A seldom used method that works great for crappies is trolling a jig and bobber system. This system is a great search system used in covering a lot of water. Examples of
situations you can use this system is early spring when the fish are not in the shallows but may be in a little bit deeper water adjacent to the shallows. Say you are fishing a spring day when the temperature is not optimally warm to draw fish into the shallows and have a good shallow water bite. On this day you are casting and casting and not getting much results.
It is time to deploy the trolling a jig and bobber system and go into search mode for those crappie. Ok here is how to setup trolling a jig and bobber system. You will be fishing the deeper water outside the shallows where you would normally be catching your spring crappie. You will be trolling a jig and bobber system in passes at different depths. As an example you have a shallow water bay that normally is a good crappie producer.
Your going to make 3 trolling passes. The first pass you are going to watch your depth finder and stay on a depth of 6 to 8 feet. You will rig a 1/32 oz or a 1/64 oz green or yellow jig with a minnow or a 1 inch gulp alive minnow setting the bobber at a 5 ft depth. Next cast the boober and jig a good distance behind the boat (say 100 feet). Take your trolling motor and at a very slow speed setting start trolling and watch your depth finder to stay at 6 to 8 feet. Zig zag or snake troll slowly along the 6 vto 8 feet countour.
Stop once and a while , pause for a couple minutes , then slowly move forward engaging the trolling motor. Watch the bobber if you notice that you might have a small weed snag it is likely a fish biting and slowly set the hook. Take a marker bouy and mark the spot and cast to it to try to catch more crappie. Say you have completed your pass 1 and covered the 6 to 8 foot depth.
You are now going to troll a jig and bobber system in the 8 to 10 foot range. Set your boober depth at about 7 feet will be a good enough depth to cover the 8 to 10 foot depth range. Repeat what you did for pass 1. When complete with trolling pass 2 you will cover the 10 to 12 foot range . Set the bobber at 9 feet depth is good enough for covering the 10-12 foot depth. For pass 3 at the 10-12 foot depth you will repeat what you did for pass 1 and 2. When completed passes 1 to 3 you have thoroughly covered systematically the depth ranges of 6 to 12 feet. Many times it will not be necessary to finish all three passes because you have located several schools of biting crappie. You can also use the trolling a jig and bobber system on the deep weed line.
Say your deep weed line ends at 10 feet. Use this system to cover the 11-13 feet , 13-15 feet , and the 15 to 17 feet depths in 3 passes. Cover a weed line troll your high percentage spots: an inside turn in the weeds, and outside turn in the weed , or a weed point. The trolling a jig and bobber system is system that I do not see to many people using. Add the trolling a jig and bobber system to your how to catch crappie methods. It is an excellent system for catching crappie.