Trolling for Spring Crappie

What's up guys, Brad Chapel back with you at the Grizzly Jig Show. It's a madhouse out there right now. A lot of people in here shopping. Fun event, exciting stuff going on here. But also I've got two of my buddies here and I'm gonna let'em do a little introduction and I'll show you what we're gonna talk about afterwards.

I get to go first. Yeah. All right. That's a honor with Tim over there. That's it. Hey, I'm Brad Whitehead. Uh I guide in northwest Alabama, Pickwick Lake, Wilson Lake, and we've got some small watershed lakes. Mm. I've been in this for about twenty three years. Pretty cool deal, um just a little insight. Um Tim Horton, one of the best guys.

Got me in this for a stand, you know, bringing outdoor riders. Hey I need a guy that does a little something besides bass. And uh he opened the door. I always try to give him credit and uh he's kinda rolled from that. Uh Do a lot of PR, um, you know, a lot of outdoor rider stuff, but the guiding parts fun. Um, I do crappie from February to the end of uh Right at the end of April. Then get cranked back up in May for brim and then get after those brown fish about September through Thanksgiving.

You talk about brown fish, what do you actually talk about? I'm a little small mouth. Uh I need to experience that one bit. This would be good. We could do a podcast on that. Absolutely. Don't tempt me with a good time. But yeah, it's uh you know, I I've I've enjoyed the last couple of years doing the multi species. Kinda breaks it up, gives you something fresh. So, um Jack just tell me to be careful and don't talk too much about smallmouth. Right. I gotcha, I understand. Hey Tim?

They're probably not a little bit more. Long branch guide service, the big four, or now the big three I guess. Yeah. Victory. Well grenade ain't it and Sardis. Uh I usually start up about middle of February and run through the end of November. So we're fixing getting ready to kick things back off, get it going.

You know, I was thinking this morning time about this time frame for me, um, it's kind of kicks off my really busy time of the year as far as guiding goes, right after Grizzly Jig Show, you know, it's full force. Crappie fishing pretty much for me five days a week. I try not to do seven just because you guys know how hard that is. It's taxing. Man, it's very taxing and uh stressful and everything else along the lines, but it'll be five days a week, probably six days a week.

all the way through June for sure. But this is the beginning of it for us and it's it's game on and you know, I've got both of these guys in here and and they've been doing a long time. I've been doing it quite a few years as well, but

I wanna focus on some of the mistakes it comes to trolling. There's a a couple of different techniques that we're gonna talk about. Uh it's just not gonna be spider rigging or long line and it's gonna be a whole of those. different techniques that people that are doing it. Uh everybody's still not everybody, but a lot of guys are still trolling out on these lakes. And for good reasons.

And we wanna help those guys that are doing it to even be a little bit better. And so I wanna think about some of the mistakes that kinda pops in your head automatically when you see people trolling and I know I've done it through the years. I I've we always fish around different people of course.

And I come by him and I'm thinking, Man, if this guy would do this I you know, if he would just do one little thing different, he would be catching fish right now. But you don't wanna go up and tell somebody, Hey man, you're doing that wrong and I'm not that kind of person. Now if somebody asked me I'd be glad to help'em. Mm-hmm. Right. But this is gonna give us a chance to look back and think back of some of those guys that we see on the water.

A and help'em out without being obnoxious either about it. But something comes to your mind, Brad, what would it be that are some of the mistakes that you see guys when they're out there trolling? Well I think and we kinda briefly talked about it before we started this. I think a lot of people look out there, you know, this time of year we get a lot of rain and in northwest Alabama

You know, they they're scared of the mud. You know, where Tim lives, I mean that's that's a everyday thing for him. He's into color. Um I fell victim to that. Um, you know, I never would fish in the r in in the mud after a rain. And um I guess probably five or six years ago, I said, you know what? It's a beautiful day. I'm I'm gonna go fish. And I caught.

