Lipless Cranks 101

[Matthew Veillion]

What times of the year are they best? What conditions are they best? What kind of setup is ideal for them? How do you like to fish them like whats the technique? Im a beginner on these , thanks!

[The Young Gun]

Yo-yo retrieve. lift rod up, then let bait flutter back down... I love rapala rip n' raps and SK red eye shads.

[Matthew Veillion]

I bought 1/2 oz red eye shads in black and chrome, sexy shad, and bleeding shad

[The Young Gun]

I love power fishing, red eye shads are a killer bait. They come in so many colors too.. I usually fish them with either the yo yo retrieve or just rip them over the top of weeds and its one heck of an reaction bite.. My go to lure though is Rapala Rip n' Rap in hot mustard.

[Hanover_Yakker]

I personally prefer the SPRO Arukua Jr Shads myself, but I have a couple SK Red Eyes as well that have caught both largemouth and smallmouth.

[ww2farmer]

I use 1/2oz SK Redeye shads most of the time. I mainly use them in the spring and fall. I like to fan cast them on weed flats, keeping my rod tip positioned and reeling slow enough to "tick" the milfoil that grows on the flats, when it hangs on some I rip it free. The clearer the water, the lower I hold my rod tip and faster I reel. Even in cold water, I don't like them having too good a look at it, I just want them to react. I never just crank it straight back in, several times during the cast I will drop my rod tip and let the bait flutter down and then pop it back up. When I get a few bites doing one thing or the other I will just do that. I fish them on my 7' M power fast action St Croix LTB casting rod with a Curado 51E spooled with 20lb braid and a 12lb fluorocarbon leader, or 20lb leader if the pike want to play. I don't fish them on straight braid anymore because the braid has a tendency to get caught around the trebles when I let it go limp on the fall, and the fluro gets me bit off less by pike.

[Bluebasser86]

What times of the year are they best? What conditions are they best? What kind of setup is ideal for them? How do you like to fish them like whats the technique? Im a beginner on these , thanks!

They will catch fish in all but the coldest water but that 50-65 degree window seems to be best for me in the spring and fall. I love getting around milfoil and and ticking the tops of the weeds or burning along the edges. Wind blown points and windy pockets in the fall are great times too. I like a 7' M/F with a 6.2:1 reel and 15lb copoly for a vast majority of my fishing with them. I'll switch to braid in heavy weeds to help rip the bait out of the weeds though. In deeper weeds letting the bait sink into the tops of the weeds and ripping it out and just repeating that the whole way in gets some crushing reaction strikes.

[Primus]

I also agree that spring & fall are the ideal time to fish these baits but they can be effective at times during the summer. I've done best with the water temp 45 degrees plus but have caught them in colder water. Just about any lipless crank will catch fish and having tried several brands the last few years I have a few go to baits in this lure category ....

Strike King Red Eye Shad - It does everything well, as others have mentioned it's great bait to rip off of grass as it flutters on the way down.

Spro Aruka Shad - has a knack for attracting the bigger bite, I love their mettalic finishes as they tend to be more durable than most and look fantastic. This bait swims nose down and the standard model weighs 5/8 oz and it's great for slow rolling in deeper water. They also offer a heavier 1 oz model.

Sebile Flat Shad- They make an oil filled silent model and painted knocker model. I prefer the oil filled model. This bait will vibrate harder than most and at the slowest speeds. I love the silent bait for fishing in pressured clear water lakes. I have had outings where they have ignored noisier baits but would choke on this bait. You are missing out if you don't have a few of these in my opinion.

Rapala Rippin' Rap - The king of the yo yo retrieve in my opinion. It's just ok as a cast and retrieve bait and when I first got the bait I mistakenly dismissed this bait . After reading an In Fisherman article that featured this bait being fished with a rip and pump retrieve I decided to give it another try and I'm glad I did. Very tight wiggle I prefer to fish this on a 7' MH worm rod to feel the bait better. Worked very well when the water was in the mid 40's and out performed the Red Eye Shad for this application. I love the Olive Green Craw color.

