Kayak angler Nicole King often trolls crankbaits to target panfish. She breaks down her favorite lures and tactics in the video above.
In summary, she finds her best luck trolling right along the first break just off of the weedline. In this video, she’s in about 10 feet of water using couple of her favorite shallow-running cranks. Her favorite bait is the Z-Cranker from Eurotackle, which runs about 5′ deep and is deadly for targeting bluegill. She’ll also troll Salmo Hornets in smaller sizes to target a variety of panfish.
Her go-to rod is a Tuned Up Custom Rods (TUCR) Ultra-Light Apex Elite which has the perfect power for handling the smallest crankbaits. When upsizing baits, she’ll switch to her TUCR Medium-Light Fast Action Apex Elite which has a similar fast action tip for those light bites but a stiffer backbone for pulling the bigger bait and fighting those fish in. Her trolling speed when targeting panfish is typically to 1.2 mph to 1.5 mph.
She makes sure to have her drag loose in case she hooks into a bigger bass or pike.
Be sure to watch the video to see these baits in actions as Nicole hooks into some quality bluegill and crappie from her kayak! For more tips on targeting panfish, visit our panfish archive.
