I had the chance to get together with a good fishing buddy over the weekend. I met Brad Whitehead a few years ago while working with some of the B’n’M pros, and we hit it off immediately as crappie fishermen and also as friends. Brad is a guide on Alabama’s Pickwick, Wilson, and Wheeler Reservoirs as well as a member of the B’n’M Poles, Vicious Fishing, and War Eagle Boats pro-staffs.Brad called me earlier in the week to break the news that he was converting his primary fishing style over to side pulling. Side pulling is a tactic made famous by Roger Gant, another well respected Pickwick guide and mentor to Whitehead. Brad offered that while th
e whole crappie fishing industry was changing over to various long-pole trolling tactics, even after 30 years Gant still caught more fish-day in and day out-than anyone else he knew by using the side-pulling method.That’s not to say that side pulling hasn’t changed some through the years. A few years ago, Gant went to John Ward at War Eagle Boats and suggested an entire design package for War Eagle’s 754 VS model. This was the boat that Whitehead had this weekend.
“This boat makes fishing so much easier,” says Whitehead. “Everything is laid out within easy reach. You don’t even have to get out of your seat to go from running the big motor to the trolling motor or to put a fish in the livewell.”
Like all heirs to a dynasty, Whitehead intends to put his personal spin on the time-tested tactic. He said he saw a lot of additional potential that would lend itself to other styles of fishing, as well.
“I can pull corks, long-line troll, and troll crankbaits with this setup,” he says. “And there’s some stuff I’ll be doing differently with baits and electronics that I think will be unique to this type of crappie fishing.”
After the weekend on the water with Brad, he had me convinced as well. The frequent cold fronts passing through north Alabama made the fishing tough, but the side-pulling method allowed us to slow down and pick off big spawning fish that were hunkered down around stumps and breaklines.
For more information on War Eagle’s side pulling design, visit their website at www.wareagleboats.com or give Brad Whitehead a call at (256) 483-0834.
Phillip Gentry
pgentry6@bellsouth.net
