Lipless Cranks

[clayton86]

How well do lipless cranks work in the summer. I usual reserve them for colder weather but the lake I'm fish has some deep humps and I don't have cranks that dive more then 8ft and some these humps are 15-30ft down. So I'm thinking whip the lipless out let it sink till it hits bottom and yo yo it up over the humps and points. And I say yo yo because its kind of the only retrieve I do its always worked well in the past.

[Bass_Fanatic]

Lipless cranks are probably the most versitale crank out there and one of the most versitale baits period. They can be fished slow or burned, deep or shallow, yo yo or straight retrieve. A great summer pattern here in LA is to throw out a lipless, let it sink on a semi tight line and when you feel it hit the weeds, rip it up and do it again. This can be done in water as deep as 25ft around here and it seems to almost always produce.

[clayton86]

Thanks this lake I'm gonna be fishing is weedy and rocky I'm also thinking throwing it upon a ledge and draging it off letting it flutter down on semi slack line

[yfz 450]

lip less cranks are great in the summer. look for patches of grass. the greatest thing is you can fish them at different depths. Let it sink untill you just feel the top of the grass when your reeling it and keep it at that height. when you get a little hung up just rip it through. it would be a good idea to use a heavey braid for this. but when ripping it through will cause reaction bites and generaly big fish give reaction bites most of the time

[Goose52]

Agree with the above comments. My surface water temps have been as high as 88-90 degrees and I'm still catchin' on lipless cranks (my favorite hard bait).

[RoLo]

Without a doubt, the lipless crankbait is a “year-round” lure, but they're at their best during Spring and Fall.

They hit their stride during the pre-spawn through the post-spawn, which in central Florida spans from February thru June.

They tend to fall out of favor during July and August, but come back with a vengeance from September through November.

The lipless crank is my favorite plug, which is not a new phenomenon but started with the Heddon Sonic in the late 50s,

ending up with the Spro Aruku Shad.

Roger

[bandsr4me20]

I catch fish on them from spring to fall. I duck hunt so dont do much fishing in the winter but I know they work then. I had two threes within about ten casts just the other day with water temps in the 90s. They are a great bait to use anytime.

[Matt B]

Lipless cranks seem to be my arch nemesis. For as much as everyone loves them, I've never caught a fish on one. I realize that I'm probably not fishing it correctly or in the right places or something, but it makes it tough to tie one on.

I think I just need to take the "Learn to fish jigs" approach. Go out for a day and don't bring anything but a box of lipless cranks.

I know you're supposed to be ticking the weeds with these things, but how do you deal with the hooks getting clogged with gunk? Seems like whenever I do this I end up with long strands of weeds caught on the hook which completely stops the action of the bait. No more wiggling or rattling. Is there a technique to ripping these out of the weeds without bringing half the weedbed with it?

[ChiCityBasser]

My catches on Lipless have been limited as well so much so that I haven't tied one on this year. I have plenty but due to my lack of success I don't put in the time on the water with them like I have done with billed crankbaits or spinnerbaits. I have to put the time in like I have done learning to fish a weightless worm and build my confidence in lipless cranks as well.

[Primus]

I catch fish on them from spring to fall. I duck hunt so dont do much fishing in the winter but I know they work then. I had two threes within about ten casts just the other day with water temps in the 90s. They are a great bait to use anytime.

At the opposite side of the spectrum I've caught bass on them when the water temp was in the low 40's, best coldwater crank there is in my opinion.

[clayton86]

Lipless cranks seem to be my arch nemesis. For as much as everyone loves them, I've never caught a fish on one. I realize that I'm probably not fishing it correctly or in the right places or something, but it makes it tough to tie one on.

I think I just need to take the "Learn to fish jigs" approach. Go out for a day and don't bring anything but a box of lipless cranks.

I know you're supposed to be ticking the weeds with these things, but how do you deal with the hooks getting clogged with gunk? Seems like whenever I do this I end up with long strands of weeds caught on the hook which completely stops the action of the bait. No more wiggling or rattling. Is there a technique to ripping these out of the weeds without bringing half the weedbed with it?

I'm the oppisite billed cranks are mine iv cought 2 bass on them as opposed to hundreds of smallies in the spring in craw colored lipless over the years.

[Aluma-Bass]

Love the redeye

[Bigbarge50]

Clayton I think that is a great idea. When I lived in NY, I used that technique a lot. The water I was fishing was very clear, so once the sun got up over the trees, those deep humps were the places to go. I used two different techniques. I would go with a long cast well past the hump and kind of bounce it along the bottom like you would a jig, but with less pause and bigger hops. I also would cast to the hump, making sure to let out some extra line so it sank straight and not back towards me. I would let it fall and settle, pause, then rip it up hard on a short jerk, then fall and pause again.

Both ideas did rather well. Needless to say, I did hang up some.... on rocks not weeds (cause there wasn't any). The first technique I found fish typically followed the lure, sometimes for some distance, then strike. The second technique.... the initial fall or two drew the strike.

