Upgrades for Crappie.

First off, sorry for not posting in awhile......... due to an unfortunate turn of events due to the current economic events, I have had to take a brief hiatus. But things are looking up, and I was finally able to get back online (naturally one of the first places I logged onto was here, LOL).
But, got a chance to do a little upgrading to get set up for Spider rigging seeing as how I had a little free time, and thought I would share with you all. I used mostly scrap lying around the house / shop, and it should fit the bill nicely. And yes, all trolling motor cables clear everything but I do have to thread the cable through the rod holders when raising / deploying the trolling motor.

I plan on trying / fine tuning everything this weekend, so I will post the results along with a fishing report. The weather is supposed to be mid-sixties and sunny!

Sidebar...................... Man, I missed this place!!!!

Front (my area) :



Rear (wifey or fishin' buddy) :



other side of front :



from the front:



from the back :



and finally, could not have done any of this without the awesome ideas provided by the members and admin of this site! Keep up the great work gents, its much
appreciated! =D>

Glad you are back - looks awesome =D>

That's some nice work! 8)

Nice job. I have about 6 rod holders identical to those sitting half finished in my room. Need to finish them before the crappie bite heats up this year. I have been neglecting to do this for too many years. I am going to be slaying some slabs this year...

Thanks fellas........

Crappie usually start at the end of Feb. around here, so I will be after them for a couple (6?) weeks. Than its back to Bass. I Bass fish most all year long, and I still have to get my front seat and pedestal for that (as soon as funds permit.)

Well...... lets go hook the boat up!

Your boat and weather look nice.Over a foot of snow here fell in the last 2 days.
How many rods are you aloud to fish at one time,for crappie?

Sweet setup. I like the tackle storage. I might have to come up with something like that now.

I'm planning something very very similar, but for catfish and crappie. I've already cutout the pvc like you did, and I'm planning on putting 4 for mine, and they are removable. Did you use wood for the brace? If so, what size?, and then it looks like you just painted it all to match, am I right?

Also, where did you get the bases to hold it in? Is that a long screw? What's the materials?

Welcome Back man.. I was wondering what happened to ya.

That spider rig looks good... You just gave me an idea for storage too with that... awesome! :beer:

Zum said:

Your boat and weather look nice.Over a foot of snow here fell in the last 2 days.
How many rods are you aloud to fish at one time,for crappie?

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We hit 71 today for the first time this year =D>.
You can use as many rods as you can handle, its pretty much up to the person. 6 is plenty for me, but I have seen as many as 12 across the front of some rigs...

baptistpreach said:

I'm planning something very very similar, but for catfish and crappie. I've already cutout the pvc like you did, and I'm planning on putting 4 for mine, and they are removable. Did you use wood for the brace? If so, what size?, and then it looks like you just painted it all to match, am I right?

Also, where did you get the bases to hold it in? Is that a long screw? What's the materials?

Click to expand...

Yes, I used a couple old 1 x 6's I had lying around and just painted it to kinda go with the carpet I put down in the boat (I will go back with brown or beige seats one day )

A couple of the bases I already had (Drift maters), but I made 8 more out of some aluminum stock (1/2") I had lying around, and cut & drilled them up. I tapped 1/2 holes for the 4 & 8" Carriage bolts that I used for the holder, and mounted the base on the wood frame with some drywall screws. I will go back with some stainless screws for the bases later. Worked out pretty well.

russ010 said:

Welcome Back man.. I was wondering what happened to ya.

That spider rig looks good... You just gave me an idea for storage too with that... awesome! :beer:

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Thanks Russ....... Been a crazy year so far....

Nice. I'm getting ready to start on the spider rigging for my boat.

What did you make the rod holders from? I have a friend who built a jig to make the formed rod holders. He says it takes him about 2 minutes to bend up the 1/4" rod and make one. :shock: I think I may get him to demonstrate that for me (6 or 8 times :lol: ).

Quackr,

Did you ever get your TM mount problem fixed? Was wondering about that. :-k

Waterwings said:

Quackr,

Did you ever get your TM mount problem fixed? Was wondering about that. :-k

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So far, so good. The only thing that I am worried about currently is corrosion between the carbon steel anchors that I used and the deck. I found some different anchors that may work better but I am waiting for it to come loose again before I tackle it. It is going to be a chore to drill out what I have in there now.

Quackrstackr said:

Nice. I'm getting ready to start on the spider rigging for my boat.

What did you make the rod holders from? I have a friend who built a jig to make the formed rod holders. He says it takes him about 2 minutes to bend up the 1/4" rod and make one. :shock: I think I may get him to demonstrate that for me (6 or 8 times :lol: ).

Click to expand...

4" PVC pipe, 2" hole saw, 1/2" drill bit and a jig saw to cut the 1/2" slot so you can adjust the angle of the rod (the square area under the carriage bolt head fits right in the slot you cut to secure it). Then used 2, 1/2" nuts # washers to tighten everything down.

Thanks.

They look great. Are they pretty sturdy?

Quackrstackr said:

Waterwings said:

Quackr,

Did you ever get your TM mount problem fixed? Was wondering about that. :-k

Click to expand...

So far, so good. The only thing that I am worried about currently is corrosion between the carbon steel anchors that I used and the deck. I found some different anchors that may work better but I am waiting for it to come loose again before I tackle it. It is going to be a chore to drill out what I have in there now.

Click to expand...

Sounds like it will be a chore, so hope everything goes well with it.

Looks good, I like the storage compartments too. Here are a couple of pics of my set-up, I'm ready to get back on the water after all this ice, but now that the weather is nice our lake has risen over 11 foot in the last 36 hours.

You seriously should consider some more rods and holders. :LOL22: :fishing2:

I think I am missing something - why are you using so many rods? Are you using live bait or crappie jigs / plastics?

Do you keep the fish - is this just like a harvest some food thing?

Captain Ahab: I can't speak for the other guys, but when we fished Crappie tournaments like Crappiethon, we'd troll small jigs on 12 rods or more. We did this for several reasons: (1) We could test multiple jig colors and weights, to find what the Crappie wanted and also their depth; (2) We covered a wider path, increasing our chances of finding schools that might be missed with two rods; and (3) We're just sick - we like the comedy and adrenaline rush when a dozen fish bite at the same time :mrgreen: