So I’ve never caught a fish on a treble hook...

[JWall14]

I would really like to learn how to fish cranks and jerkbaits. I have always caught fish in jigs and bottom baits in the past. The weather is warming up and I would really like to learn. Should I only fish jerks and cranks until I catch one? I have fished them before but never caught anything on them for some reason.

[bagofdonuts]

get a kvd square bill and toss it around, you'll catch something.

[NYWayfarer]

in-line spinners have treble hooks, never fished an in-line spinner?

 

Try a Strike King Red Eye Shad or a Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap as your first crank. Classic lures that work. Straight retrieve over grass tops or yo-yo retrieve in open water.

[kenmitch]

Lipless cranks work pretty good at times so I'd suggest giving them a try. What kind of rod are you going to be throwing them on? I've found that a Med\Mod with about 2lbs or so of drag works best for me. If you live in the land of dinks they're feisty and will tear or throw the hook if the rods too stiff or the drag is set too high.

[scaleface]

1 hour ago, JWall14 said:

Should I only fish jerks and cranks until I catch one?

 Not if you want to catch fish . I dont recommend trying to force  feed fish . Where are you fishing ?  Are you in a boat or shore bound ?  

[fishballer06]

Never? Grab a squarebill or lipless crank and chuck it around. It won't take long to catch one. 

[MartinTheFisherman]

I own like 15 crankbaits but never caught my first one on them...

 

Only thrown them a couple of times.

[JWall14]

57 minutes ago, scaleface said:

 Not if you want to catch fish . I dont recommend trying to force  feed fish . Where are you fishing ?  Are you in a boat or shore bound ?  

I’m shore bound. Thanks guys!

[928JLH]

Buy a few lipless, squarebills and jerkbaits and stick with it. Whenever I learn a new technique I work with it until I start catching fish. It's kind of torturing yourself but it pays off. You really get an understanding of the technique and you can chalk it up to a confidence bait. 

 

Fishing from shore you might want to avoid deep cranking for now. Probably going to hang up a lot of baits learning the feel of what you are bouncing off of and working the crank through cover. 

 

Good luck! Reaction baits are awesome. You can cover lots of water from the bank and find the active fish. 

[MIbassyaker]

I think a shallow floating crankbait like a squarebill is the right place to start.  You'll be surprised how willing bass are to smash them.   

[scaleface]

I very seldom have fished crankbaits from  shore . The places I fish there are better choices .

[kenmitch]

1 hour ago, JWall14 said:

I’m shore bound. Thanks guys!

I switched to green colored 30lb braid after loosing a couple lures from shore. I kayak fish now, but still using 30lb braid as my lake is snag city. Just got to remember small diameter braid will cut your fingers if your not careful.

[Black Hawk Basser]

I fish from shore most of the time, and I would recommend not getting too heavily invested in crankbaits.  Having some squarebill and lipless cranks is a must, because they catch a lot of fish.  But, I find that I largely put them away after about mid-May(Iowa), except for when I go to the local river.  Anything (except topwater baits) that has treble hooks fouls up way too much in the near-shore vegetation, making you spend time after every retrieve picking stuff off of the hooks.  When that begins, I primarily use soft swimbaits, chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, and topwaters for my "power" fishing.

 

Lipless crankbaits like Super Spots, Red Eye Shads, Rattle Traps, & Rippin Raps all catch fish for me in the prespawn, so I fish them hard until the weeds make it a lot less convenient.  The Rapala Shad Rap is also a pre-spawn bass sleeper that rarely gets mentioned.  

[jbmaine]

Pick up an original floating Rapala. Go to your pond on an overcast day or early morning/ late evening. Cast it out over your favorite " fishy looking" spots. Let it sit, then twitch it, jerk it, pull it under then let it float back up. In general, make it look like an injured fish. This works great no matter how shallow the water is. You will get bit.

[roadwarrior]

Well...The answers are a Red Eye Shad, Bandit 200 and a Norman Fat Boy.

 

[GreenPig]

13 hours ago, JWall14 said:

I would really like to learn how to fish cranks and jerkbaits. I have always caught fish in jigs and bottom baits in the past. The weather is warming up and I would really like to learn. Should I only fish jerks and cranks until I catch one? I have fished them before but never caught anything on them for some reason.

Here's one option

[Manly Studson]

7 hours ago, Pickle_Power said:

I fish from shore most of the time, and I would recommend not getting too heavily invested in crankbaits.  Having some squarebill and lipless cranks is a must, because they catch a lot of fish.  But, I find that I largely put them away after about mid-May(Iowa), except for when I go to the local river.  Anything (except topwater baits) that has treble hooks fouls up way too much in the near-shore vegetation, making you spend time after every retrieve picking stuff off of the hooks.  When that begins, I primarily use soft swimbaits, chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, and topwaters for my "power" fishing.

