crankbait questions

[AM]

what is the best way to get a floating crankbait , deeper, and to suspend? I have seen these suspension dots at basspro. do they work? how about sotter or lead wrapped aroung the hook shanks? Tips or advice?

by the way I have trolled this board for the last 4 or 5 months and I am positive that this site is one of if not the best, most informative bass fishing sites on the net. Thanks and keep up the good work!

-Andy ;D

[lovecranking]

Bdomina - I don't think you want to mess with your crankbait by adding weight to it. Take a floating Rapala stick bait, they usually dive no more than 5'-7' and are designed to surface a particular way. If you mess around with twitching it (whether on surface or below), you'll get more strikes.

[Rebbasser]

Welcome to the forum!

You can add suspend dots and strips, but the easiest thing to do is get baits that are designed to sink/suspend.  A suspending jerkbait isn't any more expensive than a floating jerkbait.

[senko_77]

welcome

i know these guys are sayin not to because they dont want you to ruin crankbaits because they aint cheap, but, go to a sale bin, and buy some cheap crankbaits, and play around with them.  then when you find the right balanca, use it on the expensive crankbaits.

[FutureClassicChamp]

http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvarTextId=37409&hvarTarget=search&cmCat=SearchResults

you can also add what looks like a small dropshot weight to the front hook hanger. there is a picture of it in KVD's second book. i forget who makes it though.

[Guest whittler]

Outside weighting is one way to make a bait suspend. Inside weighting will require you to know how the bait is made inside for placement of the weights and rattles. A couple drill bits and some lead, steel or glass shot, epoxy putty and a bucket of water and your in business.  

Here are a couple pics a some bait autopsy to give you an idea of what might be inside.

[roadwarrior]

I'm with Rebbasser on this one: Buy the lures that are designed for specific depts.

For shallow crankbaits (0-2'): Norman Fat Boy, Bomber Square A.

2-4' : Bagley BII, Excalliber Fat Free Shad

Suspending (jerkbaits not cranks) 4-6': Rattlin' Rogues, Lucky Craft Pointers and Rapala Husky Jerks.

Deeper (6-10'): Lucky Craft Staysee, Lucky Craft LV300 & 500 or Rat-L-Traps.

Deep deep: DD22

[Chris]

To make it suspend you need to get yourself a bucket of water like what Whittler said and do some tinkering. You can use suspend dots, there is a tungsten putty that works great, or just plain old solder wrapped around the front treble hook all three can be removed and will not mess up your bait. Tinker with it until it suspends the way you want. If you stick the weight in the front it will add depth.

[Nick]

Some floating cranks like the DD22 dive about 15 feet on the retrieve just by reeling in a long cast. It's the length of the bill primarily that determines the depth the lure will run. Most cranks even with long bills don't run that deep.  

You can make the bait heavier externally or internally. Drilling holes can mess up your baits permanently however. The suspend dots (8-10) and strips can make a floating crank like the popular Wiggle Wart into a suspending one, but usually it's not worth the trouble to do it. Those dots will often peel off esp.  piled hig like a stack of pancakes. Golf tape has been used to wrap around hooks also to get a bait to suspend or sink.  The best use of suspend dots is to tweak a supposed suspending bait that wants to rise instead of suspend.  Here, just one or two dots at the most will make it into a better fish catcher in cold water below 50 degrees.

[Will]

I would suggest the Suspendots and strips, you can put them anywhere on the bait and they are easily removable. Sometimes the strips/dots will give the lure the extra action it needs to trigger more bites. Do some tinkering and you will discover what works best.

[Guest whittler]

The question was:

what is the best way to get a floating crankbait , deeper, and to suspend?

Wheter it is worth it or not is a personal call. To me I enjoy the building or modifing almost as much as the fishing, just cannot resist seeing what is inside.

Like rebasser and roadwarrior say, probably not cost effective.

If any of you wonder why a certain bait will run well on a cast and on the next cast it rolls over and dies, take a close look at the Renegade and you will see they use waste plastic for the rattles and it does not stay in the same place from cast to cast. The Mad N"s weights stay in the same plane giving you one less problem.

[AM]

thanks for all the sugestions I have been predominately a plastic fisherman as well as live bait and I have just started to get my crank bait collection stocked, and i was just experimenting thanks for all the tips. the autopsy was pretty cool. I always wanted to make my own cranks and i guess starting by seeing how they look on the inside would be a good start. would you use buckshot or bb's I probably will buck up and get the suspenders but untill then I like to see what works best for me. thanks again

[Guest whittler]

Do not be afraid to experiment and learn all you can about crankbaits. Knowing how a bait is made and what you can do to improve the action or make it respond the way you like will only improve your crankbait fishing.

As far as using lead or steel shot inside, try both and see what you like, not only the weight will be changed but also the sound. Use a little tape over the hole to seal the bait untill it does what you like then use epoxy to seal it permanently.

[AM]

I constantly loose cranks in cover any tips on better ways to retrieve through cover and or brands to use or just tips in general?

[Chris]

The first thing you need to do is look at how the cover is positioned. If it is a laydown or tree top look at which direction the branches are. You want the forks to point to you not away from you. Try to run your lure with the limbs. I find that with weeds and wood cover a wooden crankbait is a lot easier to get through the cover than a plastic bait. They both will work but you will have less problems with a wood bait. One trick I do sometimes it turn the line tie eye of the wooden bait and it will shoot under the dock and pop back around the pilings then shoot back under it. (If you feel like tinkering some) If your fishing standing timber a coffin bill works great for a reaction strike because the lip will glance off of the standing timber and shoot away from the trunk. This looks like a baitfish trying to get away. In most cases I use a square bill or a round bill bait for laydowns and rock banks. A square bill has a kick out point on it that helps prevent the bait from hanging. A wooden bait tends to back out of cover when you stop reeling that helps to get your bait unstuck. When I fish a bait down a log or through the tree tops I use a steady retrieve. By doing this I stay in contact with my lure and know when it is about to get stuck or come in contact with something. You will feel the line feel like its running across something when it gets close either let it ram it or stop and let it float up. When you get hung up on rocks I try to either try a bow and arrow technique or just run over to the other side of my lure and jerk it in the other direction. Most of my lures that I use in heavy cover are tuned perfectly straight. This prevents many hang-ups. I also use a triple grip hook on the front hook. I find that it helps prevent some hang-ups. Some people use a short shank front hook which does the same thing. Round body lures tend to hang less than a flat sided bait because the body of the lure helps shield the hook but if its tuned right and you hit the cover dead on a flat sided bait can get through the stuff too. If a flat sided bait turns sideways to go over cover it will hang. The drawback with a triple grip hook is if a bass makes a swipe at your lure that style hook will miss those kinds of strikes. A round bend hook does the trick for them.