A lot of fish in the mud. Yeah. And I think a lot of these older guys and even some guys that are just now getting into it, oh it's it's too muddy. Yeah. So that kinda plays a big part in in our Part of the state that that mud you can't catch fish in'em. But it's wrong. You know. That mud heats up and fish go the top.

And for what especially you like to do, the long line it is lethal. Right. So I guess that's my first tip. You know, don't let the weather uh deter you from going on a day of fishing. Yeah. Time on the water is better than anything that you can do. But you can't get it. No. Right or wrong, you're gonna you're either gonna learn what to do or you're gonna learn what not to do. And it's that's the beauty of the sport of crappie fishing in general for me is

There is nothing in my mind that is perfect. No technique out here is perfect for everybody. And it might be a great technique for one particular person that fits their style and their thought process or what have you but There's so many different techniques that fit all of us.

And I can guarantee you everybody out here on Grizzly Floor right now, there's several hundred folks out there. Everybody out there has a really good technique that they're good at and they're wanting to learn and and really focus on. Some guys have a couple of them, but everybody, you don't have to do the same thing.

Yeah. Well I think like and I can think I speak for Tim, we're kinda old school guys. You know It's hard and it's probably harder for us than than the new and up and comers to change our style. Right. So that is a mistake on us, e you know, even as guides and and Tim can elaborate on it. we don't like to change. Yeah. And that's that that's a bad problem for us older guys because well, it works. Well, you know, there's a time or two that um

You know, I'm sure Tim, you know, we've had some slow days and we go, boy, I wish we wish we had that new technique we oughta be working on. That's right. So I'm sure he can elaborate on that a little more. Yeah, and it you know, uh, as bad as I hate to say, you gotta embrace it. Uh you gotta learn it and uh and you know, the with the new live scope technology uh like I guess it's not new now, but it's just kill still kinda new to us. Uh I use it every day trolling, spider rigging.

How did you use a nitrol then? Well, if you've got a live scope and you're wanting to say, all right, we're gonna uh I've got the purchase of the live scope, Ford Face and Sonora, whatever brand it might be, how can they utilize it trolling? What it did for me initially the the biggest thing it did for me was before that technology.

At the beginning of the day, you know, we went to an area where, you know, where we knew fish were and and we started, but we we didn't really know the depths they were all running. So I would stagger all my baits at different depths.

Right. From the get go. You know, then I would kind of dial it in as the day went, you know, to f figure out where they're at. You know, and now I can drop that trolling motor in the water and scan around, look around a little bit, mm boom, there they are and I can set all the poles exactly where they need to be right from the get go. And then it cuts a couple of hours.

Right. Another thing even with that same aspect as far as spider rigging with live scope, one of the things that it really taught me in the beginning with it was how fish are reacting to those baits as they come by'em far as the speed goes. That's right. You know, if you go by'em really slow and they're just completely ignoring it, you might want to speed it up. That's right. Speed it up a notch or two.

Absolutely. If you go by'em steel and they're not reacting, bump it up. And vice versa. That's right. You'll find a sweet spot when it comes to trolling. that those fish want those baits coming up above'em. And even I've noticed in it it was probably the first year I had live scope and we were really focused on using live scope spider rigging. But we were putting the baits too close to'em. Right.

And you think of even about that, you've got the fish sitting, let's say they're suspended six foot deep. And literally we were putting them about five and a half foot deep. We wanted them close by'em. Well those fish were ignoring them. They would just and you think, Well I know these fish are seeing these baits and we've tried the speed. But also we tried moving'em up.

And all of a sudden I moved'em two foot up above'em and that same bait coming over'em two foot. And all like I said, here they come. So there's ways to use live scope when it comes to trolling. Uh really, you know, spider rigging to say, you can adjust your baits to what the fish want in a quicker fashion. That's right.

And it goes back to what we've talked about time and time again, you know, paying attention to the small stuff, paying attention to the details. You know, catch a fish here, you know, be thinking, Well, why was that fish there? Why did I catch that fish? You know, what what caused him or why was he liking that area I was in?

