Crankbait Presentation

[papajoe222]

Most anglers know that cranks produce best when they deflect off of cover, or the bottom and square bills take that deflection up a notch. That’s the reason they’ve become so popular.

Another productive, but less practiced presentation involves free swimming the crank a few feet of the bottom.  In order to produce that deflection trigger, sharp twitches, or quick turns of the reel handle followed by a short pause will outproduce a stop and go retrieve.  This is my favorite retrieve for covering submerged vegetation. 

[Fishin Dad]

I have just started to figure out how productive crank baits can be in these weedy northern waters.   I do only throw them in sparse vegetation so far however.   They have started to produce better than the chatter bait for me in some lakes.  I think fish here have seen too many chatterbaits.   I am going to give this a try to give it more action.  Thanks.  

[Sphynx]

Trouble I have with crankbaits this time of year is constantly getting them hung up in the salad, hardly a crankbait specific complaint, really any treble bait suffers this around this time of year, but as soon as the vegetation starts to die off, mat up, and get out of the way? It's game on, I've had days where 10+ fish in 1-1.5 hours are a continuous thing on them, and that pattern is pretty consistent throughout the fall feedup

[papajoe222]

1 hour ago, Sphynx said:

Trouble I have with crankbaits this time of year is constantly getting them hung up in the salad

This system eliminates attempting to get your crank to tick the weed tops and rip it free, just pick one that runs a couple of feet above the weeds. It’s like ripping your crank free of the weeds without the possibility of it actually digging deeper into them. 

[scaleface]

Thats the way I do it , give it a jerk ,   reel in the slack then resume the retrieve . 

[MIbassyaker]

I'm not sure I have ever successfully ripped a crankbait totally free of weeds in my life.  I do like to make them briefly catch vegetation with the bill, and then give a slight pause to let them float up and back out, and then continue cranking over.

[scaleface]

12 minutes ago, MIbassyaker said:

I'm not sure I have ever successfully ripped a crankbait totally free of weeds in my life.  I do like to make them briefly catch vegetation with the bill, and then give a slight pause to let them float up and back out, and then continue cranking over.

The weeds I fish , a crankbait will not work in them . I dont know what kind of weeds people fish them in but I have never encountered them .

[Sphynx]

1 hour ago, papajoe222 said:

This system eliminates attempting to get your crank to tick the weed tops and rip it free, just pick one that runs a couple of feet above the weeds. It’s like ripping your crank free of the weeds without the possibility of it actually digging deeper into them. 

Not an option for me I'm afraid, vegetation is up to the surface in almost all of my spots, just poking proud of the surface, for me my options are frogs, or swimjigs/paddletails that are designed to come through that stuff pretty well 

[MIbassyaker]

1 hour ago, scaleface said:

The weeds I fish , a crankbait will not work in them . I dont know what kind of weeds people fish them in but I have never encountered them .

I'll do it sometimes around Potamogeton, eelgrass or non-invasive milfoil.  It can't be too thick, and has to top out at the right depth. Very much a situational thing, and a May-June thing where I fish. Not gonna happen most places at this point in summer.

[GreenPig]

The Eel grass and Hydrilla in my primary lake will just about make me lose my mind while fishing a crankbait. 8 out of 10 cast is ruined by weeds I personally can't jerk free and I'm a pretty strong fisherman. I will definitely try fishing over them next time. 

[Bankbeater]

So far this year crankbaits have been my top producing baits. The water I fish have a mixture of lilypads, milfoil, with the majority being coontail.  I fish a crankbait with a steady retrieve and run it right next to the small mats floating on the surface, or just above the submerged stuff.

[Bluebasser86]

I could count on both hands the number of crankbait fish I've caught since March. I don't even know why I carry them most of the year.

 

[A-Jay]

 On my hunt for big Brown Bass, there have been a 'few' occasions,

when fish are relating to the tops of mid to deeper depth weeds, 

selecting a crankbait that runs well off them has triggered strikes.

This is mostly a late summer deal for me.

However cranks that get too deep or if & when I 'miss' my cast line,

the bait always bogs down in the soft cover and the cast is wasted as I wind it in and clear it off.

I'm rarely ever able to 'rip' or 'clear' any billed crank bait of the any weeds during the cast', except perhaps cabbage.  Which is mostly a pike magnet weed here, so I do not target it much.

A lipless bait, a performs much better in these situation for me, as I have a much better chance of fishing it effectively over & around the soft cover.

Haven't tried to 'burn' a heavier vibrating jig (like 3/4 oz) through this yet, but it's coming. 

Fish Hard

A-Jay

 

 

 

[gim]

On 7/24/2021 at 12:30 PM, Fishin Dad said:

I have just started to figure out how productive crank baits can be in these weedy northern waters.   I do only throw them in sparse vegetation so far however.   They have started to produce better than the chatter bait for me in some lakes.  I think fish here have seen too many chatterbaits.   I am going to give this a try to give it more action.  Thanks.  

 

I've never been a big crank bait guy myself either here in MN waters either.  Too many weeds.  I feel like they're better in sparse cover or in brown bass country (rock, gravel, etc).  I have some, but I'll either have to use them in minimal or no weed cover to avoid getting hung up all the time with those treble hooks.

 

On the chatterbait thing, try a spinnerbait instead sometime.  I have found that the chatterbait has kind of taken over that niche lure so many of the fish have not seen it in a while now.

