It’s time to long-line

by Richard Simms

Most anglers who have crappie fished for a while know that the pre-spawn period is a great time for long-line trolling – putting multiple lines in the water and slowly moving along. During the pre-spawn crappie often don’t orient to structure. Instead they are basically migrating from deeper water wintering areas to shallow water spawning areas. They are often suspended in open water and the best way to catch them is simply to cover lots of water.

CrappieNOW Editor Richard Simms routinely begins long-lining on the Tennessee River in February and will continue using the technique into April. He doesn’t always use planer boards, but they can be helpful – or even necessary – especially closer to the spawn when crappie are holding very shallow.