And I think also getting a mindset before you get in that boat of what you're gonna do is a terrible mistake. Exactly. Um, you know, the and y you two can can vouch for this. There's a lot of mornings I can put that boat in and I know, hey, it's on. Right. But there are a few mornings that you put that boat in and you've got that feeling and you look out there and you go, Mm, it's gonna be tough. That's right. You know, just by the weather conditions, the moon phase.

Um, you know, but I think I think a lot of people the night before will go Well, I'm going longline and this is what I'm gonna do. I'm only gonna use a six a sixteenth. And that's a horrible mindset. Absolutely'cause uh If you have that mindset and I've heard I've heard a lot of guys talk, well if they don't hit that black chartreuse, they just ain't gonna hit the horrible mindset. There's no way you can be a guy and do that. You can't live and die by one thing.

You know, I I think just not even thinking about it till you drop the trolling motor, you drop your live scope, and then you put your pattern together. I had a guy tell me one time and it makes a lot of sense. You don't fish holes, you fish patterns. Right. That's right. You gotta find out that pattern. And as as a guide, you hope to find that pattern within the first hour. Right. Sure. But if you don't, You gotta change your mind, so

You better be adapting and looking and many days where I've gone out and you know and the day before I just absolutely killed them. Yeah. You know, and just like Brad said, you know, I got a I got a a a game planned in my head in the morning, I'm going to do this with that.

and get there and it's completely different than it was yesterday. They're not there, they're not, you know, doing something different and then, you know, then you get like say you gotta change your mind, you gotta change your attitude and you gotta switch things up and figure out what's going on. You know, I think a lot of guys are not going to be able to do that

We do have a big advantage by being on the water every day because it kinda gives every day when I start I know I've got a a start and reference point. But the same token I know I can't live and die by what was yesterday. I can't totally fish on that memory. Amen. I've got a reference point s to start. And that's even you know, you you hear a buddy and they say, Man, yeah, we we whacked'em yesterday or the day before over on Hernando Point and

Twelve foot of water, they're sitting six foot deep. That's that's a starting point. Sure. But if you go over there and all of a sudden they're gone. Then what? That's just always use a fishing report as a s reference point to start. Don't go to that same area and think it's just gonna be on and if they're gonna bite or they're not.

Use it as a starting point to adjust from. That's right. A and a lot of guys get caught up in that and they're like, Man, uh, you called and told me that You know, you caught fish there and I I even recall years ago and I was at actually Enit guiding up there in in the month of June and a buddy of mine calls me up and he says, Man, we how you catching'em?

I told him the general area I was fishing and you know, y I I think I was probably pulling two uh one sixteenths. I can probably tell you the color June Bug Sharktreuth was the color of that year. Uh and I told him I straight up. Well he went out and fished and Later on that day, him and his wife, uh, I bump into him down the road and his wife was living with me. She gets out and literally she's like, You sent us on a wild goose chase this morning and I'm like

Hey, uh all I gave you was a starting point, a reference point. I ca I don't know what you're gonna do when you get there. Yeah, I see it. But I think too many people live and die by a fishing report saying, This is how I've gotta go catch'em. That's the only way

They they're still gonna be in that same pattern their same days and I don't know how many times and I know you've seen it, know Tim's seen it, but as the day even goes along, all of a sudden what worked in the morning, it ain't working in the afternoon. Right. The sun could go down, the sun could come up, get cloudy. I mean th things change.

And you know, I know this is kinda silly to even bring this up, but it works the same way as like finding bait, you know, in the in the spring. And I've kinda learned it, kinda patterned it with a crappie. You know, I can I can fish I do a lot of my trips in the afternoon for smallmouth and I'll have a friend tell me at seven o'clock, Hey, the bait's right here. Well, I get there at eleven.

It's not there. You know, the wind's picked up. A boat's come through there. And I think fish obviously do the same thing. Sure. You know, if that bait's not gonna sit there for four hours, them crappies sure ain't. That's exactly right. But you know, I I think that is a mistake, you know, going having your mind set and going back to the same spot. It i it's four times a nine, it's not gonna work. You know.

