Lipless Crankbait Or Squarebill

[Jtrout]

I just started using crankbaits a couple months ago and I like the lipless cranks I can throw them farther n control the depth to. When should I use both and which do u prefer? Also how do u retreive them?

[Robert Riley]

With the lipless I like to rip it through grass and fish a stop and go retrieve. STAY AWAY from riprap, you'll lose it. 

 

Square bills are for shallow cover and banging around stumps, riprap, etc. 

 

I prefer a square bill, but lipless is warming up to me now 

[Catch and Grease]

With the lipless I like to rip it through grass and fish a stop and go retrieve. STAY AWAY from riprap, you'll lose it.

Square bills are for shallow cover and banging around stumps, riprap, etc.

I prefer a square bill, but lipless is warming up to me now

Square bills are not for shallow fishing only, plenty of deeper diving square bill crankbaits.

[Robert Riley]

Define deep though, 6-8ft is the deepest i'd fish a squarebill, and that'd have to be around standing timber or something similar. 

[Catch and Grease]

Define deep though, 6-8ft is the deepest i'd fish a squarebill, and that'd have to be around standing timber or something similar.

Well considering the places I normally fish are shallow, I'd call 8ft deep. But there are plenty of good squarebills that can get deep like the bomber fat free shad and the lucke strike freak. Those two cranks can get 14-20ft deep.

Square bills are usually fished shallow because the cover they do best in is normally shallow, but I wouldn't say they are made only for shallow fishing.

[smalljaw67]

Lipless cranks are a little more versatile, you can yo-yo them, you can burn, slow roll, and rip off grass and they will work all year but certain times they will be the best thing to use. Square bills work all year as well but they do better around shallow cover and rocks, the lipless bait is best in open water and grass so the type of cover and depth will dictate which bait is better suited to the conditions you're faced with. I disagree a bit with Catch and Grease, square bills are primarily for shallow water, the Bomber fat free shad square bill and Luck-e-Strike Freak are recent additions and while they have a square bill the action is that of a deep diving bait in that you have a tighter, more controlled wobble versus the wide wobble with erratic movement of a normal square bill. The bait and technique was designed for fishing shallow cover fast using a crankbait that would crash through cover more often than getting snagged in it. I know you may like the lipless crank better but it is best to base your bait choice on what kind of conditions you face versus which one you like throwing more, as I said, both work all year but not in the same places.

[J Francho]

The square bill solves the issue of trying to fish a trap in wood.  The bill causes the bait to deflect.  A variation is the coffin bill.    You can also fish a square bill slower than a trap.

[Catch and Grease]

I'm just trying to say that square bills can and will work in deep water, not trying to disagree with the fact that they excell in shallow water.

[CWB]

Define deep though, 6-8ft is the deepest i'd fish a squarebill, and that'd have to be around standing timber or something similar. 

Caught plenty bass (and pike) in 7-9 feet on a KVD 1.5 casting the deep weededge. Lots of times I'll feel it hit a weed, let it sink back up repeat, repeat, and then bam, fish on. I probably catch more on the lipless, maybe because I use it more, but It grabs the weeds much easier also. Part of the game. Moss and milfoil are hard to rip the bait out of cleanly. If i pull up a piece of cabbage, I'm going to stay in that area for a bit before moving on. Not much timber, standing or otherwise, in my neck of the woods.

[Ozark_Basser]

Anytime I think I can get away with throwing a crankbait, and I have the cover or structure to crash it into, I throw one. Usually lipped crankbaits. Depth depends on time of day, the time of the year, etc.  Lipless crankbaits are something I just recently started to like a lot, especially for submerged grass.  I like to reel them right into the grass then rip them up hard using both hands on the rod and let them flutter down.  I also like this technique anywhere where the bottom is flat or close to flat.  For example, today i was fishing a small lake that is separated from the Arkansas River by a thin rock jetty. Well, on one side of the lake it's pretty flat, shallow and rocky.  The whole thing is borderline muddy, so I opted for a red crawfish red eye shad which is a lipless crankbait in case you already didn't know.  I already covered the water with a squarebill, but didn't get a bite.  First couple of casts with the red eye shad using the "yo yo" technique and got a nice 3 pounder.  This technique has been working well for me lately, especially for finicky fish.