Crankbaits in cover

[Sharkicane]

I was wondering if y’all will throw a crank bait out when you don’t know what type of cover and/or structure you are dealing with? Where I fish there’s a mix of everything and some of its pretty thick stuff. so I’m always afraid to throw anything that’s not really weedless simply because I feel there are to many things to get hung up on. 

 

[Bluebasser86]

Crankbaits come through cover great, especially squarebills, that's some of the best stuff to throw them in. 

[Sharkicane]

1 minute ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Crankbaits come through cover great, especially squarebills, that's some of the best stuff to throw them in. 

Recommendations on a good crankbait or two? The water is gin clear and I’ve only ever caught them on soft plastics dragging it on the bottom. So I don’t know if a crankbait will even work but I’d like to give it a shot. 

[Bluebasser86]

The Strike King KVD 1.5 is the popular choice for a lot of anglers. I've had good success with the Booyah Flex 2. Around wood I like the balsa baits a little more but those can get really pricey, I've got some upwards of $50 apiece, but they come through everything. 

[Sharkicane]

 

10 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

The Strike King KVD 1.5 is the popular choice for a lot of anglers. I've had good success with the Booyah Flex 2. Around wood I like the balsa baits a little more but those can get really pricey, I've got some upwards of $50 apiece, but they come through everything. 

Awesome. I will give those a shot. I see they have a yellow perch color which is the bait I see the most where I go. So easy enough to match the hatch which is nice. 

[burrows]

Swapping out your hooks to short shank ewgs might help also, the slight inward bend of the hooks help not only to keep a fish pinned but it also helps to get threw cover without as many snags. 

[roadwarrior]

Strike King Red Eye Shad and the Norman Fat Boy are my suggestions.

 

[deep]

I have found couple GREAT crankbaits for deeper (6 ft+) brush this season. The bomber fat free shad deep squarebill (they come in two sizes) and the timber tiger (DC-8 and DC-13). All four caught fish (the DC-8 has been the best of the bunch), and rarely get snagged. Now I can get cranks in where the fish don't usually see them and I'm pretty stoked about that.

[BigAngus752]

10 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Crankbaits come through cover great, especially squarebills, that's some of the best stuff to throw them in. 

I've tried some of this.  Mostly lipless through hydrilla.  Can you suggest the best "technique" for pulling them through?  Fast and rip it through?  Or slow and work it through?  I get tired of pulling hydrilla off my hooks after every cast and I wonder if I'm going something wrong.  Or perhaps the lipless is what is wrong although I've tried some squarebill also.  Thanks. 

[Catt]

Echo 1.75 ?

 

http://www.rat-l-trap.com/videos.php

 

If y'all aint then one..huge mistake!

[OkobojiEagle]

Let me be the contrarian... We need a better definition of what cover we're talking about.  Rock, wood, brush, even sparse cabbage you can work a crank bait through.  Thick coontail that's grown to the water's surface you're not going to get any treble hook adorned bait through.  This cover calls for a single blade spinner bait or buzz bait worked over the top.  Maybe a weedless frog (I don't throw these) or t-rigged worm/plastic swim bait.  Even a curly tail grub or tube is going to have trouble coming through cleanly.

 

oe

 

probably my top technique through weedy cover is a weighted swim bait hook dressed with a caffeine shad skittered over the weeds and let to drop into weedless pockets.

Edited June 16, 2018 by OkobojiEagle
because I'm old and I forget things...

[scaleface]

I'll throw crankbaits around stumps  and old standing timber/lay-downs . Brush piles , beaver houses and newly fallen trees I throw something else . I just snag to often and end up ruining the fishing spot . As far as vegetation goes , the stuff we have around here , no-way  .

[Bluebasser86]

13 hours ago, BigAngus752 said:

I've tried some of this.  Mostly lipless through hydrilla.  Can you suggest the best "technique" for pulling them through?  Fast and rip it through?  Or slow and work it through?  I get tired of pulling hydrilla off my hooks after every cast and I wonder if I'm going something wrong.  Or perhaps the lipless is what is wrong although I've tried some squarebill also.  Thanks. 

Working over grass is one of my favorite ways to fish them, but the same technique works in wood and I like it because it's more of a feel technique like fishing a jig or worm. You crank it down to running depth or until you hit cover then slow way down and start feeling your way through, even using your rod to pull the bait along if you like. In grass, if you start to hang you give it a hard, upward snap and then a pull to feel if the bait is wobbling again before you continue the retrieve or snap it again. A lot of bites happen during the snap, or during the pull to check the bait.