Kinda like touching on what Brad said earlier, my I got two rules. Uh never leave fish to go find fish and never fish somebody else's fish. Yeah.

Yeah. And you know another rule that needs to be added? Never give up. That's exactly right. And in I've had so many trips that it takes a while to really get on'em because

different things change like we were talking about. Certainly. And uh I recall a a trip that I did last year in it it started out tough, remained tough, and I just kept changing things up and looking different and looking different and and finally it all clicked and we had a great and it was probably a more of the uh third quarter of the trip to say. Um but

at the end of it he was like, Brad, I noticed that you never panicked today And I was like, Well and my mindset was we're gonna figure'em out. That's right. W I was never gonna give up That was feeding that fire. Uh uh yeah, and that's what I really love even about crappie fishing is nothing's gonna be perfect every day. You're gonna have to look for'em and just don't give up. Right.

How many how many Hail Mary's have you thrown on a guy trip, you know, in the last two hours of the day you've saved the trip? You know. Well and I throw something in too, if if you're watching this and and you're new to crappie fishing and You say, Hey, I'm gonna hire a guide, okay, which is a great, great tool. A excellent tool. You can learn more in six to eight hours than you can watching hours and hours. I mean it's just a one on one.

But I'm bringing that up to bring this example up. Uh you know, if that guy said, Hey, let's start at ten and fish from ten to dark or let's ten to four or whatever, listen to him. Right. I had a customer one time in in December. that um wanted to go at daylight. And I said, Sir, you know, they're not really biting in December'til about two or three o'clock. Well, I wanna go at daylight. Well, automatically that already puts a you know But

You're the paying customer, that's what we want to do. Or that's what you want to do. So we got out there and probably three hours into the trip we'd caught four fish. And um he said, um, Man, I thought you'd been catching some fish. I said, I have but it's been in the afternoon. Well, I didn't want to do that. You you know, you oughta be ab you you ought to be able to catch'em, you know. Okay. Uh I do this all the time, you know. But anyway,

I had just got done doing a uh a deal with the inn fisherman. Now this was back in the day when you had the uh My mind's kinda gone right now. The camera with the fish on it. You could drop it down and see it, you know. Aqua view. Anyway, so I had one in a truck, so I went and got it, brought it out there and I dropped it and I said, You start counting them fish on steak beds we had put out and I could see.

Well uh why won't they buy it? I said they will this afternoon. You know? And I got so I I mean, there's very, very few times that I get aggravated with a customer. But I was so ticked because I'm I'm thinking, you know, we did what you wanted to do instead of what Right. So uh anyway, he was amazed those fish were there. We had done been over them for two hours, you know. Well amazingly at 130, from 130 to 230, we caught 42 crappie.

You know, and we got back to the boat ramp, of course he apologized and I told him, I said, you know, for future reference, listen to your guys. He knows. You know, I I tell everybody and it kind of my wife don't like it. I said, I'm not taking you out there to babysit you and take you for a boat ride. I want to feel that live well though. Sure. So, you know, that's a tool that that three of us do here that you know A one day with a guide can save you a lot of heartache.

It will you know, even the same token I during the summertime where I fished And it might be ninety five degrees that day. And I know it's different on the Cor Lakes. Um I don't like starting'til after eight o'clock in the morning. And

Everybody asked, they're like, Man, it's gonna be super hot today. Don't we need to start at daybreak? And it's sun at that time's coming up. I don't know. I don't even know'cause I don't get up there early. Six six thirty, six o'clock, five thirty whatever it might be. And I'm like, No, we're not gonna start that after eight this morning and they're like

Man, it's gonna be so hot. I I would rather go fish early in the morning and I'm like, We can go fishing early in the morning, but we're not gonna go catch it. Mm. And our fish what what's the pattern really is, and it's a summertime stable pattern, is Daybreak overnight those fish are out scattered around and as the sun comes up

They pull onto structure. They pull onto brush piles. Beforehand, we might catch a fish here and there, but they're very scattered at that point. But as the sun comes up and gets higher, those fish They'll get to wherever they're gonna be for the rest of the day and it's gonna be on some type of structure and especially that first four hours after they get there, they're hungry and they're gonna bite good. Some of my best trips are really from about ten o'clock to about two o'clock.

