Never gotten a crankbaits bite... anyone ever have this issue !

[Ksam1234]

So I have read the mega thread and topic on cranks and no matter what lake or pond wherever I go I have never gotten a crankbaits bite. I have tried shallow , deep , in between.  Bouncing off rocks and wood , all kinds of structure.  Ripped out of grass. Burned or slow cranked. Nothing ever happens ! I want to be good at using them , they seem like such a fun way to catch fish , I have tons of different kinds but they’ve just sit there... if I throw anything else it gets bit.  Switch back to a crank and nothing .. my goal for next year snd now is to try and get better with these dang things. 

[JWall14]

Same here.

[SmallBlockMuscle]

Square bills produce great for me in the fall. Usually in 4-8 feet of water, outside of weed edges 

[WRB]

The method I use to teach how to fish a Crankbait is trolling them. 

Trolling requires a skill to know where and at what depth to troll, sonar is your friend.

Survey a area with rocky bottom that doesn't have aquatic plants at the depth you want the diving lure to run. If you meter fish near the bottom at 12' for example select a crankbait that runs between 10 to 14 feet or +/- 2' from the depth the fish are at.

You want to troll where you know fish are located, hopefully the fish are bass. Breakwater rip rap structure and dam faces for example are east to troll.

Run the lure next to the boat and watch how it runs at walking speed, 2-3 mph. When trolling run the lure about 75' to 100' behind the boat.

 Use your sonar to keep the boat at the proper depth moving shallower or deeper by 1 to 2 feet if possible. Do not run in a straight line, make slow S pattern turns that automatically changes depth and speed. When you come to a point make a slow outward turn to run paralell to your desired depth, it's easy to snag lures on points if you get too shallow, stop and retreived the lure, then continue. 

You want the crank bait to hit bottom, when it does hold the rod high and slow down turning the boat out towards deeper water and continue moving back towards shallower water slowly. 

The difference between hitting bottom and strikes is the fish fights back, the bottom doesn't. 

Couple of hours of trolling in the right areas you will catch bass. Go back to those areas and start casting and retreiving your cankbait in the same manner, changing speeds and occasionally hitting bottom.

Tom

[Paul Roberts]

Well... I'm surprised with all that fishing you've not got into them. There are definitely windows where they shine. I guess, I'd offer three general pieces of advice, since you mention already doing what I'd normally recommend:

 

-CBs do not have to be fished fast. Once, years ago, a fishing buddy lamented the same thing. He seemed to mostly chuck-n-wind them, thinking the fish would come to him. I suggested he fish his cranks like a jig, slow and methodical, through and around bottom and cover. And he was a CBer thereafter. If you can fish a jig, or T-rig, you can fish a CB.

 

-Be sure you know where in the water column your lures actually are. You may already, since the only way you can bounce off hard cover and rip weeds -without fouling or losing plugs- is to know where your lure is and specifically where the cover pieces are.

 

-Fish them when bass are apt to be aggressive: early summer, and mid-fall are such windows. Essentially good times to get to know just about any lure type.

[J Francho]

Deep diving cranks always work for me, so long as the water is soft.

[billmac]

1 minute ago, J Francho said:

so long as the water is soft.

I'm not sure what this means.

 

I'm not much of a crank bait fisherman myself.  I just don't have a lot of confidence in them.  I will throw lipless from time to time.

[J Francho]

6 minutes ago, billmac said:

I'm not sure what this means.

They flat out do not work when the water is hard, as in frozen.

[billmac]

Ah, I thought it was some super secret code term.

[fishballer06]

@billmac You live in northern NY and you've never heard the term hard water?!

 

OP - This blows my mind. Get yourself a Baby 1- and crank that thing around any submerged grass you can find and you will get bit. I promise it. 

[billmac]

1 hour ago, fishballer06 said:

You live in northern NY and you've never heard the term hard water?!

Context!

