Photo By Ron Sinfelt

The cold weather days of winter were breaking up, as evidenced by more frequent strings of warm, sunny weather. On the second day of what I hoped would be a warm spell that looked to carry over into the weekend, I called Judy, who works the regular shift at my local bait shop. I only have to ask one question of Judy and I get all the information I need.

"You selling any minnows, Judy?" I asked on this particular afternoon.

"We ran out of them yesterday and I've got to place another order to have enough for the weekend." was her reply.

Music to my ears. Higher minnow sales mean crappie were on the move from their deep-water haunts and starting to stage in the mouths of creeks and tributaries.

By 7:30 a.m. the following morning, I was perched in my usual spot in the bow of my crappie boat, watching the sonar graph with one eye and the GPS with the other and making micro adjustments to the trolling motor speed. I was also watching with interest as eight rods pointed off in the direction of my trolling motor wake. Each rod seemed poised to be the first to indicate that the tripletail grub it was attached to had been abducted by an early-season papermouth.

Just 50 yards into my first sweeping right turn of the season, number 3 stuttered, then began a vibrant arch back toward the horizon. Gingerly plucking the limber Shakespeare rod from its perch in the rod holder, I eased back on the rod, relishing the weight of a chunky early-spring crappie. Before the first fish could get lonely in the livewell, rod number 7 produced a partner, rod number 4 made the group a trio and then in short order, numbers 1, 6 and 8 turned the group into a "half dozen." When rod number 8 was in the process of bowing to a feisty crappie, I took a second to toss a bright orange marker 30 yards out to the side of the boat. It's been my experience that a spot that yields six fish in one pass is likely to hold a large number of fish in the same location. That spot deserves another pass.

This method of crappie fishing goes by a variety of names: long lining, flatlining, fast trolling or just trolling. What this tactic isn't, is a vertical presentation. Vertical presentations are what most folks in crappie circles call spider rigging. For the purpose of long lining, rods are deployed solely from the back of the boat. The boat moves forward under the power of an electric trolling motor and the baits on each rod trail behind the boat. In order to get a better feel for long lining, let's break the tactic down into each component. (Continued)

RODS
As mentioned, I use eight rods to long-line from a relatively small 15-foot aluminum boat. I have fished up to 12 rods, but that takes a good bit of practice, especially when pelagic fish, such as stripers, catfish or white bass, are present in the area, or worse, you troll through a brushpile. Some locations may limit the number of rods allowed per angler. Make sure you comply with the rules and regulations of the water you're fishing. The tactic works well with fewer rods, though it may just take a little more time to home in on the fish.

Regardless of the number of rods used, each rod is deployed by placing it in a firm rod holder. Rod holder systems have become prevalent on the market today based in part on the popularity of trolling for crappie, stripers, and even catfish. I prefer a Driftmaster T-5000 trolling bar. (www.driftmaster.com). The rod holder system is stable and easy to space, and the welded rod holders are simple in design, which means they work every time.