Lipless Crankbait vs Bladebait for Winter Bass

[Riazuli]

Hey everyone, this is my first post on this forum.  I've been an avid bass angler since I was little, and just recently started going full steam again (in terms of research, time spent fishing, buying tackle, etc.)...when the weather was warmer I was going at least a couple of times a week, but the cold weather has obviously slowed some things down.

 

That being said, I don't want to pack up for the winter either, but I do want to make the most of my time when I'm out as I'm pretty sure we all do.  I've bought a bunch of lipless crankbaits lately in varying colors (shad, bream, craw, and firetiger for different conditions).  I hear they are good for cold weather bass, and caught a bass the other day using one.  I've also heard some good things about bladebaits for winter bass, but don't really want to invest if there isn't much of a difference between them for these conditions.  I will probably buy at least one for now regardless, but just wondering people's opinions.  Is one clearly better than the other, are there positive and negatives to both, or is there really no difference?  

[A-Jay]

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ 

 

During late fall & early spring I fish & have success with both blade baits & Lippless bait.  

However, during this time, I fish both baits The Same.

A simple (and very small) lift & drop.  Sometimes on a tight line and sometimes on a totally slack line; depends on what the fish are eating it like at that particular time. 

 

A 5/8 or 3/4 oz Silver Buddy Blade Bait and a 3/4 oz Duo Realis G-Fix Vibration Tungsten Lipless bait are two very productive baits for me.  However last season the Lipless bait out fished the blade by a wide margin.

Here's a brief video where I talk about just that.

A-Jay

[Riazuli]

Thanks a lot!  That is exactly the kind of post I was looking for, and the video summed it up nicely, with a nice catch to boot   I am definitely focusing on the dying shad technique and slow retrieve for cold weather.  I may just add a few bladebaits to my tackle just in the case the lipless aren't performing so I've got more options, but for now I'll put more focus toward the lipless.  I seem to hear more about them, but I wasn't sure if that was because not enough people know about/are using the bladebaits.    

[Bluebasser86]

The lipless baits get the nod from me, mainly the Strike King Red Eye shad and Tungsten 2-tap, but I was very impressed with the Storm Arashi Vibe when I tried it last week so I'll be playing with that one more. Those baits all shimmy on the fall instead of spiraling or going straight nose down, and probably land sitting up instead of falling over pretty often, which is important because a cold bass will pick them up off the bottom just like a jig. 

 

I prefer the lipless mainly because they seem to work better in water less than 10' deep where I do most of my winter fishing. I've been putting in the effort to attempt to learn the blade baits more these past two winters but my results have been lackluster at best with most of my catch being white bass and wipers. I did get one PB on a blade bait, but not the kind I was hoping for. 

[IndianaFinesse]

I prefer the blade bait in winter, simply because they cast farther and sink faster than lipless cranks.  Plus they make less noise (unless using a silent lipless like the damiki tremor) and have a tighter vibration usually.

[scaleface]

7 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Storm Arashi Vibe when I tried it last week so I'll be playing with that one more. Those baits all shimmy on the fall

Good to know . I heard the Berkely War Pig swims on the fall also .

[Riazuli]

10 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

The lipless baits get the nod from me, mainly the Strike King Red Eye shad and Tungsten 2-tap, but I was very impressed with the Storm Arashi Vibe when I tried it last week so I'll be playing with that one more. Those baits all shimmy on the fall instead of spiraling or going straight nose down, and probably land sitting up instead of falling over pretty often, which is important because a cold bass will pick them up off the bottom just like a jig. 

 

I prefer the lipless mainly because they seem to work better in water less than 10' deep where I do most of my winter fishing. I've been putting in the effort to attempt to learn the blade baits more these past two winters but my results have been lackluster at best with most of my catch being white bass and wipers. I did get one PB on a blade bait, but not the kind I was hoping for. 

I've had luck lately with the red eye shad in different colors, and because of that bought a bunch of them during black Friday/cyber Monday for different colors and backups since I was finding such great deals.  You could say I went all in on the red eye shad after hearing and now knowing it works That being said, I'll still be picking up some blade baits to use if I happen to have no luck with different colors of the RES.  My favorite part about the RES is how you can give it a nice rip after it gets hung up on forage and it will usually get its action back.  Casts like a champ too! 

[Angry John]

I have yet to catch a blade bait fish.  I slow roll 4 inch swim baits and do as good as anyone else.  Jerkbaits might give you a change up beside the vertical fishing.

[scaleface]

15 minutes ago, Angry John said:

I have yet to catch a blade bait fish.

The only time I have has been in the middle of the summer . 

[Angry John]

39 minutes ago, scaleface said:

The only time I have has been in the middle of the summer . 

The struggle is real; )

[everythingthatswims]

I catch piles of bass on blades in the winter, they are an excellent bait when the conditions are right, as with anything. If you're fishing shallower than 15', a blade becomes much less effective. My guess would be that it's because they just fall too fast at that depth, but I have no way to prove that. If you're fishing vertical, your boat is really close to the fish at that point too. For me, a 1/4oz blade is best in the 15-20' range, and deeper than that I go with a 1/2. However, I have caught them as deep as 35' on a 1/4oz. When the bass get moody, the shift from 1/2 down to 1/4 can make a BIG difference. I think it's almost solely the slower ROF that triggers the bites when the 1/4 is outfishing the 1/2.

 

I don't do much yo-yoing with lipless cranks, I probably should. Usually when I do well with them in the winter, it is fishing them as slow as I can on a steady retrieve, and popping them whenever the bait comes into contact with anything. Like @Bluebasser86 said, lipless is the way to go in 10' and less!

