Crankbaits for bank fishing?

[ohihunter2014]

What crank baits do you guys like for bank fishing? some of my spots are 5-12ft and some go as deep as 30ft but I'm assuming it's in the middle. mostly state park lakes and hunting ground lakes and a some reservoirs.

[scaleface]

I  like  lipless baits from bank . That way they can follow the contour from deep water all the way to the bank . 100 percent coverage .

[Ktho]

Lipless is definitely my #1 from shore, the variable depth part is pretty important for me

[Outdoor Zack]

squarebills on riprap banks!

 

 

[nascar2428]

Another vote for lipless.

[RoLo]

 

The lipless crank all the way.

It gives you the advantage of reaching any depth in any pothole.

It also gives you the advantage of lofting the lure up and over a sunken blowdown,

which is also possible with a floating diver, but not with a sinking diver.

 

Roger

[jr231]

Few really good baits for cranking the banks besides a lipless. You mentioned you had purchased an original floater. I'd bring that with you on your bank fishing adventures... I'd also look into the xrap shallow shad. Gettin harder to find but it's an awesome bait. Another that I really like is the bomber 4A . This bait is killer. It floats back up pretty quickly which can sometimes be the ticket after a collision with cover and aids in getting around downed limbs and such. More than once the bomber A saved me from a rough day. 

 

Also the rapala DT fat and SK squarebills will work well too. 

 

I picked up a silent lucky craft squarebill from tackle warehouse on sale for like 6 bucks. It hasn't seen much action yet but produced on its first use... Always a good sign. And I was excited to have one with out rattles. Everything doesn't need to rattle IMO and sometimes will send the bass swimmin for the hills. 

 

Try a chatterbait with a curly tail grub. Zman freedom is nice cuz you can swap to a preferred hook. Which is a plus for picky bass fisherman. I see alot of posts about using the paddle tails with these but I like to use a kalins single tail or rage menace grub. 

 

What part of Ohio bud. ? 

[ohihunter2014]

31 minutes ago, Yeajray231 said:

Few really good baits for cranking the banks besides a lipless. You mentioned you had purchased an original floater. I'd bring that with you on your bank fishing adventures... I'd also look into the xrap shallow shad. Gettin harder to find but it's an awesome bait. Another that I really like is the bomber 4A . This bait is killer. It floats back up pretty quickly which can sometimes be the ticket after a collision with cover and aids in getting around downed limbs and such. More than once the bomber A saved me from a rough day. 

 

Also the rapala DT fat and SK squarebills will work well too. 

 

I picked up a silent lucky craft squarebill from tackle warehouse on sale for like 6 bucks. It hasn't seen much action yet but produced on its first use... Always a good sign. And I was excited to have one with out rattles. Everything doesn't need to rattle IMO and sometimes will send the bass swimmin for the hills. 

 

Try a chatterbait with a curly tail grub. Zman freedom is nice cuz you can swap to a preferred hook. Which is a plus for picky bass fisherman. I see alot of posts about using the paddle tails with these but I like to use a kalins single tail or rage menace grub. 

 

What part of Ohio bud. ? 

Lorain-you?

[Montanaro]

The cheapest you can find.  Youll lose a lot.

[jr231]

You can mention someone to get their attention . You just use the @ symbol and their username right next to it. A little box will pop up as you're doing it showing the members with the names you've typed. Real simple and a cool feature that can save readers time from scrolling through quoted posts. 

 

@ohihunter2014 you're clear up by Cleveland ! I'm almost in Kentucky. About 45 mins north of Cincinnati in a town you've probably never heard of. In short, over 3 hours away from where you fish.. this site is awesome. Some real knowledge from some serious fisherman. I've browsed several forums. And this place has the answers. Every time I googled something I wanted to read about, bassresource had a discussion about it. Usually several. This is why I joined.  It's fun conversing with the folks on here. But I often find myself digging deep in the archives. It's cool to see some of the same topics come up year after year..  and how the preferences and responses change. 

