Crankbaits - Deeper and Larger Profile

[Spankey]

I still have some weeks to my season yet but can’t help to look forward to next season and what I want to achieve in a positive way. 
 

Cranking is a big part of my fishing. The river is a shallow cranking game. Pretty easy game there. Endless options of baits. 
 

Lake fishing I sort of have myself limited to achieving a true 15 foot depth. Sort of maxing out there. Hooking up Bass cranking there. 
 

Next season I want to work on getting 3-5 feet more depth. Fish are there. But only hooking up with soft plastics.  Will only need to do bait searches. Deeper and a larger profile. My sticks should handle any lure weight changes. But most likely will have to try to keep them under 1 oz. 

 

Cranking is tuff, can give you a bit of a workout at times. 

[scaleface]

I fish cranks 20 foot deep and a little more . The deepest I ever caught bass with a diving bait is 22 foot with a Berkely Dredger 25.5 . I have caught them a bit deeper with a 3/4 ounce Red Eye Shad . I'm becoming reluctant to throw the Dredgers . They seem to spook the school after a couple of cast where the Red Eye Shad Two Tap bounced along  the bottom doesnt . I imagine the fish I'm targeting have become nervous  after being fished for with these baits . When I first started using  the deep divers they bit eagerly . 

[Todd2]

I haven't bought any deeper divers than 12-14 in many years. Wears me out and I seem to hang up too much here. Most of my cranking is probably in 10 ft or less. Right or wrong, much deeper than that I go with plastics. I used to fish a lake that deeper was key and that DD22 was a good one but you better eat your Wheaties in a full day of throwing that.

[Spankey]

9 minutes ago, Todd2 said:

I haven't bought any deeper divers than 12-14 in many years. Wears me out and I seem to hang up too much here. Most of my cranking is probably in 10 ft or less. Right or wrong, much deeper than that I go with plastics. I used to fish a lake that deeper was key and that DD22 was a good one but you better eat your Wheaties in a full day of throwing that.

We are fishing about the same then. Will wear you down. Just gonna pick up a few gizzard Shad and bluegill patterns to put in front of them. Looking for that reaction strike. Most likely just gonna pick up deeper versions of my most productive now. Not gonna try to reinvent the wheel or have a ton of baits for those depths. 
 

I’d like to think if the 12 foot version of yomama bluegill works decent, fishing the 20 foot version of yomama bluegill should trigger a strike at that depth. My water depths go from 13 feet to 20+ real quick. Just trying to get something to pass through it. No real intention to fish all day like that. Too dang old. Just another go to. Its all just something in my hunt for monster bass. 

[scaleface]

  Compared to those deep diving Strike Kings the Dredgers are easy to retrieve  with a much tighter action .  I use to throw the Manns plus series , those things were torturous  and never produced for me . I even have a thirty foot plus that I tried to cast with a 5'6" pistol grip . That didnt work out very well .

[Columbia Craw]

Normans DD22, SK 6XD and the 6th Sense Cloud9 series should set you up nicely at affordable prices. 
 

I have found the length of the cast is paramount to getting to max depth.  My deepest bass on a crankbait came 20 feet.

[Columbia Craw]

Examples

[Bankbeater]

It's been quite a few years since I've fished for bass with a deep diving crankbait.  Going deep these days means I use lipless crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and chatterbaits.

[papajoe222]

Deep divers have their place and although I don’t throw them much, I do break them out when conditions are prime.  You don’t need a large profile, in fact a small bodied bait seems to produce more fish from a school than a a big one. Don’t confuse profile with size. Look at just the body, from the bill back. 
Look at Columbia Craw’s pic and focus on the body size. That’s what the fish do. 

[king fisher]

If the crankbaits are working, but you aren't trolling can be very effective.  I know many bass fisherman think trolling is a sin, but it does work great with crankbaits.  Another advantage is you can get about 1/3 more depth out of a crankbait trolling it than you can on even the longest cast.

[WRB]

There is skill evolved keeping a deep diver following the deeper breaks. You will for sure know how deep the lure is running when it hits bottom you know depth of from sonar.

I believe trolling is the best technique to learn how to fish deep crank baits. 

The simple trick of making lazy S turns changes the lures pace and cover a wider path of structure.

You will find line diameter impact running depth, .013D/12 lb is a good starting point. Run the lure next to the boat to determine how the runs and let out 100’ of line.

Tom

[Spankey]

Have some 5 & 6 XD coming before the end of the week for this coming weekend. Was surprised this weekend to find both Bass and Bluegill pulled back from the bank and cover. I realize we are in fall and a seasonal change but we are still summer like temps here in the NE/Mid Atlantic. Air Temps still in the 80’s water surf temps 71-75 deg. Not sure if fish pick up on shorter day lights and sun angles. Got my bites very early at sun up. Very short window on both days. 

[ATA]

As bank fisherman I am not using so much of crank bait which is tricky and getting snag so much. But I use as I have opportunity of open water or in case I rent boat.

It been few years I do only crank bait 16F pus, I use 6XD/10XD on boat as well, But usually I am Norman DD22 guy. That crank bait is one bass catching machine.

[Spankey]

14 minutes ago, ATA said:

As bank fisherman I am not using so much of crank bait which is tricky and getting snag so much. But I use as I have opportunity of open water or in case I rent boat.

