Map Your Way to Crankbaiting Success
With crankbaiting there’s no end to crappie season
by Greg McCain
Analytics and crappie fishing are rarely part of the same conversation. However North Alabama crappie angler Jeff Barnes does take an analytical approach to pulling crankbaits for crappie.
Barnes uses data gleaned from his Lowrance HDS Gen 3 electronic units to guide his point-to-point trolling technique. Barnes literally trolls from one underwater contour to the next, angling from contour to contour on his home waters of Bear Creek, a sprawling tributary that empties into Pickwick Lake at the Alabama-Mississippi line. The creek is replete with up-and-down topography, creek channels, ledges, ditches, humps, points, and more. He pulls his crankbaits across as many of the contours as possible.
He says the result is a greater probability of encountering feeding crappie. Recalling his first trip pulling crankbaits with a friend about 10 years ago, Barnes said he didn’t understand the seemingly random nature of the process.
“I don’t like trolling and not know why I am catching fish,” he said. “I want to know why I caught that fish, and if I don’t know, I don’t really care if I catch it.”
