Question: What’s bulldozing?

Capps: My partner Steve Coleman and I have been using a tactic we call bulldozing for quite a few years. Just like a bulldozer tries to push over a tree, a rock or a stump, we use our Minn Kota trolling motor to try and push against the brush in deep water with our B’n’M Capps and Coleman Minnow Rigs.

Question: Ronnie, explain bulldozing.

Capps: Steve and I sit on the front of the boat with two rods each in our rod holders. We use a 3/4-ounce sinker on each Capps and Coleman Minnow Rig and our trolling motor to mash those Minnow Rigs right into deep-water brush.

Question: How deep was the water you fished at Pickwick?

Capps: We caught most of our crappie from 25- to 36-feet deep on Pickwick Lake.

Question: How do you mash those minnow rigs into the brush?

Capps: I cast a marker buoy upcurrent of the brush or a treetop that we’ll be bulldozing. Then I motor my boat downcurrent below the buoy and put out my B’n’M crappie pole. We approach the brush either from downwind or downcurrent, depending on which is the strongest. We let our Capps and Coleman Minnow Rigs down to the right depth and then start moving the boat toward the brush pile. When I see one of my poles start to bend as it’s pushing my Minnow Rig into the brush, I reduce the power I’m giving the trolling motor. Then all the Minnow Rigs on the four poles are mashed into the brush. To consistently catch crappie using this tactic, let the Minnow Rigs get hung-up in the brush, and don’t try to keep them from getting hung. Once we know we’ve got our leads and minnow rigs in the brush, we try to keep our boat pointed right at the brush, use a little bit of force from the trolling motor to keep our lines pushing against the brush and then wait on a crappie bite. The minnows down below are zigging to the left and the right because they’re in the brush and probably looking at a crappie. We’ve found that the crappie have to bite when you mash those minnows right in front of their faces.

Question: Okay, Ronnie, when you get on a crappie, how do you land it, because your lines are either hung-up or about to be hung-up in the brush?

Capps: When I feel the bite, I set the hook and pull the crappie either to the right or the left of the boat. I slowly reduce the power on the trolling motor, so the boat drifts away from the brush. Since the boat is moving away from the brush, I often can pull the crappie out of the brush. As soon as I hit the brush, I’ll either reduce the power to the trolling motor or use my trolling motor to push me back away from the brush. Then I can pull the crappie out of the brush and into the boat. Most of the time when we start backing away from the brush, we can pull the crappie out of the brush because we’re pulling it to us the same way we approach the brush. For this technique to be successful, use 15-pound-test fluorocarbon P Line. I prefer the heavier line because the wire hooks on the Capps and Coleman Minnow Rigs will straighten-out as we back- out of the brush. Then, when we get our Minnow Rigs in to our boat, we can bend our hooks back to their original shapes. Ronnie and I have learned that if you don’t get hung-up, you won’t catch crappie. We’ve found that using heavy 15-pound-test line and having our hooks bend straight as we pull them out of the brush, instead of using lighter line, breaking off our Minnow Rigs and then having to re-rig every time we go into the brush with our bait, is far more efficient.

Question: Ronnie, walk me up your double-minnow rig.

Capps: At the very end of the minnow rig, there’s a No. 214-2 Eagle Claw light-wire bronze hook, which is attached to 12-pound-test leader about 12-inches long. The leader’s attached to the main line with about a 3/4-ounce sinker on it. Then the line runs from the sinker up about 30 inches to a Hi-Tech Tackle three-way in-line swivel. Coming off one of the eyes of the three-way swivel will be an 11-inch drop line with another No. 214-2 Eagle Claw light-wire bronze hook. On the third eye of the swivel, we tie our main line, which is 15-pound-test fluorocarbon P-Line. Many anglers fish a smaller main line than I do, like 6- to 8-pound-test line. But these anglers break-off more minnow rigs than I do. I’ve learned over the years that I’d rather be fishing with heavy line than re-tying minnow rigs on every time I go to a brush pile.

Question: What pole do you use when you’re bulldozing?

Capps: I prefer the B’n’M 14-foot Capps & Coleman Series Trolling rods.

Question: What reel do you use on these poles?

Capps: I fish with the B’n’M West Point Spinning Reels designed to be used with these poles. We only put about 60 feet of line on these reels because we won’t be using them for casting. We’ve found that 60 feet is about all the line we need when we’re using our bulldozing tactic.

Question: Ronnie, most people aren’t fishing in water that deep, are they?

Capps: No, they’re not. Most crappie fishermen remember that they’ve caught crappie in 2 to 6 feet of water during the spring spawn. But in the summer, the crappie return to the same spots where they’ve been holding during the winter months, which will be on that deep structure. As the water clears-up, you’ve got to fish deeper. We actually catch some male crappie colored-up like they are during the spawn in 20 feet of water. In most of these really-clear lakes, the crappie spawn much deeper than most people think.