out and the depth stays more consistent. The downside is, I feel, the cannonball and the boat above it scares the fish. So with the lure only 50ft behind it, they haven't settled down yet. We only use downriggers when the fish are feeding deeper than say 40ft. I can see how downriggers would be beneficial in shallower lakes running 20 or 30 ft deep.

We do sometimes hook a walleye and they are pretty worn down by the time we figure it out since they may have been dragged along for a while.

Others are correct. Run the lure near the top and vary speeds until the desired action is achieved. Walleye usually like 1.5 to 2 mph. A trolling plate like the following is what I use. Also as I mentioned before, a bucket works good too.

 
I crappie fish 90 % of the time.. before livescope, I would cast out bandit 300 crank baits and troll at 1.0 mph color makes no difference.. normally 8-10 pound line..
 
Precision trolling app
Dipsey divers
True trips
Mono, braid, fluorocarbon
Lead core
Line counter reels
Downriggers
Planer boards
Fish Hawk speed and temperature
Hummingbird down and side
Kicker motor and steer with trolling motor

Some one said it earlier, Buck Perry's spoonplugs. I used them back in the 70's. Caught lots of fish first learning about deep water structure fishing. Still have some of my original spoonplugs and some I bought last year.

Edit: add braid
Edit: add line counter reels
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UPDATE. Fished the hill today. Trolling crankbaits. Fish and bait were consistently between 23 and 36 feet.
Using a 2oz snap weight I was fishing between 18 and 24' deep. Using shad imitation cranks.
Caught 4 channel cats, 1 blue cat and a 9# drum. The drum was on a gold Rattling Rogue.
Going to take some trial and error to figure out. Got snagged 5x. 3x in water deeper than my lure was supposed to be running. The other 2 was operator error. Lost 2 cranks. One snagged on bottom and I couldn't get it loose, the other when I tried to sling a 5# blue cat into the boat and the snap swivel broke.
Overall a good day !

Looking forward to trying some spinners with minnows or crawlers.
 
hammer33 said:
UPDATE. Fished the hill today. Trolling crankbaits. Fish and bait were consistently between 23 and 36 feet.
Using a 2oz snap weight I was fishing between 18 and 24' deep. Using shad imitation cranks.
Caught 4 channel cats, 1 blue cat and a 9# drum. The drum was on a gold Rattling Rogue.
Going to take some trial and error to figure out. Got snagged 5x. 3x in water deeper than my lure was supposed to be running. The other 2 was operator error. Lost 2 cranks. One snagged on bottom and I couldn't get it loose, the other when I tried to sling a 5# blue cat into the boat and the snap swivel broke.
Overall a good day !

Looking forward to trying some spinners with minnows or crawlers.
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A 2 ounce weight it's mighty heavy… try a couple of bandit 300's without the weight..and a couple with maybe a 3/4 ounce weight.. also.. but a plug retriever.. they will pay for themselves immediately!
 
hammer33 said:
UPDATE. Fished the hill today. Trolling crankbaits. Fish and bait were consistently between 23 and 36 feet.
Using a 2oz snap weight I was fishing between 18 and 24' deep. Using shad imitation cranks.
Caught 4 channel cats, 1 blue cat and a 9# drum. The drum was on a gold Rattling Rogue.
Going to take some trial and error to figure out. Got snagged 5x. 3x in water deeper than my lure was supposed to be running. The other 2 was operator error. Lost 2 cranks. One snagged on bottom and I couldn't get it loose, the other when I tried to sling a 5# blue cat into the boat and the snap swivel broke.
Overall a good day !

Looking forward to trying some spinners with minnows or crawlers.
Click to expand...
Where's the thermocline right now? As hot and dry as it's been, there should be one.
 

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