[Riazuli]

On 12/10/2017 at 8:39 PM, Angry John said:

I have yet to catch a blade bait fish.  I slow roll 4 inch swim baits and do as good as anyone else.  Jerkbaits might give you a change up beside the vertical fishing.

I've got the jerkbait on deck and have used it a couple times this December,  but I feel like I have more control with the lipless because I'm more aware of where it is in the depth column.  Also, the bass that I've caught this december were on the lipless, so I'm sticking with what works for now!  I do have some swimbaits that look crazy close to a wounded shad, and am waiting to catch one on those, so I might throw that on every now and then. 

On 12/10/2017 at 11:43 PM, everythingthatswims said:

I catch piles of bass on blades in the winter, they are an excellent bait when the conditions are right, as with anything. If you're fishing shallower than 15', a blade becomes much less effective. My guess would be that it's because they just fall too fast at that depth, but I have no way to prove that. If you're fishing vertical, your boat is really close to the fish at that point too. For me, a 1/4oz blade is best in the 15-20' range, and deeper than that I go with a 1/2. However, I have caught them as deep as 35' on a 1/4oz. When the bass get moody, the shift from 1/2 down to 1/4 can make a BIG difference. I think it's almost solely the slower ROF that triggers the bites when the 1/4 is outfishing the 1/2.

 

I don't do much yo-yoing with lipless cranks, I probably should. Usually when I do well with them in the winter, it is fishing them as slow as I can on a steady retrieve, and popping them whenever the bait comes into contact with anything. Like @Bluebasser86 said, lipless is the way to go in 10' and less!

Thank you!  The slower fall hits on the 1/4 definitely makes sense.  Great advice all around! 

[fishballer06]

Fish both and see which produces best. Chances are both will produce, but one will be better than the other. One thing to keep in mind, one has loud rattles and the other doesn't.

[WRB]

Where I bass fish the species behave and react differently, smallmouth prefer blade lures and largemouth lipless jigged.

Both bass species prefer structure spoons and ice jigs over lipless or blade lures. Flame orange gold for smallies and blue chrome for LMB.

Tom

[Catt]

Ya talking winter bass where A-Jay lives or winter bass where Catt lives?

 

Winter bass fishing for A-Jay is pre-hard water fishing

 

Winter bass fishing for Catt is early pre-spawn 

 

Early pre-spawn give me a Trap ?

[everythingthatswims]

22 hours ago, Riazuli said:

I've got the jerkbait on deck and have used it a couple times this December,  but I feel like I have more control with the lipless because I'm more aware of where it is in the depth column.  Also, the bass that I've caught this december were on the lipless, so I'm sticking with what works for now!  I do have some swimbaits that look crazy close to a wounded shad, and am waiting to catch one on those, so I might throw that on every now and then. 

Thank you!  The slower fall hits on the 1/4 definitely makes sense.  Great advice all around! 

Keep in mind that they will travel a long ways to eat that jerkbait!

[Riazuli]

18 hours ago, Catt said:

Ya talking winter bass where A-Jay lives or winter bass where Catt lives?

 

Winter bass fishing for A-Jay is pre-hard water fishing

 

Winter bass fishing for Catt is early pre-spawn 

 

Early pre-spawn give me a Trap ?

VA small ponds in the winter - they gotta be somewhere in there right??  

15 hours ago, everythingthatswims said:

Keep in mind that they will travel a long ways to eat that jerkbait!

I'm looking forward to getting a winter bite on one - they are fun to use for sure. 

[everythingthatswims]

7 hours ago, Riazuli said:

VA small ponds in the winter - they gotta be somewhere in there right??  

I'm looking forward to getting a winter bite on one - they are fun to use for sure. 

Much of my winter bass fishing has taken place in small VA ponds. Shad rap, 1/4oz redeye shad, chatterbait sllllooowww, and a shakey head or finesse jig fished extra slow (count on your pauses like a jerk bait). If you have some depth (10-12'+) you can hop a 1/4oz blade.

 

Most importantly, fish after 3+ days of consistent weather/temps. That may be three days with a high of 40, or three days with a high of 60. Whatever it is, it makes them bite!

[Catt]

Vertical vs Horizontal 

 

I throw blades baits when the bass are holding in creek channels & round standing timber in 15' of water or deeper. Pinpoint em with electronics, sit over em & vertically jig em.

 

I throw Traps in 15' of water are less, I'm looking early pre-spawn bass that aren't quite committed to the coming feeding frenzy but are shallower than there were.

8 minutes ago, everythingthatswims said:

Most importantly, fish after 3+ days of consistent weather/temps. That may be three days with a high of 40, or three days with a high of 60. Whatever it is, it makes them bite!

 

Stability as in stable weather; I don't care what the ambient temperature is as long as the weather has been stable for 3 or 4 days.

 

In order to take full advantage of stable conditions one must have the ability to pick and choose the days you fish.

 

[RB 77]

1 hour ago, Catt said:

Vertical vs Horizontal 

 

I throw blades baits when the bass are holding in creek channels & round standing timber in 15' of water or deeper. Pinpoint em with electronics, sit over em & vertically jig em.

 

I throw Traps in 15' of water are less, I'm looking early pre-spawn bass that aren't quite committed to the coming feeding frenzy but are shallower than there were.

 

Stability as in stable weather; I don't care what the ambient temperature is as long as the weather has been stable for 3 or 4 days.

 

In order to take full advantage of stable conditions one must have the ability to pick and choose the days you fish.

 

 

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