Square bill question

[snowplow]

So I've never done much with crank baits. It sounds like with crank baits you pretty much want to size them so they're always grinding on the bottom from what I understand. And now when learning about square bills, it sounds like you like to bounce them off of everything you can. 

 

The one part I need clarification on is this. Do you size your square bills to go deep enough to grind on the bottom too?

[MN Fisher]

Yep - squarebills are designed for shallow-water cranking. While you'd use standard cranks for 5'+ water, squarebills are for anything under that depth...right to the water-line in some cases. Otherwise same rules apply - grind them on the bottom, bounce them off wood laydowns, etc.

[MediumMouthBass]

^ covered everything you need to know, but heres something ill add anyways.

The Strike King/6th Sense/first company that made them, Hybrid Hunter is a crankbait with a different style bill, it catches a ton of fish (including big ones) and its meant to not hit the bottom.

Fish it over grass or above a sunken tree, but this can be done with any crankbait btw.

Some days they want that plastic bill to come to its breaking point being slammed into the ground, but sometimes they want it fished above where they are at.

 

Ive done it a few times, cranking 2-4' square bills in about 6-8' of water, give the bass something different is what everyones always saying right?

[king fisher]

Bouncing square bills off of tree branches in deep water targeting suspended bass, can be very productive.  I usually fish more weedless lures in the branches first, because I don't want to spook the bass off the tree if I have to get a lure unsnagged.  After trying a weedless presentation, I will always try to finesse a square bill through the branches before moving to another tree.  I pulled my PB out of a thick tangled mess of branches in 30 feet of water, that a sane angler would never even consider throwing a lure with treble hooks in to.  The Bait Monkey was right there with me, yelling one more cast, you can do it.  Now every time I see an impenetrable snag my monkey friend whispers, remember your PB.  throw the square bill.

[ironbjorn]

I never had any luck bouncing them off wood. Despite what people swear, they always get snagged real quick. A spinnerbait or swimjig is much better for me here. Where I LOVE squarebills is in shallow water with a rocky bottom, letting them grind across the rocks and bounce off of them. Works great. 

[snowplow]

Thanks guys that really helps. 

 

Around here there is very little rocky bottom. Mostly soft silt or just firmer mud bottom with plenty of weeds. 

 

Do you still crank into this? 

 

I always hear them mentioned with rocks. I have the same question about wobbleheads too. Don't get them snagged but not sure if it's a waste of time, cranking them through silt. 

[MN Fisher]

21 minutes ago, snowplow said:

Around here there is very little rocky bottom. Mostly soft silt or just firmer mud bottom with plenty of weeds. 

 

Do you still crank into this? 

Quite a bit of Tonka is this way too - yep...stir up that mud, make it look  like something rooting around for food...bass will go after something like that...and rip it through the weeds like you'd do with a lipless.

[snowplow]

Awesome thanks 

[scaleface]

9 hours ago, ironbjorn said:

I never had any luck bouncing them off wood.

I can fish it in aging standing timber but brushpiles , laydowns... I usually snag on the first cast 

[Huckfinn38]

11 hours ago, ironbjorn said:

I never had any luck bouncing them off wood. Despite what people swear, they always get snagged real quick. A spinnerbait or swimjig is much better for me here. Where I LOVE squarebills is in shallow water with a rocky bottom, letting them grind across the rocks and bounce off of them. Works great. 

I caught a nice one yesterday clanking off a tree limb and it immediately got snagged on a branch. Somehow the fished stayed on but I had to go in and break the limb.  I would say half my bites on squarebills are right after I clank a limb.

[Reel]

I fish crankbaits for smallmouth with success and most of the time, they never touch bottom.

[GetFishorDieTryin]

I hardly ever drag the bottom with SBs or cranks for that matter, the bottom of the lakes around here will just bog them down.  I do really well with them late winter/early spring fishing them in them in stump flats and lilly fields while the stems are still submergent.  If you fish them timid, they're more likely to snag, the more aggressive I fish them the less hangups I get.

The right SB makes a difference too.  Some seem to bounce through anything while others not so much.

[Huckfinn38]

10 minutes ago, GetFishorDieTryin said:

I hardly ever drag the bottom with SBs or cranks for that matter, the bottom of the lakes around here will just bog them down.  I do really well with them late winter/early spring fishing them in them in stump flats and lilly fields while the stems are still submergent.  If you fish them timid, they're more likely to snag, the more aggressive I fish them the less hangups I get.

The right SB makes a difference too.  Some seem to bounce through anything while others not so much.

Interest because im the total opposite. I want mine hitting the bottom and hunting. I dont want it plowing ditches lol but i like a lot of contact. In addition you develop a feel that helps you realize the structure is something ur going to get stuck on and at that time you stop reeling and let the bait float up so you can work ur way through it. This often draws a bite and doesn’t work every time either. If ur coming in contact with the bottom ur going to get hung.

[Bankbeater]

I've never intentionally ran my crankbaits into the bottom or bounced them off of anything.  Most of the time I'm trying to run the bait past something like a hump or run it parallel along a laydown or rip rap.

[wvhunt]

I read about all the bite you get banging the crankbait off the bottom, but I seem to snag and loose them that way.

