Fishing the Spider Rig for Crappie

When the crappie spawn is over and the summer sun warms the water temps into the 70s, crappie move out of the shallows and prowl the depths in search of cooler water and the baitfish that school there for the same reason. Most crappie anglers focus on early spring and spawning crappie, but crappie can be caught throughout the summer with a little work and patience. One of the best ways to catch suspended crappie during the summertime is with spider rigging. Spider rigging for crappie has been around for a long time, but this great technique is really gaining more and more attention because it works, and while spider rigging continues to evolve, there are some common crappie rigging and techniques that I will explain here.

Spider-Rigging Tips For Crappie Fishing

Spider-rigging looks like a difficult task and it can be for the beginner. With a little practice it can be mastered. With spider-rigging, several poles from 10 to 16 feet in length are placed in a series of rod holders fanned across the bow of the boat. The rod tips are positioned just above the water. It looks like a spider’s legs, hence the name. Crappie anglers will say they stroll, push, long line, tight line, slow troll and fast troll. You can also stay put hovering over a brush pile with the spider-rigging technique, but no matter what you do with this setup, it’s still spider-rigging as long as you fan the poles from the bow of the boat. In a course of a trip I might perform all of these different maneuvers depending on the situation.

What’s With The Long Poles

People have asked me “what’s with the long rods in your rod holder when you spider rig”. If you’ve ever seen a boat that is spider-rigging you know that this is a legitimate question. It’s simple to answer. There are two reasons to use long poles when spider-rigging. The first and most important is to keep your line out of the trolling motor. This will be the first aha moment for a beginner that doesn’t think they need to use long poles.

The second is to get your baits as far away from the boat as possible so you’re not spooking fish, especially when slow trolling in shallow water. I prefer 10-foot rods. They’re easier to work with, especially when fishing alone. I’ve used 14-foot rods and did OK, but it gets awkward pulling up crappie through all the other rigs. I’ve never used 16-foot rods, but many crappie anglers do.

The reels are probably the least important part of the spider rigging setup. Usually, the reel gets little use unless you’re fishing deep. A net is very important when spider-rigging. You can pull most crappie up and swing them into the boat to unhook them, but when you hook into a slab you want a long-reach net so you can reach out to where the crappie is. The best rule of thumb for a net is at least as long as your longest pole. There are several companies producing spider rig nets. Some are fixed length while others telescope out to 12 or 13 feet.

This is another reason I like a shorter rod but 10-foot rods is as short as I go. I don’t need such a long net that can be hard to handle alone, especially if the day is long and the bite is good.

Capps & Coleman Rig

There are several different terminal crappie rigs for spider-rigging, but I will explain the most common crappie fishing rig for this technique. The Capps and Coleman rig was named after six-time national champions Ronnie Capps and Steve Coleman and is probably the most utilized crappie fishing rig in spider-rigging. The Capps and Coleman are very simple but super effective when spider-rigging for crappie. Starting with your main line attach a 3-way swivel.

The standard 3-way swivel will work, but a T-Turn 3-way swivel helps keep your leader from tangling with the main line. Off the bottom loop of your Thunder Mist T-Turn, attach a leader of the same type line used for your main line. This bottom leader should be at least 24 inches in length. You need to use at least 10-pound test line with this rig and I will explain later.

Once you have your bottom leader attached to the bottom of your 3-way swivel, run the end of the leader through an egg sinker and slide it up the leader to about 8 inches from the swivel. Now loop the end of the leader several times through the hole in the sinker to hold it in place. You can attach a straight swivel below the sinker with a bead. This allows the sinker to freely slide up and down the leader. It also adds a bit more protection from line twists. I prefer the extra swivel over looping the line myself. The sinker size can be varied from 1/4oz to 1oz depending on the depth and speed you’re fishing. 

There are a couple of tricks to an effective Capps and Coleman rig. The first is the type of hooks you use. The best hook for this rig is a #2 Aberdeen hook. The Aberdeen hook is a light wire hook that is easy to bend when pulled. This is why a 10-pound test minimum is important and even heavier. Crappie isn’t as line shy as other species.

When you hang up, this setup allows you to straighten the hook. It keeps your crappie fishing rig intact saving you money and time. The Aberdeen hook is easy to bend back into shape and gets you back to crappie fishing quickly and is just part of becoming super-efficient which is paramount when spider-rigging. At the end of the leader, attach a #2 Aberdeen hook.