In wood, you'll feel the bait coming to cover and you can either crank it fast and crash it through, or you can slowly creep it along and finesse it through. Just depends what the fish like that day. If it starts to hang, just stop reeling, the bait will back out of the cover a lot of times. 

You can fish a lipless through grass, but you need to reel fast and really rip the bait free when it hangs. It's a great way to catch fish. Going to a little stouter rod, or braided line will make ripping the grass off the hooks easier. 

[ohboyitsrobby]

I use everything from squarebills to 5 xds around stumps, standing timber and brush piles. Do i lose more crankbaits than most people? Probably. But I also catch a lot of fish this way. Especially running a 3-5xd through deeper brush. Either ticking the top or running it in and letting it float back out( which doesn't always work). 

[riverbasser]

I've had several days where banging cranks off wood was the only way to get bit. Jigs and worms would come back untouched and then next cast same spot with a crank and they slam it

[Todd2]

8 hours ago, riverbasser said:

I've had several days where banging cranks off wood was the only way to get bit. Jigs and worms would come back untouched and then next cast same spot with a crank and they slam it

That happened to me Friday night. I was throwing plastics for a while and got nothing. Picked my crank and bounced it off a tree on the return and a solid 3lber swallowed it. I rode that pony as long as I could and had a decent night  searching for stumps/standing timber to bounce off of. Still had to be close to a point or I'd get nothing. 

[Dangerfield]

I'll throw a crankbait just about anywhere, isn't that huge bill there for a reason? Cast and get hunting. Now I'm not throwing it directly into coontails if I can see them. But I'm also not afraid to get one hung up when I know there are fish in that spot.

 

The way I see it, the more deflecting a crank does the better, it is a reaction bait after all. I usually get hook ed up right as I turn the crank, on the fall or on the way upwards back to the boat.

 

Top choices - Spro Little John or a Duo Realis M60 series. I also have some DTs that are in rotation, just no hook ups yet.

[scaleface]

45 minutes ago, Dangerfield said:

I'll throw a crankbait just about anywhere, isn't that huge bill there for a reason?

Yeah , it gets  the lure to dive . 

[Sharkicane]

On 6/16/2018 at 1:44 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

The Strike King KVD 1.5 is the popular choice for a lot of anglers. I've had good success with the Booyah Flex 2. Around wood I like the balsa baits a little more but those can get really pricey, I've got some upwards of $50 apiece, but they come through everything. 

If the water is gin clear does my retrieve need to be faster than normal? How do I match the proper speed with not getting hung up in cover in gin clear water?

[Sharkicane]

I don’t even know if I should throw crank baits in gin clear water but I’d like to try lol

[FishDewd]

I have 4 primary squarebills I'll throw: one is silent and mostly white with some yellow on the side. It's worked for murky water and I suspect it could work even better in clear water. It only dives about 4' deep. I have another one that is a Berkley that rattles which resembles a bluegill and dives maybe 5'. I have a green Rapala BX brat that will hit 6' and is also a silent lure. Then the one I rescued from the tree is silent and appears to only go about 3' down and it's a Cabela's mean eyes. So that pretty much covers all the depth of water I would want to run one in. When in doubt, start shallow and work further down. If you feel a snag, stop the retrieve and try to see if it float itself out of the way. If not, a few little pops will usually free it up. The squarebills seem to do pretty well for the most part, but I wouldn't try tossing it over logs intentionally though. Maybe parallel too though.

[kcdinkerz]

Ive had great results throwing a wake bait crank over grass. And fishing a kvd 1.5 like a worm, just using the rod tip to move the bait then picking up slack. Grass is easy to get a crank out of but I still loose a few baits to trees since I fish from the bank.

[scaleface]

11 hours ago, kcdinkerz said:

Grass is easy to get a crank out of but I still loose a few baits to trees since I fish from the bank.

Its sure not like that in local lakes . If I cast a crank in the grass its coming back encased in a big old glob of green stuff .I  dont what this grass is called .There is no ripping it free like I read about .  

[Russ E]

18 minutes ago, scaleface said:

Its sure not like that in local lakes . If I cast a crank in the grass its coming back with a big old glob of green stuff .I  dont what this grass is called .There is no ripping it free like I read about .  

Same around here. Crankbaits don't work on our weedy lakes.

 

[FishDewd]

1 hour ago, kcdinkerz said:

Ive had great results throwing a wake bait crank over grass. And fishing a kvd 1.5 like a worm, just using the rod tip to move the bait then picking up slack. Grass is easy to get a crank out of but I still loose a few baits to trees since I fish from the bank.

Which ones? I like to lure hunt with my new retrieval tool. Hehe. If I'm ever in your area I can get them back... problem is, I claim them if I do! :P