KENT DRISCOLL - EXTRAORDINARY CRAPPIE FISHERMAN
What's the Best Length of Time to Leave Line on a Spool
 EDITOR'S
NOTE: Kent Driscoll of Cordova, Tennessee, has enjoyed
fishing for crappie for 30 years. He's fished in crappie
tournaments and finishing third in 2000 and fourth in
2002 at the North American Crappie Classic. Each spring
and summer, Driscoll fishes the Crappie USA Circuit,
Crappiemasters and the new Crappie Angler's Association,
using a wide variety of tactics that produce crappie
all year long. For the next two weeks, we'll learn how
Driscoll finds and catches crappie.
 Question:
Kent, how long will you leave line on a spool before
you replace it?
Driscoll: If you keep your line in a bag and out of
the sun, it doesn't deteriorate nearly as quickly as
it will if you leave it spooled-up on your rod and in
the sun. In my opinion, sunlight is fishing line's worst
enemy. When I'm fishing a crappie tournament, I make
sure I have new Mossy Oak Fishing Line on every spool
before I go to the tournament. If I'm fun fishing and
not fishing a tournament, I'll change my line out every
month. During crappie season, however, I'm fishing quite
a few tournaments. Therefore often I'll change line
every week. If you have to chance winning  money
in a crappie tournament, you sure don't want to give
up that opportunity just because you don't want to put
new line on your spools. The better and fresher your
line is, the more chances you'll have for catching fish,
landing the crappie and winning the money. When you're
fishing in a tournament, making sure that the line coming
from the pole and going to the hook doesn't have any
nicks or abrasions in it is an important key to landing
that big crappie if it bites your bait. For this reason,
every time I bring my jigs into the boat, I put the
line between my thumb and forefinger and move my fingers
up and down the line to check for nicks, cuts and abrasions.
When I'm changing line to the hook, if that line begins
to curl as I start to put the line through the eye of
the hook, I'll cut the line off to a point where it
doesn't curl but will go straight through the eye of
the hook.
 One
of the techniques I've learned to be able to continuously
catch and land big fish is to constantly retie your
jig onto your line. Oftentimes big crappie will all
be in the same school. For this reason, if I catch a
really-big crappie, once I have that fish in the boat
and in the livewell, I'll cut off the jig I've caught
the crappie on and retie the line through the jig. If
I troll back over that same school, I want to be sure
I've got fresh line on the knot and up the line. Then
if I catch another big crappie on that same jig, I won't
have to try to play him to the boat with line that's
fatigued or worn at any point.
Question: Kent, what knot do you use for tying on your
Mossy Oak Fishing Line?
Driscoll: I use a Palomar knot, which is easy to tie,
and I know it's one of the strongest knots you can use.
To learn more about Mossy Oak Fishing Line, go to www.mossyoakfishing.com.
For more information on B'n'M crappie poles, visit www.bnmpoles.com.
TOMORROW: WHY DRISCOLL GETS
WET TO CATCH CRAPPIE
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