Most effective angles fishing crankbaits?

[prjavelin]

I fish deep clear water reservoirs. I have for a long long time struggled with crankbaits. My main problem is that if i cast at 90 degrees from shore I wont hit anything since most of those shores are very steep. there are very little stick ups if anything. fishing parallel to the shore its also a little hard since there are a lof of bushes with its lower parts underwater. 

There is a little bit of everything in that reservoir including shallows(where ive never caught a thing) 2 or 3 ledges and rocky areas. Also plenty of points. 

I want to know what angles i need to use and what areas I have to target. I want to get good with crankbaits. 

[jr231]

Although most reaction strikes come when a crank bait deflects off an object , or digs off the bottom ... doesn't mean that's what has to happen. What cranks do you run ? 

When bass are active I really nail them on a bomber model A. And rapala Dt. With a stop and go retrieve. Fishing from the bank. Your options are limited. Fan casting is your best option and I'm willing to bet most of your strikes come from when you're casting semi-parallel to the bank. 

I would look into using a rapala original floater. And a shallow shad rap or jointed shad rap.  Ive caught many fish with both. And i have a couple that if I paid a dollar per fish for each I've caught with them they would cost more than a lucky craft. 

[prjavelin]

I fish from a kayak and Ive tried many different brands and models. I have a little bit of everything. It seems that if I fish a crankbait for hours on end I can catch one bass max of 2 and then I can never replicate the results. 

[A-Jay]

Instead of struggling to make a lipped crankbait get deep enough to contact bottom structure, use a lipless bait.

A 3/4 or 1 ounce Rat-L-Trap can simply be allowed to sink depths well beyond what most deep cranks can easily achieve.

It's a lot less work and in many cases just as or even more effective; especially in steep structure.

Use stout gear & line and a plug knocker / lure retriever is mostly mandatory.

Another fantastic option is a 1 ounce single blade spinnerbait (Colorado or Oklahoma)

A-Jay

[Choporoz]

One more thing to try is to tune your cranks to run into the ledges and drops.  If casting to your right,  bend the eye to the left and run your crank into the rocky drops as it comes back to you. 

[Paul Roberts]

Crankbaits naturally lend themselves to chuck-n-wind, which is great... when it works. However, a crankbait, like other lures, is not "food". The lure has to do something special to draw strikes much of the time. It's called triggering. It's always nice if you can find aggressive fish that will meet you half-way. Cover water and put the clues together: find bait, find bass, find feeding bass. If you think you are only on the first two -the bass won't meet you halfway- then you may have to employ more triggering. 

You seem to be afraid of the brush, which is understandable! It could be you are fishing a bit far from where the fish actually are though. You can fish cranks in brush if you fish deftly, crank down easily until contact, then gently walk the crank through with the rod, not the reel. If you hang, slack and let it float up a bit. If still hung pull easily but firmly and it will likely roll past the hold-up. And...get a plug knocker. Fish easy and deftly, like fishing a jig. Cranks can do that, and should much of the time.

Contact also allows you to trigger strikes from reluctant fish. Accelerations and direction changes, crashing bottom or cover, and ripping free of cover edges (don't do this in the middle of cover!) are strong triggers.

Lastly, or maybe firstly, angles can mean getting the lure to the proper depth and keeping it there, or in the sweet spot, long enough. It can mean paying attention to subsurface currents that position prey and bass in a certain orientation. Fishing across current, or down and across is often best. Each spot can be different due to current directions and topography.

Remember, you are fishing a crankbait, not just "cranking" it.

 

 

 

[jr231]

I also recommend taking a few cranks and really learning how they run...practice by the boat or whatever right in front of you. And learn how each twitch and pull of the rod makes the bait react. It's crucial to know how your crank is acting underwater. In time You'll know whether you just hit a branch or something swiped at it. 

[Paul Roberts]

Following Yeajray231, nothing beats a real time visual. Find some shallow brush where you can see the plug work, and won't worry about losing it, and walk some plugs through. Visualization is a good chunk of "fishing".

[S. Sass]

Nice article here as well that might help ya out. 

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/deep-water-crankbait-paul-elias.html

[watermeat]

Make sure your crank runs deep enough to make contact with (or very close to) the bottom for your target depth.

There's a gin-clear deep reservoir where I live. Only decent fish I've caught there on a crankbait was on a Strike King 6XD. I trolled around for a long while looking for fish, & finally spotted some around 17ft. I caught one long-lining the 6XD through that 17ft section.

[prjavelin]

Thank you very much guys.  I've gotten great information and I'll be going to fish tomorrow afternoon.  I want to fish crankbaits all the time I'm there.  It will be easier if i catch one early. I hate the skunk.  

[timsford]

If you want to be effective with crankbaits the main thing is to always try to hit and deflect off cover and the bottom. Pick a bait that runs deeper than the bottom and if you hit something just pause a split second so the bait floats up off the snag and then continue reeling