Trolling for Crappie [Catch Clean and Cook]

Crappie have always been one of my favorite freshwater fish to catch and especially eat. Either in the spring on the banks, or during the summer under lights at night. These two ways are the only way I have ever fished for them. I have watched shows and seen people spider rigging for them. I have just never had time to figure it out. This year has been very difficult in my area for crappie. The weather goes from 80's to 30's in the blink of an eye. When my daughter and I went last week. I had heard that they were just off the banks. Of course, it got cold the night before, and they were nowhere to be found. We pounded the banks and out to ten feet of water for three hours without a bite. It just so happened that I had ordered some new lures for trolling the week before from Cabela's. When all hope was lost. I decided to tie four lures on my ultra lights and start the troll. I cast them out about twenty to thirty yards behind the boat and set the trolling motor to around one mile per hour or less. It was no stellar start by any means. We trolled just off the bank for about thirty minutes. Our first taker was about a six-pound channel cat. With the skunk off the boat, we kept going. Slowly moving deeper. Finally, we started catching crappie. I started marking the schools on my chart plotter. Once I had a few marks we kept going over them again and again. Adjusting as the fish did. After about two hours we had fourteen in the live well. I was thrilled. We decided to make one last pass to finish off the day. We had a really hard hit on one of the rods. I grabbed the rod and turned to tell my daughter to hurry we had a big one on. I only heard the massive splash of a huge fish jump. After a few minutes of her fighting this huge mystery fish. We saw a mouth bigger than a grapefruit come out of the water. I was shocked. My daughter was ecstatic. It was the biggest bass we had ever seen. I am no bass fisherman but have caught quite a few and seen some big ones. This one took the cake. Thank the lord I had threw the net in the boat at the last minute. With a little coaching my daughter guided the monster into the net. We were both beside ourselves at the size of this thing. After a bunch of celebrating and photos. We weighed and measured the fish. It was twenty-five inches and nine pounds on my Walmart scales. Probably the biggest bass either of us will ever see again. With my little bass story over. I believe I am going to enjoy this new way of fishing for crappie. I have been twice since our madden voyage. The second trip was rough. The wind blew between fifteen and twenty the whole time, but we still pulled through with ten crappies. Our third trip was the best. I added two of my old ten-foot trolling rods to the mix to cover more ground. Along with beautiful weather and a slight idea of what to do. We caught twenty-five crappie and two catfish. All in about four or five hours. Even with the crappie scattered everywhere from the banks to fifteen feet. The lures I have been using are Crappie Magnet Fin Spin. 1/8 to 1/4 ounce. The most important thing though is to tip it with a live minnow. I have tried to tip it with a minnow imitation, but they will only hit it with a live or dead minnow attached. I did purchase some gulp minnows to try next time out. I will let you know the results, but I remain skeptical. I hope you find something helpful or entertaining in this video. I am sure this is not a new technique, but I have enjoyed sharing my experience. I can't wait to try it this summer when they are all out deep. If you have never tried crappie tacos. This is my favorite way to eat them. Along with the absolute easiest and quickest way to enjoy them. I hope you will give it a try on your own. Thank you for taking the time to watch the video. Please subscribe!