Walmart Fishing Department
 

Went to Walmart this afternoon to pick up some Bandit 300s. The Walmart in McMinnville no longer carries the lures. I was planning on trolling for crappie tomorrow morning at Woods. Fortunately, I still had enough lures for the trip (unless I lose them).

Does Walmart sell Bandits in other stores in the area?

Bandit 300s for $5.29 each. In stock, Amazon Prime applies if you purchase at least $25.

I paid over $8 for a Rapala Skitter Pop at Walmart this afternoon. I am afraid to fish with it for fear the line will break!

Our Wallyworlds in Jackson are very hit and miss at best when it comes to baits and Gander Mountain never has the colors I want. I ordered 14 last night from BassPro. Free shipping right now over $75 $5.99 ea at BP

I am going to try trolling at 1.8 mph tomorrow with the trolling motor. The slowest the big motor will troll is 2.6 unless I drag a drift sock. Planning on trolling for hybrids tomorrow afternoon at Tim's. 2.6 is fine for hybrids.

So many fish, so little time!

1.6-1.8 is my goto speed for crappie. I pull Bandit 200's and 300's til I see which they prefer, then switch four out of six rods to the depth they are hitting at.

I know what ya mean. I know Rapalas catch fish and are effective but i just cant justify spending over $6-$7 on a single lure. Aside from the original floater minnow, the action just doesnt impress me. The balsa baits are almost impossible to cast in any wind on a baitcaster and on spinning equipment i still cant get decent distance. Im not knocking them, i just cant justify spending the money they ask for them.
I like my Bomber bill.dance series and strike kings when they are on sale and i have recently fell in love with Academy Sports H2O line of baits....great action, great colors and an even better price!

This Ole Miss color Crappie Max from Bass Pro has been my best trolling lure. Comes in different depth cranks too
https://basspro.scene7.com/is/image/...ei=206&fmt=jpg

I get almost all my baits from Tackle Warehouse. The Bandit 100,200&300's are $5.29ea, and free shipping on all orders over $50.

A few times a year they do 15%&20% off deals where I stock up for the year. Father Day is 15% off gift cards, so I buy X ammount in gift cards then wait until a 20% off deal and combine the two and get deals you can't match anywhere. Sometimes I'll even call them during those deals and get a better deal, but you better be able to wait on hold for an hour or two, but if I'm saving several hundred dollars an order I'll wait.

Jeremy

I looked at Tackle Warehouse before ordering from BP and the TW ones did not appear to come with hooks. They had a link for hooks below. Am I wrong on this or do they come with hooks?

They come with hooks.....that is the way they do their pics for some lures.....don't know why. Every lure I have ordered from them has hooks.



Regards

Thanks Alpha! I've gotten some stuff from them but never any crankbaits. That pic was throwing me especially with the link to the trebles at the bottom of the page.

I went to the website just to check that out. On many brands of their hard baits they show no hooks but in some of the descriptions they tell what kind of hooks are on the bait. I have ordered Bandits....XCaliburs.....and others and they have always had hooks. The only thing I can think of is a lot of folks change out the hooks so they are giving a link to hooks....but IMHO at the prices today they better come with hooks....LOL.



Regards

Found Bandit 300s at Walmart in Manchester on the way to the lake. $5.56 each.

Reading this post I don't understand trolling for crappie? I am new to fishing but all I've heard is find trees, brush, ect. and fish those. How does trolling work?

I heard also about trolling for walleye on the cumberland river below cordell hull dam. Can anyone tell me about how to do this?

Same setup as for crappie.

that is good to know they have them there (which is close to me!), I do run to or trough Manchester often which is better than run to bass pro, thanks for the info!!

sorry, don't know how to troll for crappie?? Could someone explain?

Two kinds of trolling. One is a method for catching fish, the other involves getting people pissed off on the internet. I do both very often and find them both to be very fun!

Trolling for any species involves a slow speed either by trolling motor or padding for us kayakers and casing some sort of crankbait or maybe a curly tail grub way behind the boat and cruise around. When doing this via trolling motor or very slow speed with an outboard, you can sit back and eat, drink a beer, whatever you choose, and wait for the rod to bend. I do it sometimes in the yak but it's not as much fun to keep paddling. I'd rather drift and just keep casting a crankbait.

Thanks Jimmy, do you troll in middle of lakes, along banks? Where is best? I want to try trolling cumberland river, would you troll up river I'm guessing? During generation periods or no generation? Thanks!

Trolling is most effective if you have a depthfinder so you know what you're doing. If you're trolling a 6ft diving crankbait in 25 feet of water you very well could be wasting your time. So whether its the middle of the lake or close to shore, you need to have a lure that dives to the appropriate depth either depending on how deep the water is or how deep the fish are that you're chasing.

I've never trolled in a fast moving river in my kayak, only in other's boats and their outboards running us at a slow speed. I would never put my kayak in the Cumberland River unless the flow was very slow coming out of OHD. Most times the flow is way too fast for me to want to attempt that.

This time of year, crappie will be suspended in open water. A quick-start approach is to go to the areas you caught crappie in the spring and cruise slowly in the deeper water nearby. Watch your depthfinder's screen closely. Crappie tend to school vertically. If you see a relatively elongated cloud of fish that look like a column, that's probably a school of crappie. Take note of the depth you found them to be suspended. All you have to do is run your cranks at or near to that depth. You may have to fine-tune your approach, but this is a good starting point. Cranks in the 1.5-2 inch size work well and feel free to experiment with colors. Troll fast enough to cause the cranks to wobble. A good eyeball test is to cast and retrieve a crankbait and watch your rodtip. When you troll, adjust your speed so that the rodtip moves/vibrates at the same speed as when you are casting/retrieving. I like fast-action rods when I'm trolling since the stiffness ensures a better hook-up, but a slower action may be better in a motor-powered boat.


Chris

Thanks Chris, didn't know about crappie being out in the open. I'm going to use this info and give it a try. I have not learned to use and understand my depth/fish finder.

Jimmy, I appreciate the info also and will be trying it in the next few days depending on weather. I'm close to Carthage so I'll be below Cordell Hull

Thank you both!!!

Cranks catch a lot of crappie but don't overlook trolling soft plastics. I'll troll Wee-R's when covering water along channel edges or cover that can hold crappie. If I am fishing an area where I know for a fact crappie are there then I will troll Crappie Magnets in various colors a little slower than the crankbaits. That method catches me a lot of fish in the summertime.

Travis, when trolling trout magnets what size head do you use? Any other weight? What depth are you trolling? Thanks for the info...

No other weight. I tie the jig head on with a loop knot to aid in movement. On the jig size, I'll start rod on each size (one 1/4, one 1/8) then which ever side starts getting will change so that both are same weight/same color.

Great, thank again...

Also, when I pull CM's it is on trolling motor set to 1 with intermittent pauses. Doing that lets the magnet fall horizontal like it's designed and triggers bites too.

Look up "Strolling for Crappie."