I Have Questions About Crankbait Fishing In Deep Clear Water

[14blackmaxreels]

I need help with lure selection (color,size,etc) for fishing in deep water rangeing from 20 to 40 feet in depth.This lake is in Alabama (Inland Lake).The water is very clear and very deep compared to Guntersville Lake where i fish most of the time.Any tips for fishing crankbaits in deep clear water would be nice.Thanks in advance!!!

[irnwrkr]

Carolina rig with a long leader. Kinda hard to cast, but it works. I guess you could long line it as well, to cover a bigger area. You could use pretty much any crank you wanted to then.

[WRB]

Learning to use deep diving cranks in clear water is no different than what you are used to doing cranking weed breaks. Clear water is usually associated with sparse weed beds and more rocky areas with brush.

Active bass, the bass you want to target with a crank bait, are going to be keying on whatever baitfish is the common where you are fishing. My guess would be threadfin shad, so a shad color 5/8 to 3/4 oz deep diver is your 1st choice. 2nd would be a larger 3/4 to 1 oz in the same colors; pearl silver with purple/blue back and some gold highltes.

Start with points that drop off into a channel and any area where chunk rock transitions to clay with some brush. Humps, saddles between islands are always good in the wind.

Go down in line size to 10 to 12 lb and use divers that run 15' to 20'. (DD15 & DD22).

Don't forget about structure spoons if you meter schools of shad.

Good luck.

Tom

[jimmykm21]

20 foot cranking will wear you out quick if you don't have the right reel and rod set up .Ask me how I know

I ended up buying a setup just for deep cranking only.

Make sure of that first before deciding what lure selection and type. Any tYpe of deep diving crank can produce .

I tend to stay away from too much flash in clear lakes.

In clear lakes I use a natural matte color koppers in the 1 ounce or heavier deep diving crank .

I will go as heavy as 2 ounces.

I fish big baits .

[NoBassPro]

How clear of water? In those few lakes I fish where you can see the fish in 20' foot plus of water, cranks have never been that effective. And I love throwing cranks.

[14blackmaxreels]

How clear of water? In those few lakes I fish where you can see the fish in 20' foot plus of water, cranks have never been that effective. And I love throwing cranks.

we can see sish in as deep as 25 feet

[14blackmaxreels]

jimmy what set up worked for you while deep water cranking

[jimmykm21]

jimmy what set up worked for you while deep water cranking

I use a quantum KVD pro series reel in 5:3 with 12 pound fluoro and matched it up with the KVD quantum pro series 7 foot 10 inch glass rod.

You can go as light as 10 pounds but I feel more comfortable with a bit heavier line.

I let the rod do the work when casting . It has a nice flex to it and casts a good long way with heavy baits. The setup is very forgiving on my wrist when cranking for extended periods.

My belief is no matter what set up you decide to buy after an hour you will need a break from it.

It's tiring but it will catch you bigger fish more consistently than any other method during the hot months of the year.

[NoBassPro]

we can see sish in as deep as 25 feet

I'd recommend having a backup plan for the cranks then, and soft plastics would be my choice here. The one thing I will say is those deep clear lakes can be hard to fish, but sure do seem to hold some beauties when you can figure them out. Or get lucky. Whichever, I'll take either.

This is an extreme example and an area protected from fishing, but I could google this pic. Anyway, when you can see something like this its usually time to rethink how to approach the fish.

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/5853314

[14blackmaxreels]

i do fish soft plastics 70% of my time on the water and from some of these post i have been reading i think my arm might fall off trying to get down that deep.Maybe i will rethink this approach and go with soft plastics or maybe even something like a Jig-N-pig...thanks for all the tips guys.If i can't catch anything at all maybe i will try to get a crankbait to the bottom before my friend and i call it a day...