But it's your pattern. That's the pattern. And I think we miss that a lot of times, especially. I mean, even when we're talking to people, I think we don't bring that up enough as a pattern. Yeah. Tim's got a different pattern where he's at. You do, I do. And um I think that's one of the things too, you know, when when you're at a seminar or something like that, you know, if you're new to this

Ask that question. What what's the difference? You know, it's a big difference in in sitting in a hole and a pattern. Sure. So, uh I think that's a big challenge. If you find the pattern, then guess what? You've hit a home run. That's right. Well just like Brad said, you know, his you know, on the core lakes in the summertime, mine's that first hour of daylight is usually the best hour. Right. You know, and and and that's where I get it.

You know, we we say hey we wanna be there at daylight, first four hours. Right and it's you know, it's normally correct. That's right. You know, I get a leg up on a lot of guys because, you know, I'm putting in in the dark, I you know, going out in the dark and And I've got ten or fifteen fish before before everybody else has ever got out there. Yeah. You know?

And I mean that's gospel. I mean, literally I in summertime I know I'm gonna get to kinda take my time, get to the boat ramp. Springtime I try to get there early now. Uh, summertime I I can take my time, get to the boat ramp. Eight o'clock, you know, I f really feel like about nine o'clock is really what I wanna be hardcore after. Mm. So eight o'clock gives me plenty of time to get everywhere I want to fish at that day and Uh but it trips a lot of people out.

Um, but I think, you know, you hit on it there as well is the biggest mistake people do is not thinking about patterns. Right. They're just thinking, all right, I know fish go to structure in the summertime. I just need to go Well, certain times of the day even on a pattern is better than the others. For me, it's really like I said at nine to about two o'clock time frame is really when they're gorging and they're hungry and and it might be ninety-five degrees outside. Yeah. It's gonna be hot.

Yeah. But the fishing's hot. That's right. And typically for me I don't I don't mind fishing until about the that one thirty, two o'clock when it gets cold and hot. By then either we're gonna have'em or we're not. Yeah. You know And you know people ask me that, and I know they do, Tim. When's the hot time? Yeah, when was the best time?

You know, and I always say if we don't have'em the first four hour I I run six hour trips. If we don't have'em the first four hours, we're probably not gonna get'em. But if we get'em the first four hours, the the next two is we're just we're getting some lucky right. You know, Ciao.

I think my mind like I said is even when you get in a boat with somebody, don't make the mistake of losing confidence. Uh not having confidence is a big mistake people have when they go on the water and that, all right, I'm just not gonna catch'em today. Exactly.

And it makes and breaks guides for a living, for sure. But also you think about how much money you got invested in your equipment. Oh yeah. You you guys that fish twice a month or whatever it is, you've got a lot of money invested in equipment. So if you go out there and all of a sudden that uh you're not catching'em, just don't give up and go to the the boat. No, one hundred percent. That's that's the biggest mistake to me for people is they give up. They just load the boat up and go home.

I I agree with you one hundred percent. Um, you know, you see a lot of guys go out and they buy a new boat, they get all the tackle. I think people don't realize how much we have invested in our in our gear. And uh One hundred percent. And uh, you know, because when their day when they get in the truck to go home, okay, we still got another hour, hour and a half. Right, you know, the time we get home. But but anyway, it's a um

Uh I s I see so many guys at the boat ramp go, I just ain't. I'm in a slum. I just can't catch'em, you know. Well you know what? Go try find somebody that's But a little better fishermen than you. That's right. A lot of men don't w they they won't admit to this, but I fish with people that's better than me. Oh sure. And I I hate'em. I'll just tell you, I can't stand'em. I hate when they call me. I hate when I see the pictures. But you know what?