[Ksam1234]

2 hours ago, Paul Roberts said:

Well... I'm surprised with all that fishing you've not got into them. There are definitely windows where they shine. I guess, I'd offer three general pieces of advice, since you mention already doing what I'd normally recommend:

 

-CBs do not have to be fished fast. Once, years ago, a fishing buddy lamented the same thing. He seemed to mostly chuck-n-wind them, thinking the fish would come to him. I suggested he fish his cranks like a jig, slow and methodical, through and around bottom and cover. And he was a CBer thereafter. If you can fish a jig, or T-rig, you can fish a CB.

 

-Be sure you know where in the water column your lures actually are. You may already, since the only way you can bounce off hard cover and rip weeds -without fouling or losing plugs- is to know where your lure is and specifically where the cover pieces are.

 

-Fish them when bass are apt to be aggressive: early summer, and mid-fall are such windows. Essentially good times to get to know just about any lure type.

Thank I’ll comtinue to try and do this. 

3 hours ago, WRB said:

The method I use to teach how to fish a Crankbait is trolling them. 

Trolling requires a skill to know where and at what depth to troll, sonar is your friend.

Survey a area with rocky bottom that doesn't have aquatic plants at the depth you want the diving lure to run. If you meter fish near the bottom at 12' for example select a crankbait that runs between 10 to 14 feet or +/- 2' from the depth the fish are at.

You want to troll where you know fish are located, hopefully the fish are bass. Breakwater rip rap structure and dam faces for example are east to troll.

Run the lure next to the boat and watch how it runs at walking speed, 2-3 mph. When trolling run the lure about 75' to 100' behind the boat.

 Use your sonar to keep the boat at the proper depth moving shallower or deeper by 1 to 2 feet if possible. Do not run in a straight line, make slow S pattern turns that automatically changes depth and speed. When you come to a point make a slow outward turn to run paralell to your desired depth, it's easy to snag lures on points if you get too shallow, stop and retreived the lure, then continue. 

You want the crank bait to hit bottom, when it does hold the rod high and slow down turning the boat out towards deeper water and continue moving back towards shallower water slowly. 

The difference between hitting bottom and strikes is the fish fights back, the bottom doesn't. 

Couple of hours of trolling in the right areas you will catch bass. Go back to those areas and start casting and retreiving your cankbait in the same manner, changing speeds and occasionally hitting bottom.

Tom

Thank you! I’ll do my best 

2 hours ago, fishballer06 said:

@billmac You live in northern NY and you've never heard the term hard water?!

 

OP - This blows my mind. Get yourself a Baby 1- and crank that thing around any submerged grass you can find and you will get bit. I promise it. 

Will do! Next up on the list then 

[DanielG]

At the lake I fish exclusively, I find that in early and mid summer I can troll in 50 ft of water with a crankbait diving to about 5 ft. Unlike the OP it's my goto lure. I have lots of different ones but a medium sized one that has yellow perch colorings is the one that I always go back to.

Cranks and paddle swimbaits seem to be my comfort zone for being confident of them working. Keep in Mind, here in Maine we have glacially made lakes. They are deep and often have steep sides. You can go from 6 ft to 30 ft in the span of traveling 20 ft on a lake.

[Hammer 4]

IIRC, I've caught many different kinds of fish on cranks. From crappie, bass, even a 7lb rainbow trout, and some saltwater bay bass. Never caught a bluegill though. Cranks, both lip less and billed will catch fish, you just have to find the fish first..

[Ksam1234]

10 minutes ago, Hammer 4 said:

IIRC, I've caught many different kinds of fish on cranks. From crappie, bass, even a 7lb rainbow trout, and some saltwater bay bass. Never caught a bluegill though. Cranks, both lip less and billed will catch fish, you just have to find the fish first..

