KENT DRISCOLL ON POWER TROLLING FOR CRAPPIE

More on Power-Trolling Equipment

EDITOR'S NOTE: Kent Driscoll of Cordova, Tennessee, enjoys crappie fishing so much that he fishes the Crappie U.S.A. and North American Crappie tournament trails and belongs to the Troll Mate Crappie Club in Memphis, Tennessee. For the next two weeks, I'll tell you about the tactics Driscoll employs for the summer months to take suspended crappie - power trolling and crankbaiting. This week we'll learn about power trolling for crappie.

Question: Kent, when is speed or power trolling the most effective?
Answer: Starting late May and continuing throughout the summer, you can have a lot of success with speed trolling. For instance, each of the lakes in Mississippi near my home has a thermocline. The fish will move into that area to follow the baitfish and stay there throughout the summer. You have to establish where the thermocline is and drop your baits on both sides of the thermocline until you develop a pattern.

Question: Why do you use Stren Hi-Vis line?
Answer: With this line, you can spot the bite before you see it on the pole. Because we're moving so fast, you need to be able to see the bite, and the colored line helps in that. The water I fish is off-color, so line visibility won't hinder you from catching fish.

Question: What size of hooks are you using when you fish for crappie?
Answer: I'm using all Aberdeen No. 1 light wire hooks.

Question: With what kind of jig heads are you fishing?
Answer: My jigheads are all made by Teaser, and I like the 3/32-ounce-size jigs and use different-colored Southern Pro tubes attached to the jigheads.

Question: Why do you like these jigs?
Answer: I like the profiles of these jigs. The umbrella jigs flare out, and my take on power trolling is that we don't give the crappie much time to bite. So, I want a bait with a large profile that gives off a lot of vibrations to attract crappie.

Question: Why do you use three hooks when you fish for crappie?
Answer: I want to cover more water and different depths of water. You can fish two hooks or up to five hooks, if you want. But, you get into a lot of work when you get that many baits in the water.

Question: You said you don't only fish with jigs and tubes. Sometimes you rig a jig tipped with a minnow. So, if you're using three hooks per pole, then how many minnows and how many jigs are you fishing with, and why are you rigging them that way?
Answer: I'll have a jig only on the top hook and a jig and a minnow on each of the bottom hooks. I'm mixing up the buffet table and presenting to the crappie an assortment of their favorite food. Until we actually catch some crappie, I'll try to figure out which bait they want. Yesterday, the crappie wanted a jig, then a jig-and-minnow combo. One day I started out with minnows and caught a few crappie. Then the crappie quit hitting. So, after I fished for an hour or so and realized I didn't have the right pattern, I turned around and swapped over to a jig-and-minnow combo.

Question: What do you mean by a jig-and-minnow combo?
Answer: I'm simply tipping each jig with a minnow, hooking the minnow through its bottom lip and coming up through its eye.

Question: So, on the bottom two hooks, the jig is in front, and the minnow is trailing it, right?
Answer: Absolutely. The minnow gives the jig more bulk as well as natural scent. Then, we'll have two straight minnows down below that.

To learn more about Lake Arkabutla, Driscoll's favorite crappie-trolling lake near Hernando, Mississippi, go to www.visitmississippi.org, or call (800) WARMEST. You also can go to www.hernandoms.org or call the chamber of commerce at (662) 429-9055, or check out the Days Inn in Hernando at (662) 429-0000, or see www.thedaysinn.com.

TOMORROW: PATTERNS FOR POWER TROLLING AND MORE ON EQUIPMENT