I know they're good fishermen. You know, so if you're struggling, try to find somebody that that'll take you. It's a little bit better fisherman, you know. You're uh in the back of your mind you're gonna go, man, he got me today. Mas isso vai fazer melhor. That's right. A lot of times people make the mistake just not asking another fisherman even on the water. A hundred percent. Uh and I don't as far as me on the the lake, people know that I got around the house and

And they think that, you know, they don't I don't like people coming barging up on me. Don't get me wrong, I I don't care for that. It's just not that's just not very boat etiquette correctly in my mind. But if you see me somewhere and you're struggling and you need some help Ask me. I'm gonna tell you. I'm gonna help you any way I can. I mean I'm gonna help you uh somebody help me to get started. Somebody help me to get to where the level I am and continue to hopefully get one day.

But I believe in helping people. So if you're you see some of us guys and there's hundreds of other crappie fishermen that are willing and able to help you out. But just ask other fishermen. You get back to the boat ramp, you've had a hard day, you see another guy over there loading up, go over there and talk to him. One thing you might gain a friendship of a lifetime. Sure. It's happened to me so many times that I these these guys I know around the lake.

It's just by meeting'em at the boat ramp. But if you're at the boat ramp and you had a bad day, go talk to other fishermen. Yeah. Well and it might be that day that you didn't talk to somebody that you were broke down on the water. Right. That that guy went past you. Right. Well, you know old Brad there, um he he d he didn't give me the time of day the other day. I'm not stopping to help him.

That's exactly what I'm talking about. It's good as a guide. It's good to show your customers, hey, I want to try to help everybody. That's right. I'm here to help the sport. You know. We see this out here. You know, uh Tim's wearing A C C and I'm wearing B and M. Hey, we're sitting at the same table talking about it. Absolutely. And and you don't see that. Uh I I witnessed it yesterday. I had a guy come up and I was telling Tim. A guy walked up and he said, um, Hey uh

Where's where's where's A C C Rides? Right. And he looked down and he said, Oh man, I'm sorry, you're a PM guy. I said, Look, it's okay. Let's go right down here, you know. Uh it's kinda like Football. Everybody's got a team, but we all like watching each other's team. That's right. You know, we got a team that we pull for, but that's that's what I've tried to teach my kids, you know, help everybody. Help everybody.

You know, it's uh the world we're living in, we need more Hey I take five minutes to walk over to Tim's boat and just say, Hey man, you you need anything? That's right You know? So that's my high horse there, I guess. Well I mean it's true and it happens all the time, definitely um with all of us.

And I I'm sure you guys got some helpful tips tips today. I know I n I know this is my passion. I know that's both of you guys' passion as well. I I know Brad was on a podcast probably for it was the very first year I believe we did. At the old grizzly store matter. It was. We didn't have a nice room like this right here. We was in a hole somewhere. And cold road.

It was very cold. I remember probably we were just about blue during that podcast'cause it was cold in the back and very cramped and we made it work though, so I appreciate you being with even one of the the OGs of the Crappie Connection guest here. You know, uh it was so funny when you told me and and you got the name and I meant to find it, but when I started my guide service it was called the Crappie Connection Guide Service

And the tourism actually printed it out, you know, and um I thought that was pretty cool when you come up with that name. I'll need a little money off that if you're not. But, you know, it's just neat that you can actually sit down and do this, the equipment that you have, the time you put into it, and and well, we not talk about who's behind this. But you know, th this is really, really cool. You know, th this is that new age stuff that me and Tim didn't see thirty years ago. Right.

Well then it's a great platform to get to the everyday guy that doesn't And what you're doing, like having two guys that that got two different sponsors and you know who cares when you're behind this table. We're trying to get out enough information that you know It'll help. You know, if this podcast, if it's seen twenty thousand times and it helps one person. That's right. You know what? It's worth it.

That's right. Absolutely. Well it couldn't do it without guys like you. Um both you guys. Thank you from from my side of things. I appreciate both of you. Uh make sure you hit that follow, subscribe, turn your notifications on. We've got so many good stuff coming out this spring. You don't want to miss. Until next time, you got Brad Chapel here. Brad Whitehead. Yeah.