[king fisher]

1 hour ago, wvhunt said:

I read about all the bite you get banging the crankbait off the bottom, but I seem to snag and loose them that way.

You can have a box full of crankbaits, or a boat full of fish, but you can't have both.  Use them and loose them, is a fact of life for a die hard crankbait fisherman.  

[MediumMouthBass]

3 hours ago, king fisher said:

You can have a box full of crankbaits, or a boat full of fish, but you can't have both.  Use them and loose them, is a fact of life for a die hard crankbait fisherman.  

This really speaks to me, most of my lakes are pickerel infested or filled with tons of sunken trees so i always used really cheap house brand lures or soft plastics only, i got so tired of not catching fish when i knew i could. This year im throwing every lure i have and if i lose it oh well, the lures are worth nothing to me sitting in their packaging or not being used.

Sure you might lose a $6 crankbait in the rocks or wood, but you might gain a 6lb bass.

[padon]

On 5/7/2024 at 11:48 PM, snowplow said:

Thanks guys that really helps. 

 

Around here there is very little rocky bottom. Mostly soft silt or just firmer mud bottom with plenty of weeds. 

 

Do you still crank into this? 

 

I always hear them mentioned with rocks. I have the same question about wobbleheads too. Don't get them snagged but not sure if it's a waste of time, cranking them through silt. 

you will need to learn to crank grass.it can be a little tricky but the good part is alot of people wont want to bother with it so the fish dont see it much.you want the crank to run just above the grass ticking a taller weed now and then and pop i off of them.

9 hours ago, MediumMouthBass said:

This really speaks to me, most of my lakes are pickerel infested or filled with tons of sunken trees so i always used really cheap house brand lures or soft plastics only, i got so tired of not catching fish when i knew i could. This year im throwing every lure i have and if i lose it oh well, the lures are worth nothing to me sitting in their packaging or not being used.

Sure you might lose a $6 crankbait in the rocks or wood, but you might gain a 6lb bass.

i used to fish witha guy who was always avoiding snags with his baits. he asked me how i was getting bites he wasnt. i said you have to throw the lure where the fish are.he said what if i get snagged. i said if your not gonna put it where the fish are you should have just left it in the store.

[Pat Brown]

I like squarebills when the water is dirty and there's stumps or rock on shallow flatter banks.  I also like fishing it above timber and wood and gently occasionally ticking the cover and letting it float up a bit then continuing the retrieve.  It will definitely get bit on those floating pauses but also when it bangs into stuff and even just as it's moving.  Main thing is cast it where you think they are.  

[thunderblack]

Fish square bills a lot and I actually never grind bottom or deflect them (or rarely do). I fish them shallow near docks or even just crank them in open water. Might not work on every lake but I have had 40 fish days doing it so I know it works. I like smaller cranks in the 1/4 -1/2 oz range and smaller profile. Also the flat sided ones work great in medium depths too. Fish them at different speeds and erratic with a couple twitches here and there and hold on  

[GetFishorDieTryin]

On 5/8/2024 at 5:31 PM, Huckfinn38 said:

Interest because im the total opposite. I want mine hitting the bottom and hunting. I dont want it plowing ditches lol but i like a lot of contact. In addition you develop a feel that helps you realize the structure is something ur going to get stuck on and at that time you stop reeling and let the bait float up so you can work ur way through it. This often draws a bite and doesn’t work every time either. If ur coming in contact with the bottom ur going to get hung.

I like to grind the bottom too, but 9 of 10 bodies of water around here are millponds which are soft bottomed.  As soon you clip the bottom the bait slimes up.  Working roots or stumps is the same principle, except the cover is just oriented differently.  

[papajoe222]

For those of you that have talked about fishing a square bill deep, can you mention what baits you get to run deeper than 6ft. Most of the ones on the shelves here are shallow runners.

[Mbirdsley]

On 5/8/2024 at 5:18 PM, GetFishorDieTryin said:

I hardly ever drag the bottom with SBs or cranks for that matter, the bottom of the lakes around here will just bog them down.  I do really well with them late winter/early spring fishing them in them in stump flats and lilly fields while the stems are still submergent.  If you fish them timid, they're more likely to snag, the more aggressive I fish them the less hangups I get.

The right SB makes a difference too.  Some seem to bounce through anything while others not so much.

yes this is my scenario also.  I fish almost exclusively natural lakes and grinding a crank off the bottom will get it fouled by vegetation. generally speaking i want my cranks just above the weeds. 

 

i just discovered the cranks with L shaped bill.  I have some shallow shad rap rapala’s currently but, always dis regarded the other brands.  i may pick up a couple of the 6th sense and strike king versions.  probably would work well where i fish.

[WRB]

I think this is a contradicting thread grind a square bill vs finishing a square bill through wood branches.

Any diving crank bait that dives deeper then the bottom can grinded on the bottom.

a square bill is designed to roll over branches something a rounded bill can’t do well.

Tom

[Columbia Craw]

I’m with Tom.  The nuance of a well designed square bill is its ability to roll over wood, twigs and branches. If you want to grind the bill off any bill type will work.  If there is nothing to create a deflection, make the bait do abrupt changed in speed, stops, angle changes with your rod and reel. Manufacture irregularity in the retrieve.