Clear Water = long-lining crappie success

Mississippi’s typical stained or muddy waters make trolling a less effective technique for catching crappie, especially for long-liners in the spring.

Since long-lining requires crappie to visually see the bait before moving in to strike, long-lining has not found little use in the state, except in its rare clear lakes and impoundments. That includes Flint Creek Water Park.

In clear waters, many crappie anglers, including Kent Driscoll, pro-staff angler for West Point-based B’n’M Poles, think that long-line trolling is a great way to target crappie from a distance without spooking the fish.

One of the greatest challenges of long-lining for crappie is accurately presenting baits at specified depths in order to target suspended fish. Depth presentation is based on a combination of boat speed, line out and jig weight. Other factors that influence this depth include the diameter of line used, water currents, and wind currents.

“Long-line trolling is efficient down to depths of about 12 to 15 feet, after which a vertical presentation of weighted baits is usually more effective,” Driscoll said. “Long-lining lets you see the fish on the graph as you go over them, then you have 40 to 50 feet before the baits get there that you can slow down or speed up to fine tune the baits to the proper depth.”

An exact guide to long-line trolling depth is not possible to fit every situation and every boat setup, but as a rule of thumb, however, Driscoll suggests that a single jig trolled at .8 mph will reach the following ranges:

Jig Wt.           Depth

1/32 oz.        4-6 feet

1/16 oz.         8-10 feet

1/8 oz.           12-15 feet

Driscoll stresses that each boat set up will vary with minor details that can affect depth of presentation. Mixing jig weights is not usually a good idea as different weights will cause lines to cross during trolling turns. Tying two jigs on one line adds weight and creates a deeper track, which can help define the crappies’ depth preference. But it also complicates making turns.

“A large part of long-line trolling is playing the odds,” said Driscoll. “You don’t want every jig at exactly the same depth. Especially in a turn, the inside jigs will drop and the outside jigs will rise. That’s another way to fine tune depth. Once you get that part right, you can really lay the wood to them.”