One thing Robert Munn likes about crappie fishing is that it doesn’t take a lot of expensive gear. While he does use depth finders, these electronics are the extent of his high tech arsenal. The rest, is old school.
“Cane poles still work just fine, they float, and if you break one, you are only out a few dollars,” said Munn, who uses monofilament over the high-tech and more expensive braided or fluorocarbon lines.
“There is nothing more simple than dangling a minnow under a cane pole; it cuts down on a lot of hassles caused by fishing reels,” said Munn, who prefers cane poles 10 to 12 feet long. “You don’t have to worry about fishing line getting tangled around the reel, and there’s no maintenance like there is with fishing reels. With the crappie directly below the boat, there’s no need to reel anyway, and when using fishing reels, anglers have to re-feed the right amount of line out each time. That isn’t necessary with cane poles.”
Munn’s old-school ways go beyond fishing gear. While he pftem purchases minnows at Clearwater Cove Marina for convenience, he just as often catches his own bait with a homemade seine net consisting of two portions of cane poles with an 8- to 10-foot long, 3- or 4-foot tall section of small-diameter mesh netting. Using waders or rubber boots when the weather requires it, Munn wades in the shallows after beaching his boat, and passes the seine net through the water.
“The boat will form a 90-degree angle with the shore, and the minnows will get cornered there. I just scoop them up and drop them into my minnow bucket,” he said.
These minnows are usually smaller than anglers will find at tackle shops, but they are native to the lake and are exactly what Wateree crappie are used to seeing every day. And best of all, they’re free!
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