Catching crappie in March can be as simple as using a cane pole to soak minnows around laydown wood, sandy bottoms or near underwater vegetation. Trolling isn’t necessary to catch fish. But for anglers interested in covering a lot of water and quick action once fish are detected, trolling is hard to beat.
Guide Freddie Sinclair trolls 16 rods from his 19-foot bass boat. Having that many jigs or minnows in the water at once gives him an advantage when trying to attract the attention of crappie.
Keeping track of that many rods, lines and lures might seem a problem, but Sinclair knows how to place rods of various lengths to avoid entanglements.
At the stern, on his boat-wide rod-holder, he sets four 8-foot rods, two on each side of his outboard. He places single,10-foot rods next to the outside 8-foot rod, then single 12-foot poles on the outside of the 10-footers.
On the port and starboard gunwales, he places a 16-foot pole in the holder nearest the bow, followed by staggered 14-, 12- and 10-foot rods.
“I cast all my lures maybe 30 or 40 feet, then troll,” Sinclair said. “Sometimes you can get really busy catching fish with all those rods out.”
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