 

Look forward to your future posts and hopefully we have some nice pics to share of some Ohio hogs before the season is through. 

[Bluebasser86]

I used to do good with Bandit 100 and 200 series, and a Bomber Fat Free shad. 

[NorthwestBasser]

Original Rat-L-Trap... I have some lucky craft lipless cranks too. So afraid to lose them I rarely tie one on. Might as well be Christmas tree ornaments, sad thing is I didn't even buy them and I still think they are too expensive to break one off between a couple rocks or hook deep in a submerged log or stump! Such a wuss...

[SWVABass]

I've done well with strike King 3xd, 1.0&1.5 square bills, 1.5 flat, and luck-e-strike freak.

[Paul Roberts]

Any. They're all good. Rapala, Norman, Bandit, SK, ...

 

However, I fish far fewer cranks from shore than I do from boat or float tube. Having access, positioning, and angles helps a lot with cranks. Most of my waters have a lot of veges -most rimmed with veges- and they are often best fished from outside in rather than inside out.

[Ads7633]

19 hours ago, ohihunter2014 said:

What crank baits do you guys like for bank fishing? some of my spots are 5-12ft and some go as deep as 30ft but I'm assuming it's in the middle. mostly state park lakes and hunting ground lakes and a some reservoirs.

I've always had the best luck with lipless cranks from the bank. That way you can control how deep you run them rather than the lip. 

[Dorado]

Some great responses here. Big fan of SK 1.5 square bills and Mann's baby one-minus. However, there is one crankbait that I have yet to be skunked with and I'm 7-0 with this lure. It's a LiveTarget Threadfin squarebill (baitball series). It's not cheap, but the baitball scheme seems to get the bass to chase. I can work it very slow and resemble a wake bait with the tip up OR burn it, deflecting off obstructions, with short pauses.

[GreenGhostMan]

6 hours ago, Swbass15 said:

I've done well with strike King 3xd, 1.0&1.5 square bills, 1.5 flat, and luck-e-strike freak.

 

The 3XD and freak won't be as effective from the bank.  A bit too deep diving IMO.

[blckshirt98]

Squarebills and lipless are all you need from the shore!

[ohihunter2014]

I just got back from dicks sporting goods and they had clearance crankbaits and one had 2 holes to attach to on top and it said its a sinking crankbait. are all lipless sinking style?

[SWVABass]

17 hours ago, GreenGhostMan said:

 

The 3XD and freak won't be as effective from the bank.  A bit too deep diving IMO.

Not sure where the op is fishing. I have lots of steep banks that 4' from the shore your fishing 12 fow, I run the as parallel as possible. They have done good for me for largemouth smallmouth and whites.

[NorthwestBasser]

13 hours ago, ohihunter2014 said:

I just got back from dicks sporting goods and they had clearance crankbaits and one had 2 holes to attach to on top and it said its a sinking crankbait. are all lipless sinking style?

Every lipless I own sinks, not to say there isn't a floating version out there somewhere. I'd be interested to see this lure, do you recall model and manufacturer? Also, the only lures I know of off the top I my head with multiple tying points are blade baits. Again, that doesn't mean it's not out there, I just haven't come across one.

[jbw252]

How about a suspending lipless?  Read on ➡️   https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/135989-suspending-lipless-crankbaits/

[LBASS01]

Lipless crankbaits and square bills that dive 3-6 feet.

[scaleface]

Crankbaits are one of my last choices to fish from bank because its just a matter of time before its lost .  I lost  my favorite vintage Bayou Boogies last year . That was painful .From now on  I'm using my least desirable lipless baits .  

 

    I like to use inexpensive pre-rigged swim baits . I have some with rattling eyes , they are the best I have used .

[Deeare]

I get a lot of bites when I'm able to dig the crankbait into the bottom.   Give it a try if the lipless or square bill isn't producing.    Good luck!!