 

Lipless crankbaits like Super Spots, Red Eye Shads, Rattle Traps, & Rippin Raps all catch fish for me in the prespawn, so I fish them hard until the weeds make it a lot less convenient.  The Rapala Shad Rap is also a pre-spawn bass sleeper that rarely gets mentioned.  

This is good advice.

Wake baits, like BP’s “the Egg”, are great lures with treble hooks too. They don’t dive very deep—usually a foot or less.

[the reel ess]

Ask 10 people and you'll get 20 answers.

If you're shorebound, I highly recommend the standard size Rebel Pop R. It's one of my go-to's for shallow fishing and it doesn't get hung up. I'd try it early, late and any time there's shade or cloud cover or you see bass chasing baitfish on the surface. I caught a 6 pounder on one a couple weeks ago. The Chug Bug is a variation of the same thing. It's bigger and easier to cast with standard baitcast gear. I usually employ it later in the year when baitfish seem to be bigger. They won't always want a topwater, but you'll get addicted if you have a good outing on them. It's just so exciting to catch bass on top.

[MountainMan83]

23 hours ago, the reel ess said:

Ask 10 people and you'll get 20 answers.

If you're shorebound, I highly recommend the standard size Rebel Pop R. It's one of my go-to's for shallow fishing and it doesn't get hung up. I'd try it early, late and any time there's shade or cloud cover or you see bass chasing baitfish on the surface. I caught a 6 pounder on one a couple weeks ago. The Chug Bug is a variation of the same thing. It's bigger and easier to cast with standard baitcast gear. I usually employ it later in the year when baitfish seem to be bigger. They won't always want a topwater, but you'll get addicted if you have a good outing on them. It's just so exciting to catch bass on 

I agree on the pop r. I've been fishing them a good bit this spring. Nothing like that perfect twitch and the accompanying GALUUMP. Music to my ears!

[papajoe222]

It sounds like you're looking to add hard baits to your selection of presentations. Crankbaits are the way to go, especially in the spring for starters.  There are some good articles here. I suggest you start by reading a few.

The thing I love about cranks is, with only a few, you can cover the entire water column until you locate fish. You may loose a few fishing from shore, but learning how to get them back and how to not get snagged to begin with are two of the things you need to learn.  Lastly, you don't need to be banging a crank off the bottom, or cover for them to be effective. Just remember that like most lures, changing the speed or angle of your retrieve will trigger more strikes than a steady retrieve.

[GatorDr]

I was actually in your shoes up until today around 6 PM. I’m shore based and my local lake is filled with bass and the fishing has been great up until a month ago. Before that, I could throw stick worms and catch a 2-3 lber every other cast and 5+ every few days or so. Now I’m catching a dink once every half hour or so. Nothing over 3 lb in three weeks. Same for everyone fishing the lake, no one has reported anything like we saw before. 

 

That led me to trying new things, chatterbait, jigs, Carolina rigged plastics, soft swimbaits, I even threw some of my saltwater stuff. Still nothing all weekend. I decided to throw a red eye shad lipless crank and immediately I noticed how much farther I was casting so I was covering new ground. I was able to work some angles and get it to the other side of an island I fish around. 5.5 lb monster first cast. Next cast an even bigger one hit it but I had to pay the tax man (alligators) right at the shore. Bass got away with the crank and the gator cut my line trying to bite him off. I went to buy two more after that. Hopefully I can find him again tomorrow and get that thing out. I’m a very rookie bass angler but the lipless crank is definitely one of my confidence lures now, it ended a drought for me

[Boomstick]

On 4/26/2019 at 9:20 AM, bagofdonuts said:

get a kvd square bill and toss it around, you'll catch something.

I couldn't imagine after a day or two of fishing, even in a poor spot that you wouldn't get something as long as there's bass or maybe even pike or catfish in the lake.

[Choporoz]

On 4/26/2019 at 12:12 PM, scaleface said:

I very seldom have fished crankbaits from  shore . The places I fish there are better choices .

Same here.  You have to be willing to bang wood and rocks.  That is a much more appealing proposition from a boat....with a plug knocker.  The floating Rapala is a great suggestion:

 

On 4/26/2019 at 3:13 PM, jbmaine said:

Pick up an original floating Rapala. Go to your pond on an overcast day or early morning/ late evening. Cast it out over your favorite " fishy looking" spots. Let it sit, then twitch it, jerk it, pull it under then let it float back up. In general, make it look like an injured fish. This works great no matter how shallow the water is. You will get bit.

One of the few treble lures that I did throw from shore that was pretty successful was floating minnow baits like the Rapala.  BPS has (had?) a cheap one with a wide wobble that only dove to about 8 inches.  It worked well without hitting stuff and didn't crush my spirits when I did lose one.  They were around $4.   The hooks were crap, though, so I don't recommend BPS branded, unless they've upgraded hooks.  Bomber and Smithwick had good floater minnow baits that come ready to fish and should allow you to throw with a bit more confidence from shore, than, say, a crankbait or $16 jerkbait.  Poppers at dawn/dusk should work for you, also.