It been few years I do only crank bait 16F pus, I use 6XD/10XD on boat as well, But usually I am Norman DD22 guy. That crank bait is one bass catching machine.

Just a note sort of. And this is something I’m just finding out. This is not a dis toward Strike King because I fish too many of their bait to get twisted over this, but I’m having some of my baits starting to go out of tune. Can’t do really anything to them. I guess you just trash them. Hard to believe. They are ones I fish hard. 

[ATA]

4 minutes ago, Spankey said:

Just a note sort of. And this is something I’m just finding out. This is not a dis toward Strike King because I fish too many of their bait to get twisted over this, but I’m having some of my baits starting to go out of tune. Can’t do really anything to them. I guess you just trash them. Hard to believe. They are ones I fish hard. 

I dont trash them, I just said that is really what working for me. No disrespect to any brand or anyone using another brands. Sorry if it was sounds like that.

[Spankey]

45 minutes ago, ATA said:

I dont trash them, I just said that is really what working for me. No disrespect to any brand or anyone using another brands. Sorry if it was sounds like that.

Not you man, I mean me complaining as to how they went out of tune so easy. But at $5.00 they are easy to replace. I’m not gonna dis SK. Do too well with their stuff. 
 

Should have me deeper ones on Thursday. 

[TnRiver46]

I’ve never caught anything deep cranking. 

[Spankey]

1 minute ago, TnRiver46 said:

I’ve never caught anything deep cranking. 

This deeper cranking (15-18 feet) is gonna be new to me. I’ll try a few this weekend. No plans to making a career of it. I’m to old to throw like that for hours on end. 
 

Not sure if I’ll get any fall on the river. The two boat launches are destroyed from the floods. Can’t go under the bridge if you were to get on because there are a bunch of trees pushed against the pilings. 
 

Been doing the lake since the floods. Pretty decent last week, had a real nice stain to it. Fish were close to the bank. This weekend was a lot clearer and fish were pulled back pretty far. In that depth range. 

[Bankc]

I'd also recommend a Berkley Dredger 25.5.  They're a bit smaller, lighter, and get down quicker than most of the other crankbaits I've used that get down below 20ft.  Plus they don't seem to pull as hard.  I'm not a huge Berkley nut for crankbaits, but they did right on this one, in my opinion.  

[Bluebasser86]

Strike King 5XD and 6XD are the only deep divers I have any confidence in. I've caught some on the Spro deep diving Little Jon, but I don't think they dive nearly as deep, probably more the 12' range. I do like the big, single knocker in them though. 

[Spankey]

11 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Strike King 5XD and 6XD are the only deep divers I have any confidence in. I've caught some on the Spro deep diving Little Jon, but I don't think they dive nearly as deep, probably more the 12' range. I do like the big, single knocker in them though. 

Not knowing where the fish are going to be (deeper) now I just want to stand a chance of getting them. If I can mark them this might help. But I have not intention of blindly throwing and winding them at nothing for nothing. 
 

Up here it’s crazy. Summer like temps. Surface water temps 73-75 deg. I’m getting bit and a few respectable fish but they seem to have pulled away from shallow or they are not there long or possibly in there at night. 
 

I’m just doing what I have to do. Or put it this way, doing what I think I have to to. Just hunting for that monster bass of the season. Thought it might be for river Smallies to end the season this year but all my ramps are ruined by the floods. 

[WRB]

You all have no idea how difficult it was using pistol grip rods w 4.3:1 High Speed Ambassador 5000C reels. Retrieving deep divers like the big  Whopper Stopper Hellbinder, 500 series Bombers, Water Dog,  Arbogast Mud Bugs and Rebel Spoonbills. When the lure stopped fighting a bass had it.

When Poe’s Super Cedar 300 and Norman DD22’s came out in the 80’s we had gone to trigger stick longer handle rods and were a pleasure to retrieve compared to the older deep divers using pistol grip 6’ rods.

Tom

[TnRiver46]

2 hours ago, WRB said:

You all have no idea how difficult it was using pistol grip rods w 4.3:1 High Speed Ambassador 5000C reels. Retrieving deep divers like the big  Whopper Stopper Hellbinder, 500 series Bombers, Water Dog,  Arbogast Mud Bugs and Rebel Spoonbills. When the lure stopped fighting a bass had it.

When Poe’s Super Cedar 300 and Norman DD22’s came out in the 80’s we had gone to trigger stick longer handle rods and were a pleasure to retrieve compared to the older deep divers using pistol grip 6’ rods.

Tom

Not so fast my friend! I think I still use those reels and rods. Not sure of the gear ratio on my old abu's but it's really slow. Seems like 2:1 sometimes! 

[scaleface]

3 hours ago, Spankey said:

Not knowing where the fish are going to be (deeper) now I just want to stand a chance of getting them. If I can mark them this might help. But I have not intention of blindly throwing and winding them at nothing for nothing. 

I usually deep crank on points . On my way to the point I look for the depth most of the shad are hanging out at . Thats usually the depth  I find the bass .

[Bluebasser86]

You don't have to have deep water to fish a deep crank either. I use to fish a Fat Free Shad in 5' of water, dragging it slowly and letting it root around and kick up debris. Never caught a lot of fish but I caught some big ones, a lot of flatheads too.