Xcalibur One Knocker - I prefer the bigger 3/4 or 1 oz models as they are a lot louder than the 1/2 model due to the bigger body have more internal room for the knocking mechanism to resonate. I did well this summer slow rolling the 1 oz model in deeper water, nice change up to give the fish a different look over the swimbaits and lipped deep divers that I would normally use. I did well with this bait early fall with the 3/4 oz model fishing weedy flats & points.This bait seems to attract larger fish than regular lipless baits, I prefer to fish with the water temp 50 plus. The knocking sound seems to be all or nothing with the fish, at times repelling them and at other times a difference maker.

Luck Craft RTO - seems to be their answer to the Red Eye Shad as it has similar attributes. Haven't fished it enough to determine if it's a must have, that said their American Shad finish is spectacular looking and much more durable than Strike King's mettalic finished baits which tend to flake off easily. This lure comes with a premium price tag that some might not be willing to pay for since there are high performers already on the market that come with a lower price point.

Damiki Tremor 65 - They make both a silent and rattling model. Since most lipless baits already on the market are rattling I picked up the Silent model and have not tried the alternative. This bait performed very well for me this spring as a follow-up bait to the Red Eye Shad. What I did this spring is when fishing weedy flats was to try to catch the more aggressive fish with the noisier bait and make a few more cast in the same area with the silent bait. Worked well at times. Good bait and a worthwhile addition to the tackle box.

[tholmes]

I bought 1/2 oz red eye shads in black and chrome, sexy shad, and bleeding shad

Good color choices! I usually fish lipless cranks on a 7' medium power / fast action rod using 10 lb. mono. You might want to go with a heavier line if your ripping them through weeds. I use either a yo-yo retrieve or a steady retrieve with an occasional jerk. I like the Red-Eye shad, Yo-Zuri Rattlin' Vibe, Spro Aruku Shad, and the Bill Lewis Rat-L-Traps. A chrome with black or blue back is my go-to search bait. They cover a lot of water quickly, at any depth and will catch any game fish that swims I never leave home without 'em!

Tom

[Primus]

Forgot about the Yozuri, another real good one. I fish most of my lipless cranks on 12 lb Floro and a 7' Med BPS Cranking Stick.

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

Have any tried the Rapala Clackin Rap? They usually are $10 Gander has them for $6 they worth a try?

[Arv]

Have any tried the Rapala Clackin Rap? They usually are $10 Gander has them for $6 they worth a try?

I've never had any luck on the lipless Clackin Rap. I do like the square bills though.

[Fishes in trees]

I think these baits are a year round option. Any grass/weedy flat where there is room between the top of the grass and the surface, I'll try this bait, maybe not for very long, but I will try it nearly every time out. Every outsize fish I've caught on this bait has been on a straight retrieve, generally moving it along pretty quick. As mentioned earlier, I don't want them to get a great look at it, I want to whiz it past their nose and they either react or don't.

For most of this year I tried fishing this bait on braid, but I think I get a little more distance using 17 lb mono, so that is what I went back to this fall. I'll likely stick with that next year.

I've got a variety of brands and I try them all, but I keep coming back to the old, out of production Berkley Frenzy, in the 1/2 ounce size, in the shiny, thread fin shad color.

Some of my buds tell me that I'm missing the boat by not throwing a red one in the spring, but I don't know.

[The Young Gun]

Have any tried the Rapala Clackin Rap? They usually are $10 Gander has them for $6 they worth a try?

Clack n rap isn't my style personally, I'd rather go with the rip n rap.

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

Being this is Lipless Cranks 101 I'll ask---

 

Can these be tuned like a crankbait?

 

I have a couple RES that tilt and veer to my left while burning them in. Once I slow to a moderate pace they settle out run true. Im not liking this cause it seems to limit my presentation. Anything that can be done?

[hatrix]

I am a huge fan on red eye shads. I have a few of them that are now "ghost" color they have caught so many fish. Also don't overlook the sebile flat shad. It has a heavy vibration with no rattles and just plain catches fish for me and does it well.

I also use braid and a M/H and generally target the tops of grass. If I can I will yo-yo it or dragging it can also be super deadly if its possible where your fishing.