The second trick to this crappie rig is to use a heavy line for your side leader. I’ve seen guys use a cheap heavy mono for their side leader. They told me the cheap stuff is stiffer and helps keep the line from tangling. I’m planning to try this to see if it helps. With the Thunder Mist T-Turn swivel, tangles are rare. Attach a #2 Aberdeen hook to the side leader as well.

Spider-rigging for crappie is a great way to catch a lot of crappies and the technique can be modified in many ways to fit the situation like replacing the hooks and minnows with jigs or jigs with minnows or even crankbaits. Spider rigging for crappie is a very versatile way to fish for crappie. It might take a while to master spider rigging for crappie, but I hope these few tips can get you started and help you catch more crappie.

3 Proven Methods To Spider Rig For Crappie

1. The Double Minnow Rig

2. The Double Jig Rig

3. Use Bobbers When Spider Rigging for Crappie

There are many ways to rig your spider rigging setup to catch crappie. Your spider-rig setup will be determined by water temperature, water clarity, water depth and personal preference. Personal preference usually comes down to the spider rigging setup you have the most confidence in to catch crappie. Here is a list of 3 spider rigging setups for you to try on your next spider rigging crappie adventure.

Double Minnow Rig For Spider Rigging

The double minnow rig is my favorite when the water is cold, but this crappie rigging works great all season. It’s simple yet very effective. It performs best when the water is cold or when the crappie just is not biting very well. The double minnow rig can usually get you a few bites because it’s live bait. For more information on when to use and how to tie the double rig check out our article Double Jigging for Crappie 

Double Jig Rig For Spider Rigging

The double jig rig is the same as the double minnow rig but uses jigs. Crappie will hit a jig very well and many anglers only use jigs. Many crappie anglers claim they catch more crappie with a jig than with a minnow. Jigs offer the crappie color. Color is important to crappie and will trigger bites. Crappie will bite when not hungry if presented with the right trigger. This is called a reaction strike and good anglers know how to trigger these bites. Jigs offer a multitude of profiles, actions and visuals. All of which can get you a reaction strike.

Spider Rigging With Bobbers

When crappie moves up shallow a bobber can keep your minnow or jig at a certain depth. This will keep you from hanging up in the brush and stumps where the crappie lives. You can fish in 6 feet of water when spider-rigging. Use a setup with a bobber set at 4 feet deep. It will help you slowly troll through the shallows without hanging up. Crappie always looks up to feed and will come out of the brush to take your bait. Oftentimes a single hook rig is best in shallow water because the top hook might be out of the water. The double rig setup works best in deeper water with scattered fish. Use it over brush piles in 10-20 feet of water, or deeper.  

Whether you use jigs or minnows, long rods or short give these spider rigging setups a try this season and have fun out there catching more crappie

Streamline Your Spider Rig Setup for More Crappie

Streamline your spider rig setup is an excellent way to catch more crappie in a variety of situations. The technique involves multiple rods with multiple baits. The rods, up to 8 or more, are fanned out, usually at the bow of the boat and resembles a spider’s legs. Hence the name. This spread of many rods and usually two baits per rod allows the crappie angler to present multiple baits at multiple depths. This ability to experiment with colors and depths can help narrow down the perfect bait and depth for that day. With these two factors figured out spider-rigging for crappie becomes a very effective way to put crappie in the boat.

There is one enemy of spider-rigging for crappie and it will be discussed in this article. This enemy of the spider-rig is current and moving through the water looking for crappie. Current can pull your baits out of the strike zone as the crappie rigging sweeps up from the drag applied by this current. Same goes for those days when the schools of crappie are scattered and you need to move along in search of them. Your lines can get tangled as you move the boat either searching for active schools or moving from brushpile to brushpile as they replenish throughout the day.

These two situations can call for heavy sinkers just to keep the lines in order. I personally don’t like going heavier than a ¾ oz sinker. I’ve heard about 1 and 2 oz sinkers being used, especially in heavy wind. The heavy weight helps keep the lines straight and in order. It also allows the rod to flex with the waves. The weight transfers the up and down movement of the boat into the rod and helps keep the baits from moving as much. The weight makes it more difficult to detect bites and diminishes the fight of the crappie as it struggles against a big lead sinker. There’s an alternative to using these super heavy weights which to keep your crappie rig straight and in order.

