Eye in the sky makes trolling easier

New technology available for marine electronics can make trolling for crappie a snap.

One troublesome aspect of fall “tight-line” deep trolling for crappies at Jordan Lake is trying to keep a boat “in the slot.”

The “slot” at Jordan is the New Hope Creek channel, where black crappie up to 2 pounds may suspend along its ledges in 15 to 18 feet of water this month.

Guide Freddie Sinclair uses a Navionics computer mapping chip that fits into a panel in his Humminbird depth finder. With this chip, his unit not only displays water depth, temperature and a boat’s direction but also a side view of the bottom and a contour view of the bottom of including ridges and ledges.

“Before, I just had to guess where the channel was, and I’d go zig-zagging across it,” Sinclair said. “But (now), I can stay in the channel and fish the exact depth I want. It also shows where I’m going, where I’ve been and the bottom contours under the boat. I also can mark humps and ledges with my GPS and return to good spots.”

About Craig Holt 1382 Articles
Craig Holt of Snow Camp has been an outdoor writer for almost 40 years, working for several newspapers, then serving as managing editor for North Carolina Sportsman and South Carolina Sportsman before becoming a full-time free-lancer in 2009.

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