Square Bill Problems

[Midnight Splash2]

Ive been on a soft plastic binge for about 2 years and decided to get into cranking a couple of months ago. I went out and bought a Dobyns 764RM CB rod and paired it will a Pflugar Patriarch with upgraded bearings. I originally was using 30lb Suffix 832 braid(.011 diameter).

The only thing that was bothering me was when I was fishing square bills in 4-6 feet of water. After about half the cast they were digging into the mud on the bottom. Now once they dig the bottom the hooks immediately pick up some kind of moss or algea and lose there action. Now the remander of the retrieve becomes ineffective. I bought KVD 1.5, H2O(rattle & non rattle), 6th Sense, and now the Rapala DT 3. I bought the DT 3 because its rated to go no deeper then 3 feet. I figured this would be perfect but that wasnt the case. Even the DT 3 would dig the bottom in 5 feet of water. I even went as far as checking the depth by dropping a lure straight to the bottom and measuring how much line went down to see if my depthfinder was off. It was reading correct, 5 feet on the depthfinder and 5 feet on the physical check.

So yesterday I decided to buy some new line. I figured that had to be it. I went with mono over floro obviously because of the buoyancy. I spooled up 12lb Seaguar Senshi(.011 diameter) and tied on the DT 3. Now here is the strange part to me. With this new line it only took me a few cranks to start digging into the bottom in 5 feet of water. It dug right away with the rod down and with the rod parallel to the water.

Now the only thing I can think of is that most of these squarebills run deeper then what the specs say they do? I would never imagine that something that seems to simple could become so complicated. Can someone recomend a good square bill that runs no deeper then 3ft for me please? 2-3 feet would be ideal for me in this area. I have the Manns Baby - 1 but would like something to go a little deeper so I can bounce off the cover. Any suggestions on what brand/lb test line I could use to make these things run to spec? Or any other suggestions to help solve the problem would be appriciated.

Thanks!

[Chris at Tech]

Several options here...

1) use thicker line. Cranks dive deeper with narrower line, and shallower with thicker line

2) raise/lower your rod tip to help control dive depth. In this case, keep raising your rod tip until you get the desired bottom contact

3) get a shallower running crank

[J Francho]

4.) Reel in slower.

[Midnight Splash2]

Is there an industry standard to what lb test/type of line the depth specs of these cranks are measured to?

[J Francho]

Usually 10 lb. mono, or .012".

[Jacob34]

I personally use a heavier mono when throwing square bills, like 14lb suffix siege. I've lost many a square bill cranks when using a lighter line.

[Fishes in trees]

Just a thought, I like 17 or 20 lb mono when I'm throwing square bills, which is a lot . I'm throwing around brushy, wood type cover.

[smalljaw67]

I use 12# mono for square bills and the DT fat 3 is my favorite for the simple reason it does stay at around 3', the KVD 1.5 I can get close to 6' deep. That said, you may want to send the bait in to Rapala as something is really off, or get an Excalibur XCS 200 series, all of them run 3' and with 14# line the 200 series actually goes to about 2.5' on a hard retrieve.

[plumworm]

Bandit "100" series run about 2-4 ft. with 10 LB. P-LINE. They have many colors and run true right out of the box unlike many other brands like strike king.

[bigbasshunter]

Fish with you rod tip at the 10-11o'clock position and you will get the correct running depth. When you feel trash on you line/lure give it a quick rip to try and free the debris.

Recently I've been fishing the 1.5s and 2.5s in 1.5-3ft of water packed with grasses. I keep my reel at my face level with rod tip at 11o'clock, just enough depth to tick threw the top 3-5" of grass. When I feel the wobble cease I give it a nice POP and free it up. When the grasses are closer to the surface on slack tide I will throw the Mann's SB's

[zip pow]

I use 20 lb xps floucarbon on my dt 3 and my 1.5 &2.5 lucky craft never had any issue