Setting Up Your Boat Rigging for Crappie (fish)

It could be true that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar, but you catch crappie with more poles. Anyone can rig a boat to catch crappie in a few minutes preparation. Using the spider rigging, named for the appearance of “spider legs” off the back of a boat where multiples poles splay across the transom you can have a bountiful catch every time you go out. The bigger the boat, the more poles you can add, but average are six to eight giving even more comparisons to its spider namesake.

Mount four rod holders on either side of your transom. Set them at right angles from the two center poles so that the resulting layout looks like a shallow “v.”

Insert a fishing rod in each of the eight holders. Rig each rod with ten pound test line. Put weights on each line, and rig individual lines to set at different depths giving the best coverage for the area from all eight poles. Add two hooks with bait to each pole for even more opportunities. Use minnows, crankbait, spoons, or spinners on the ends of your lines to lure crappie.

Mount two fishing seats behind the rod holders on your transom. If you already have one in the middle of your stern, move it over and add a second next to it. Having two seats gives you the most control over your rods when you get a strike.

Add a trolling motor. The most common place for this type of low horsepower motor is on the bow, although some anglers mount it at the side of the transom, it can get in the way of a spider rig for crappie fishing. The trolling motor is a useful tool for any type of fishing, but very important in crappie fishing. Other methods of moving such as drifting with the current or stationary floating will have some success but not as much as a controlled movement through the water. Move through the water at 1.5 to 2 miles per hour, much slower than possible with your main engine, and even slower than many rapid rivers, but faster than simply floating in a lake.

Install a fishfinder to help you target areas with high concentrations of crappie. A GPS/fishfinder combination is even better for larger bodies of water and helpful in keeping you on course. A GPS is not always necessary in smaller lakes, or local rivers and bays but the fishfinder will always be useful and is easy to install separately.