I can find the fish, I’ll throw a swimjig  or spinnerbaits, a swimbait with a jighead, soft plastics etc.  chatterbaits. And catch fish. Then throw a crankbaits of many kinds and catch nothingn.. in the same spots/areas

[Hammer 4]

1 minute ago, Ksam1234 said:

I can find the fish, I’ll throw a swimjig  or spinnerbaits, a swimbait with a jighead, soft plastics etc.  chatterbaits. And catch fish. Then throw a crankbaits of many kinds and catch nothingn.. in the same spots/areas

Speed, size, color, ect...? Also, I always throw cranks on the lightest line possible. Once you find the correct combo it's game on.

[Ksam1234]

21 minutes ago, Hammer 4 said:

Speed, size, color, ect...? Also, I always throw cranks on the lightest line possible. Once you find the correct combo it's game on.

Tried bunch of different kinds.  I’m sure it’s just me lol , and usin 10 pound fluoro 

[Hammer 4]

1 minute ago, Ksam1234 said:

Tried bunch of different kinds.  I’m sure it’s just me lol , and usin 10 pound fluoro 

 

10 lb fluro sounds good. Do you have a craw/red color crank, either lip less or otherwise.? I've had good luck with those. Keep at it, you will succeed. 

[Spy]

Oddly enough I caught a Channel Cat on a square bill last week, the only thing I've hooked on a CB this year though to be honest conditions have been brutal.

[WRB]

We live at a time when most bass anglers haven't ever trolled a lured because it isn't legal for tournaments and tournaments influence how we precieved fishing should be done.

I learned to bass fish when trolling was the preferredt method to catch bass long before soft plastic lures or tournaments. I also cast plugs and weedless spoons where trolling wasn't feasible when bass are in cover. Plugs are crankbaits for you younger folks.

The reason trolling works so good for deep crabkbaits is the lure stays down and runs at the right depth for as long as the boat is moving forward. When cast the may reach the right depth for a few yards, trolling increases the strike zone for as long as you want.

If you are retrieving a crank bait through areas where bass are located and not catching them but catch bass on other vibrating moving lures you are not detecting strikes or the speed and cadence is very wrong. Changing pace without changing the depth is easy when trolling by making those lazy S turns or slowing down and speeding up or pumping the rod or lowering or raising the rod. Strike detection isn't an issue as the bass hooks itself and your rod loads uprising a crankbait rod with moderate action. The moving forward takes time to stop and replicated a sweeping hook set.

Use a good quality snap or clip, no swivel, so changing different lures is easy to determine which lure works best.

10 to 12 lb mono or FC line is good, you learn line type makes little difference line diameter does.

Tom

 

 

[scaleface]

Sometimes crankbaits scare the fish . I had a good deep worm bite going today , 15 to 20 foot . I started throwing a deep diver  and came up with nothing . Went back to the worm and the fish were scattered. It took awhile for them to regroup . 

[TnRiver46]

12 hours ago, Ksam1234 said:

Tried bunch of different kinds.  I’m sure it’s just me lol , and usin 10 pound fluoro 

It’s not just you. I have the exact same luck with casting crankbaits. If I pull them with the outboard motor, I catch all kinds of fish. Go back to the same areas and cast crankbaits, absolutely nothing. Something about trolling them is magic, they stay down and hit stuff. Bass can’t seem to resist a bait trolled 2 mph and slamming into stuff. Neither can drum and walleye 

[Deleted account]

17 hours ago, Ksam1234 said:

Never gotten a crankbaits bite... anyone ever have this issue !

No. How is that even possible?

 

[ohboyitsrobby]

Wow!!! I don't know what I'd do without being able to catch em either deep cranking or burning a trap. On that note. I don't know about where you are but here the baitfish are beginning to migrate to the backs of creeks and a 1/4-1/2 oz shad colored lipless is very effective. 

[Dorado]

21 hours ago, fishballer06 said:

@billmac You live in northern NY and you've never heard the term hard water?!

 

OP - This blows my mind. Get yourself a Baby 1- and crank that thing around any submerged grass you can find and you will get bit. I promise it. 

Baby 1- is an excellent recommendation while starting off and it’s how I caught that bass in my Avatar