Turn Your Boat Into A Crappie-Catching Machine
Story and Photos By Darl Black

Congratulations! You have purchased a boat for crappie fishing. You've got the rods, reels and lures, so now you are all set to catch your favorite fish, right? Well, maybe not quite. Any experienced crappie angler will tell you a boat isn't "fishing ready" until you have customized it to fit your particular style of fishing.

Are you going to fish only live bait? Do you plan to long-line troll or tight-line? Casting from the bow? Anchoring? Or more likely, will you undertake a combination of techniques? Will you have some exceptionally long rods in the boat? Will you be fishing only during mild, pleasant weather or might you venture out in the hottest summer sun or the dark of the night? These are considerations for outfitting your boat as a viable fishing machine.

Crappie experts across the country have lots of ways to make a boat more fishing-friendly. To be more efficient with onboard operations and more effective in catching crappie, you might consider some of their suggestions for successfully customizing your crappie-fishing boat.

Boat Handling
A few crappie anglers still mount the electric motor on the transom — either out of tradition or because of the lower cost of a transom electric. But more and more fishermen nowadays utilize a powerful bow-mounted electric motor. The reason is because a bow-mounted motor provides better control for boat-positioning when casting lures as well as greater efficiency for trolling. If you have not switched, it really is time.

"My trolling motor of choice is the 80-pound-thrust Minn Kota Auto Pilot with Copilot wireless control," says guide Jim Duckworth. "It enables me to operate the motor from anywhere in the boat. It will keep the boat following a contour if I'm busy landing fish or tinkering with a client's tackle."

On Alabama guide Brad Whitehead's new boat, a Triton Crappie Edition, the bow-mounted motor is dead center on the bow instead of being angled on the left side.

"When lowering and raising the electric motor, the center mount keeps the shaft from interfering with the trolling-rod racks set for tight-lining," Whitehead says.

While an electric motor is critical to many presentations, don't forget the anchor. In spring, there will be times you may want to anchor in the shallows and fish bobbers. During summer, there is the need to make pinpoint casts to deep-water brushpiles from a stationary position. To effectively hold a boat so there is no swing, two anchors are required — a primary one for the bow and a lighter one for the stern.

Each anchor also must have ample rope — not 15 to 20 feet, but 100 feet or more. You need a rope at least two to three times the depth of the water you intend to anchor in, even on a calm day, and more if there is a breeze.

You can add a fancy anchor-management system to your boat for $100 to $200. However, some anglers prefer an inexpensive manual-wind rotating spool intended for electrical-cord storage. These are available in almost any hardware department.

While the icons on GPS units may have reduced the use of portable buoy markers to mark deep cover and ledges, many veteran fishermen always have at least three of the physical buoys on board because they prefer looking at the "X" on the water rather than on the little screen. If you don't have a GPS unit, then buoy markers are an absolute necessity.

Tackle Tinkering
Since those rigged 10- to 14-foot rods used for trolling, tight-lining and dipping do not fit in a rod box, Whitehead had to come up with a creative solution.

"Laying them on top of the rod box provides the opportunity for one bouncing out, while stacking them on a corner creates tangles," he says. "So I had a friend fabricate a T-shaped-frame rod carrier that I attach to the top of the rod box. This allows me to individually lay rigged rods flat, yet cradled between upright posts with a strap so they cannot bounce out going down the road or down the lake. And I still have access to all my compartments without fear of breaking a rod tip when opening a lid."

When Whitehead's two-piece rods are broken down, he keeps the sections together with a couple of different products.

"You can pick them up in the cosmetic department or ‘borrow' from your wife," Whitehead admits. "I use hair comb clips to clamp rod tips together and a braided elastic band called a Scunci on the butt section. When the rod is rigged, the elastic band on the butt end becomes the perfect holder for a drop-shot or tight-line weight."

Boat owners often use the storage compartments under the bow deck as a giant tackle box, which is what Whitehead did in his old boat. However, since the lowered bow-deck design of his new Triton Crappie Edition doesn't have tackle storage compartments forward of the console, he uses two soft-sided tackle bags to hold five large utility boxes each.

"That keeps everything I need for a day's fishing at my fingertips," Whitehead notes. "It's actually better than leaving them in the boat storage compartment where everything eventually gets soaked from a heavy rain."

If you plan to fish at night for crappie, Duckworth suggests you get a pair of Hydro Glow Lights.

"These submersible green lights do a tremendous job of attracting minnows and shad after dark, which in turn draw crappie," he says. "This is better than hanging a lantern over the side. Slip one over the bow and one over the stern."

"The larger one I use is Frabill's 1409 Aqua-Life Bait Station, which holds 5 gallons of water," Duckworth says. "I can keep more than 70 minnows in it between trips indefinitely. If you don't need one that large, try the insulated 1404 Min-O-Life Personal Bait Station. It holds about 1½ gallons of water and a couple dozen minnows."

