Anyone ever try this?

[JimR]

All this talk about the Carolina rig got me thinking about something my Grandpa and I use to do in Wisconsin lakes for bull bluegills and slab crappies, that also caught us a lot of bass unintentionally. We use to rig the small Rebel and Bomber crankbaits almost Carolina style with a weight about 24-36 inches up the line that was just enough to sink the crankbait until the weight hit bottom. Steady but slow retrieves to keep the weight on bottom was all it took and it was a deadly quality bait. Not a 100 plus panfish a day style, but the 25 or so you did catch of crappie and gills were usually photo worthy. He would even paint the weights to make it look like the crank was chasing something on bottom. Him and my grandmother use to go to Florida in the winters where he would fish for bass. They use to call him "Indian Joe" because he had a sixth sense when it came to fishing. A story I love is that people use to wait in there boats in the morning for him to show up at the launch so that they could see where his spots were. I owe my passion and most of my knowledge of this sport to him. Anyhow, I was just curious if anyone else had ever used the "Carolina Crank" method before. Thanks. Jim R

[Scott Ferguson]

You couldn't cast a rig like that, would they troll with it?

[JimR]

Not too much of a problem. We used medium light to light action spinning equipment with 6 pound mono. No trolling, reeled in just fast enough to get the crank bait wobbling and just slow enough to keep the weight on the bottom.

[Rob G]

That's a common technique with a Rapala floating minnow and large sinker for walleye both up north and in the southern reservoirs

[Scott Ferguson]

I've used a sinker 18 inches ahead of a Rapala to get it to run deeper trolling for walleyes but we didn't let the weight get to the bottom. I've used 2 and 3 ounces of lead ahead of big deep running plugs trolling deep for lake trout. It was impossible to cast with only 18 inches between the sinker and the bait. I don't see how you could throw it with 3 feet between the lead and the bait. The sinker would go first and the bait would tangle in the line or it would just tumble.

[Mike G]

If you can get your hands on the old instruction sheet that used to come with a Flatfish, you will see that that is exactly what Charles Helin recommended for casting his plug including the slow retrieve. That was also the recommended way to fish the original Rapala when it came out. (Instructions on the box.) So I suspect a lot of people have done it.

 

Tangles, yes, especially with the hook spreaders that adorned the Flatfish. A friend used to joke that he got a tangle on two out of three casts, but on the third cast he caught a fish. While we may think of these plugs as shallow water or surface baits, the original idea was to get them down and fish them slow.

[Kev-mo]

This is one of the ways I fished for perch on the lakefront. 1/4 or 3/8 oz weight 18-24 inches in front of a shad rap. I suppose it could be modified for river use w/regard to current, lure and weight.

[JimR]

I guess 36" may be a little long, it looked pretty big when I was 10 years old. One thing he did, was to remove the front treble hook. This helped aleviate some of the tangles.

[Rob G]

 

 

Tangles, yes, especially with the hook spreaders that adorned the Flatfish. A friend used to joke that he got a tangle on two out of three casts, but on the third cast he caught a fish. While we may think of these plugs as shallow water or surface baits, the original idea was to get them down and fish them slow.

 

 

The rig goes like this: Line passes thru a large (often 1 oz) slip sinker and then a plastic bead and then tied to a swivel. Then attached to the other side of the barrel swivel is about 24" of line tied to the floating Rapala. Yes, we cast this (with smaller river sinkers) but we will also troll or drift with this rig for walleye. Unfortunately a lot of the northern waters won't allow for trolling because of the Musky regs. It's an excellent technique but depending on the structure on the bottom, it can get expensive if you're losing Rapalas.

[JimR]

We mostly used it along weedlines that dropped from 4 feet to 6-8 feet. Or where he new there were submerged stumps and laydowns (where we may lose a couple). Never used it around riprap or chunk rock because that wasn't where the fish we were trying to catch were.

[Tim A]

I've used that technique to fish (otherwise-)shallow running lures like the rapalas you mention but also spoons, mostly from the tall fishing walls/piers below dams on big rivers like the OH. There's no other way to fish those lures from structure like that. But it can be used to get distance and cover water if you're shorebound on lakes, too.