[MN Fisher]

28 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I've never been a big crank bait guy myself either here in MN waters either.  Too many weeds.  I feel like they're better in sparse cover or in brown bass country (rock, gravel, etc).  I have some, but I'll either have to use them in minimal or no weed cover to avoid getting hung up all the time with those treble hooks.

Running them along the weed-lines...I catch more pike with them than bass.

[Tatsu Dave]

Heavy weeds by now in our waters, last time out my son stuck with a crankbait the entire trip. I don't fish them where we fish, he caught 4-5 smaller under 2# fish, I only caught 3 fish with my weedless throw it into anything sticks. Difference was a 2 3/4 # and a 3 3/4 # fish. Can't get the crank back into the thick stuff and that's where the bigger fish are at. The pike and pickerel bite too many lures off as well......stickbait screwloc and flippin hook cost about a buck, crankbaits are a tad more.

[Fishin Dad]

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

 

I've never been a big crank bait guy myself either here in MN waters either.  Too many weeds.  I feel like they're better in sparse cover or in brown bass country (rock, gravel, etc).  I have some, but I'll either have to use them in minimal or no weed cover to avoid getting hung up all the time with those treble hooks.

 

On the chatterbait thing, try a spinnerbait instead sometime.  I have found that the chatterbait has kind of taken over that niche lure so many of the fish have not seen it in a while now.

Absolutely.  I usually have 12-15 rods in the boat.  For moving baits I always have a chatterbait (used to have 2 rods with different chatters tied up), swimjig, spinnerbait ( I like it because it goes through wood better without rolling and snagging ), and now a crankbait.  I also have a frog and buzzbait for moving baits.  On certain lakes I will also use a fluke or swimbait.  

[Fishin Dad]

1 hour ago, MN Fisher said:

Running them along the weed-lines...I catch more pike with them than bass.

I am catching pike on everything on a couple lakes, one in particular.  Getting really sick of them.  But I agree, pike like cranks.............A LOT.  They also like to steal them leaving angry and shopping too often.

[MN Fisher]

24 minutes ago, Fishin Dad said:

They also like to steal them leaving angry and shopping too often.

You mean like this? He stole a Ratlin' Rap 07 in Bluegill from me.

 

[TOXIC]

I was a late comer to the cranking world but got tired of being schooled by a fishing partner who loves his cranks.  It started on St Clair and as most do, clipping the tops of the weeds with SPRO Little John’s.  Then got into Walleye on the deeper divers in more open water and different colors.  Locally here on the Rappahonock we throw medium divers into the shallow banks and dig them out to a short weed line, slow the retrieve and let them float up then crank them down the drop.  Usually throw them every outing unless the catfish are keying in on them.  This pic was from this Saturday. 

[Spankey]

Crankbait fishing is a big part of my fishing. I have a tendency to fish it too much. But like the reaction strikes. Soft plastics is my favorite way to fish. 

[Fishin Dad]

1 hour ago, MN Fisher said:

You mean like this? He stole a Ratlin' Rap 07 in Bluegill from me.

 

Yes, that looks all too familiar.  That was a nice pike at least.  Too many of the pike I catch are like 3 pounds.  Then all of a sudden you hit a 36" and it is game on.  I actually like catching big pike when I target them.  On the Mississippi River, we have days when you can catch 15 pike over 36".  Those days are a blast.  

[Bankc]

Half of what I throw are crankbaits.  They are by far my most productive bait.  I'm surprised at how often I hear people talking about banging crankbaits into cover to get a bite.  I'd say only about 25% of my crankbait bites come on casts where I've bumped it into something.  Sure, it's a good technique.  And I'll definitely try it when I can (I fish a lot of lakes with muddy bottoms and sparse cover).  But it's far from the only effective way to fish a crankbait.  

 

Sometimes varying the speed from slow to fast works.  Sometimes switching the rod from your left side to your right works (it gives the bait a quick pause, jerk, and change of direction).  Sometimes a rapid start stop works.  Sometimes a hard run with a few quick pauses works.  You can fish them like a jerkbait, or a swimbait.  There's a thousand ways to fish them, and bumping cover is just one.  No matter what you do, just make sure it's a bit erratic.  Bass love that.

[papajoe222]

On 7/24/2021 at 2:35 PM, scaleface said:

The weeds I fish , a crankbait will not work in them . I dont know what kind of weeds people fish them in but I have never encountered them .

Ticking the tops of weeds and pausing, or ripping the lure to free it of weeds is an awesome way to trigger strikes from fish in those weeds. The problem is, many anglers can't recognize when that first tick occurs and continue reeling burring the crank into the weeds. One 'trick' to avoiding that is to use a crank that only runs to the depth the weeds top out at. A better option is getting a 'feel' for the crank you're using. You'll be surprised that after a while, you'll be able to feel when it catches on that first weed top.  Some weeds, such as pond weed and some grasses, have a crisp texture and are easier to free with a quick rip of the rod tip. One other thing to consider is your crank's lip design. Square bills will catch a lot more than a bill similar to what a Bomber Model A has.

[scaleface]

1 minute ago, papajoe222 said:

Ticking the tops of weeds and pausing, or ripping the lure to free it of weeds is an awesome way to trigger strikes from fish in those weeds

I dont doubt you but its not going to work with Chara .