If you are still using an old bait bucket without aeration, try a few packets of Frabill's Aqua-Lung. This comes as a two-tablet package with one pellet releasing oxygen and one pellet conditioning the water.

"They will keep minnows alive for a one-day trip without changing the water," Duckworth says.

Duckworth also prefers a long-handle Frabill Rubber Net for hauling in crappie.

"You don't lose big fish lifting them over the side of the boat, and hooks don't get tangled in the rubber mesh," he adds.

When fishing a lake with minimum size requirements on crappie, a Frabill Crappie E-Z Check'R measuring device can save you from getting a ticket for short fish.

While your boat's aerated livewell is great for fishing a catch-and-release tournament, if you plan on keeping those crappie to eat, be sure to get them out of that warm water and onto ice so their flesh remains firm.

"I keep a separate ice chest in the boat, which is much easier to transport the fish in and to clean out after a day on the water," Duckworth says.

Duckworth favors Driftmaster rod holders, while Whitehead uses Hi-Tek rod holders. South Carolina crappie tournament angler Marc Danque manufactures his own adjustable rod holders, incorporating a PVC pipe section clamped to each holder so the rod can stand up while unhooking fish and when traveling down the lake.

"Trolling is pretty much my game all season long," Danque says. "The three greatest aides to my style of fishing are the Minn Kota Auto Pilot, a Lowrance combo depthfinder/GPS and the special-built speed sensor that gives us true readings at very slow speeds."

According to Danque, the speed sensors from the factory are not worth much at slow speeds.

"Part of my business at The Crappie Hole is to modify the standard ones that come on many of the transducers of popular depthfinders," he says. "Rebuilding the sensor with bronze bushings, we mount the transducer with a new sensor on the bow trolling motor rather than the transom."

These sensors turn at the super-slow speeds that are employed for long-lining jigs, thereby displaying the accurate speed on the depthfinder.

"This allows the boat operator to establish a speed/depth table for a 1/16-ounce jig," Danque adds. "Since every boat and trolling motor are slightly different, depths are determined by trial and error. Then once the table is determined, every time out you can get jigs down to exactly where you want them by running that speed."

Anyone who pushes tight-line rigs knows about wave slap on the bow that causes rod tips to rise and fall, making bite detection extremely difficult. To avoid this, Whitehead had his boat dealer install four sections of PVC pipe filled with crushed lead in the bow of his boat under the deck.

"Weighting the bow keeps the nose down and the rods steady," he says.

Another trick Whitehead uses to detect bites is to paint the tips of all of his long rods for trolling, tight-lining or vertical fishing.

"White shows up much better than any other color on both cloudy days and sunny days," Whitehead explains. "I use a plastic patio paint that is holding up very well on the rod tips."

To get his bow-mounted depthfinder off the floor and positioned so he could see it better, Whitehead installed RAM mounts in his new boat.

"Raising the depthfinder about 8 inches on this mount makes it completely adjustable in terms of viewing, so I can easily track what is happening on the screen whether I'm sitting or standing while trolling or tight-lining with the electric motor," he says.

Comfort
If you're fishing through the midday summer sun, an umbrella is a great item to have in your boat. Duckworth prefers 8-foot golf umbrellas with a few minor modifications to his boat.

"I modified old pedestal pins by cutting a couple of inches off the top to get past the plastic seat-pin insert, then slid the big aluminum handle of the umbrella into the posts," he explains. "I added extra seat bases beside my regular seats so the umbrellas can go anywhere in the boat."

Duckworth reminds anglers to be sure to tie down their umbrellas. Otherwise, the wind will get under them and cause them to sail off into the sunset.

If you're looking to generate a breeze in order to beat the heat, try mounting a 12-volt fan on heavy-duty suction cups. You can then move the fan to wherever it is needed on the floor of the boat.

"In terms of longevity, metal fans are better than plastic ones if you can still find them," Duckworth says. "Mine are 10 years old and still running."

Because he and his clients often catch a variety of fish, including lots of catfish, Whitehead believes everyone needs a set of pliers within reach when fishing live minnows on tight-line rigs.

"I have a pair of XTools pliers in a sheath attached to each seat pole with electrical wire straps," Whitehead says. "Should a client drop the pliers over the side, they float."

Some anglers also keep a small zippered pencil case in the boat that contains important accessories such as clippers, a hook sharpener, plastic electrician's tape, scissors, fishing glue and curved short-nose pliers. Other items you might want to have onboard include sunscreen, insect repellent, waterless fisherman's hand cleaner and a first-aid kit.

Indeed, it's the simple things every angler should carry in the boat that are often overlooked. Keep these suggestions in mind for your next fishing trip and you'll be more likely to enjoy the trip and catch more crappie.