Line To Use For Spider Rigging

The alternative to using these heavy weights when spider-rigging for crappie is to streamline your crappie rigging to reduce drag. It’s simple and effective and will help you catch more crappie when spider-rigging. This streamlining of your rig starts with your line. Many spider-riggers say that crappie are not line shy and use 10 or 12 pound test line or bigger for their spider-rigs. Heavier line does tangle less than light line due to its diameter and stiffness but the diameter of the line creates a lot of drag in a strong current or as you move through the water.

When I first started spider-rigging for crappie the story was that crappie are not line shy. It went against everything I had learned from my Grandfather and my Dad to always use the lightest line possible to catch more crappie. I have always used light line, 2 to 6 pound test to catch crappie. Through years of fly fishing and then learning from a few old timer slab crappie hunters I’ve come to the conclusion that the crappie aren’t necessarily shy of the line. They are deterred but the action imparted on the bait, or lack of action.

Use Braid To Streamline Your Spider Rig Setup

Remember the diameter of your line is the killer of action and creates drag. I use braided line almost exclusively on my spider-rig setup. I use Spiderwire Invisibraid  to streamline my spider rig setup. It is nearly half the diameter of mono at double the pound test. This smaller diameter is vital to streamlining your crappie rigs. There is tremendous drag on your line and it gets worse as you do deeper. The invisibraid disappears under water, but I still go with 4 to 6 pound leader for a couple reasons.

The first reason is that I just like to use clear light line at my bait. I know people using 20 pound braid all the way to the hook and they catch more crappie than I do. I think it’s just an old fly fishing habit I can’t break, always use the lightest tippet possible for more bites. There is another reason and one many anglers that ask about losing tungsten to breakoff’s should know. When you use 15 pound braid to the swivel and then 6 pound monofilament or fluorocarbon to the hook, the line breaks before the braid. This saves your tungsten and swivel. Also with steady pressure, even on light line, a gold Aberdeen hook will bend and let go, saving your hook as well. This leads us into the next step to streamlining your spider-rigs to catch more crappie.

Tungsten Weights Helps Streamline Spider Rigs

The next step to streamlining your spider-rigs is tungsten weights. I know, I know they cost too much. There are a few companies out there that sells tungsten barrel weights at a very affordable price point. The next thing I hear about tungsten weights is that they can’t afford to lose them. When rigged properly you shouldn’t lose any weights. The trick is to use the gold Aberdeen hooks and a heavier main line. This is where braid comes in. Tungsten is much denser than lead therefore it is smaller. This decrease in size reduces drag on your crappie rigs, but this isn’t the only advantage.

Tungsten is so much more dense than lead that it tends to move through cover better without hanging up. Lead will actually stick to a tree limb or manmade cover causing a hang up. Tungsten will slide over cover and structure much easier, especially when fishing rocks. Tungsten also transmits through your line and into you rod tip. This not only lets you know when your in some brush, but when a crappie bites you will see it in your rod tip. This helps you set the hook quicker and will catch you more crappie, especially when the crappie are biting light.

Hooks To Use

Many crappie anglers, including me for many years, shied away from small hooks when fishing for big crappie. In recent years however, I’ve been using some crappie jigs with a tiny hook and a lot of big crappie have been caught. I am not afraid of small hooks for big crappie anymore. With the fear gone, I’ve been able to downsize my hook and streamline my crappie rigs even more. I like to use a jig at the end of my spider-rigs because it adds a little weight and also stays ahead of the rest of the rig as it falls when dropped keeping it from tangling as easy if you let it down slowly. I use a jig even if I am using minnows.

Spider-Rig Swivels

Last but certainly not least is the swivel. Large swivels is the norm on spider-rigs. They work, if you don’t mind the bulkiness and the drag that they create. I would not even use a swivel, but it’s a must when dragging baits through the water. They tend to spin and you would have a tangled mess in short order without a swivel. The smallest ball bearing swivel is what I like to use. Remember that these are crappie, your swivel can be the smallest they make. A small barrel swivel will work but a good ball bearing swivel is the way to go. They do cost a little more, but they will foul up much less than a barrel swivel. A #2 ball bearing swivel is very small and it’s easy to see that it will create much less drag in the water.

TUNGSTEN

If you spider-rig try streamlining your crappie rigs. Tungsten is the go-to weight among bass anglers, both pro and weekend anglers. If you are serious about your crappie and bluegill fishing give Tungsten a try for added sensitivity and less drag. Streamlining your crappie rigs can help you catch more crappie

Check Out How To Catch March Crappie