Lipless Crank And Weight Determination

[Dypsis]

I have been throwing lipless cranks more and more, while finding moderate success I have some questions.

What size do you guys like for the following applications:

Throwing in shallow spare grass flats less than 3' of water.

Throwing along defined grass lines in 3-5' of water.

Throwing through/in spare grass in 3-5' of water.

Most of the places I fish - Potomac, Upper Bay, James/Chickahominy this seems to be mostly the case ie shallow. Will it depend on season fall vs spring? How fast of a retrieve you are using. Whether you are yo yo-ing vs steady retrieve. Amount of grass you are fishing? So far am have just been playing around with weights from 1/4-5/8oz.

Just looking for some insight and I will apply to my needs and what the fish want.

Thanks,

Matt

[MickD]

the biggest issue is not the weight or the depth of the water, it is the action of the lure.  Some sizes of a brand's lipless cranks work better than other sizes, so find the one whose action you (and the fish) like, and alter your retrieve to accommodate the conditions. Experiment with the retrieve. Sometimes yo yo works, others a fast retrieve, in colder water, a slow steady often is the best.

 

From my experience for largemouths, smallmouths, pike, and walleye, usually the sweet spot in action is around 1/2-5/8 oz.  The bigger and smaller sizes either don't have the right action or they are larger than the fish are looking for.  I prefer Xcalibur first, Strike King second, but just discovered that the new Rapalas can be very effective, will have to learn more about them.

[Catt]

For me it depends on the body of water!

Small bodies of water like ponds, small creeks, & bayous - 1/8 to 1/4 oz

Marshes, swamps, & moderate size lakes - 1/4 oz

Larger bodies of water - 1/2, 5/8, 3/4, & 1 oz

In shallow water I simply hold my rod at 11-12°clock & reel

[dam0007]

Size doesn't matter to me between them I make a determination which to throw between rattles or a one knocker which ever the fish want at the time of use.

[gulfcaptain]

My best success has been with the standard 1/2oz rattle-trap.  Both in the knocker and the original.  As far as retrieve, I throw them on a 7:1 Quantum TourMG which picks up about 29 IPT.  Steady to somewhat quick retrieve.  Fish pretty much every area you asked with both as well as scattered reeds/tullies as well.  I've had better success myself though with the knocker this past year then the original.  And if I need a shallower retrieve, I do what Catt does, just hold my rod a bit higher.

[Dypsis]

Thanks all.  It looks like I'm on the right track, just need to play around with various baits and see how it goes. 

[smalljaw67]

I'll be the one that has a different opinion and to me the main factors are depth, cover, and season. For your situation it depends on how active the fish are, if they are hitting it when you burn it then it is pretty much a reaction strike and in those depths I'd be looking at 1/2oz to 5/8oz. If you need to go slow to entice a strike then 1/4oz to 3/8oz will fit the bill, for me I use a Cotton Cordell Super Spot when slow reeling a 1/4oz lipless crank, they seem to work at slower speeds than any other brand I tried. If I'm getting bit at a simple moderate speed on a straight retrieve, then 3/8oz will work better in those depths. If I have to Yo-Yo a bait, it is usually in depths of 10' of more with a 5/8oz to 3/4oz bait, the smaller is for 10'12' and the larger is over 12'. Shallow sparse grass flats are custom made for ripping a bait and depending on how sparse the grass is you may be able to get away with a 3/8oz but most of the time a 1/2oz bait will serve you well for that and the same thing for throwing directly in the grass, even 5/8oz would work, but just going along along a weed line or edge I'd actually opt for a 3/8oz bait because you can reel it slower and it will maintain that 3' or 4' depth naturally without burning it because you don't have the need to rip the bait since it is running along the edge.

[The Young Gun]

Grey Ghost 1/2oz Red Eye Shad, walleyes, bass, 20lb pike. Can't resit it in the northern wisconsin waters! Otherwise... Bill Lewis has his 1/8oz Tiny Trap, thats a crappie killer!

[ww2farmer]

I use 1/2 oz almost 100% of the time. It just works.........from the bank, out to 10' FOW. I have experimented a lot with 1/4 oz. baits over the years, and they just have no place in my box. Where I would typically toss the 1/4 oz. bait would be in ultra shallow water with a soft bottom....I didn't care for it, and found that a 1.5 sized squarebill is the better option...for me. I have also "tried" to use the 1/4 oz. sized baits where I would use the 1/2 oz. baits for one reason or another (they stopped biting the 1/2, post front, clear water, etc....) and found that the merits of doing so were not worth buying and carrying another size of lip-less crank....if they ain't on the 1/2 oz. bait, I move on to another type of presentation altogether, and it works for me, so again, no reason for me to have the 1/4 oz. baits. I have never played around much with any lip-less baits larger than 1/2 oz., for the simple reason that when/where I throw the 1/2 oz baits, when that bite is one, I almost have to beat the fish off of the bait with a stick because it's working so well, I never felt the need to change a good thing. And besides, the places where I would try a 3/4 oz bait, I have many many other go to techniques that work very very well.....so again, change for changes sake is not needed for me.

[thebillsman]

The Lucky Craft LVR Mini is on sale at Cabela's site for $5-6. I picked up a Matte Pumpkin 1/4oz and the detail and finish is incredible.

In the past I've used the Booyah 1/2oz one knocker and YoZuri 3db Vibe.. they're both great too.

[Jaw1]

1/2 oz gets 99% of my lipless fishing, with one knockers getting 85% of that. I use xcalibur oneknockers and red eye shad for a regular rattles. I only carry 1/2oz baits also