I always used a silver rattle trap doing this, or an old berkley version that had a soft tail.

How are the water temps up there...... little too hot for much of anything down in VA

[clayton86]

The water temps were low 80s on saterday but its been raining the last 3 days so it shoulda cooled off some. Chromes my favorite rat l trap color for bright clear days but I tend to catch way way more pike then anything else.

[J Francho]

Traps catch all year. I like them in real deep situations.

[clayton86]

Like in lake alice where we went I'm thinking lipless and heavy jigs for that tournament Sunday the whole thing is sketchy the guy running it is also fishing it and the launch time is 5am but he said launch anytime only fish caught between 5 and 1 count. All the more reason for me to win this even though I think its rigged

[J Francho]

I fish plenty of T's where the people running it fish as well. Just come in with 15 lbs. or more, and you got it. That's a three pound per fish average. You can do it on that water.

[clayton86]

Ill try during practice I only boated 7lbs maybe they were all in the 1.5 range b7t I didn't fish deep with cranks billed or lipless so hopefuly the ledges and humps hold the big fish

[hatrix]

Lipless cranks seem to be my arch nemesis. For as much as everyone loves them, I've never caught a fish on one. I realize that I'm probably not fishing it correctly or in the right places or something, but it makes it tough to tie one on.

I think I just need to take the "Learn to fish jigs" approach. Go out for a day and don't bring anything but a box of lipless cranks.

I know you're supposed to be ticking the weeds with these things, but how do you deal with the hooks getting clogged with gunk? Seems like whenever I do this I end up with long strands of weeds caught on the hook which completely stops the action of the bait. No more wiggling or rattling. Is there a technique to ripping these out of the weeds without bringing half the weedbed with it?

I can't always get them but clean but usually I do. As soon as I hit the weeds I rip it and reel in fast so it doesn't fall back in the weeds. Then if i'm reeling and I can feel weeds still on it I give it a little slack then rip it to the side and it usually comes clean you might have to do it more then once though. I think giving it some slack helps cause then the weeds are not pinned down on the hooks from you reeling in.

[Matt B]

Just as an update, I spent some time fishing a lipless crank yesterday. This was on a lake that I'd never been on and the wind was blowing enough to keep me from fishing anything slow. I kept the boat in around 15 feet of water and cast to a rocky shoreline with some weed beds here and there. I used a craw colored crank, hoping to pick up some smallies. Didn't seen any smallmouth, but I did land three small (14") walleye, though. This was in the mid-day heat, so maybe the bass were off in deeper waters.

Not what I was expecting, but hey, at least I got rid of the no-fish curse on these things. and the walleye were big enough to get some small fillets from. Later on I was fishing a weedy flat next to some deep water and hooked a bass. It jumped and spit the hook, but judging how lightly colored it was, I'm pretty sure it was a largemouth, guessing in the 14 or 15" size or so.

hatrix: I didn't see your post until just now, but I think I sort of figured out your technique for clearing weeds on my own yesterday by experimenting. First yank of the rod would usually pull weeds, then giving slack and a second jerk would often get the crank wobbling again.

I look forward to giving these some more time on the water. I've got black/chrome and blue/chrome versions in the box to try when I get a chance. Do certain colors work better in certain situations?

[stkbassn]

I fish in a lake with very little in the way of weeds but has lots of docks, laydowns, brush , and rocks...... Will lipless cranks do well around all of these and on points? Is it necessary for it to come into contact with anything or can you just reel, stop, jerk, ...... Or what's the best for open water situations?

[Catt]

I fish in a lake with very little in the way of weeds but has lots of docks, laydowns, brush , and rocks...... Will lipless cranks do well around all of these and on points? Is it necessary for it to come into contact with anything or can you just reel, stop, jerk, ...... Or what's the best for open water situations?

While many anglers prefer to “rip” lipless cranks over grass I prefer to throw them around brush, lay downs, & standing timber. While it is not necessary to come in contact with something ricocheting a lipless crank of “wood” will tremendously increase you odds of getting a bite.

In open water situations you will most likely be targeting suspended schooling bass and in these situations I use a variety of retrieves.

Stop-n-go is one retrieve; kneel-n-reel is another & yo-yoing is another

[Diggy]

I bought red eyed shads based on what I saw on forums and vids. Ive used it the past 2 days and had the opportunity of catching 3 fish. I lost 2 way out in the lake since now I have a baitcaster and can actually cast past 10 ft I have now learned that the middle of the lake is shallow, weed city

Im a soft plastic guy and this seems to be good money. I bought another color yesterday.

[stkbassn]

I tend to use square bill cranks around hard cover. They won't snag as much and will deflect off cover when they come into contact with hard structure. I like lipless cranks in open water and around weeds.

I'm just getting into squarebills so I'll start trying it some. I'd like to throw lipless cranks as well but have no confidence in it yet of course. I try it a little here and there but I figure if it's tearing up through the water column and rattling like crazy and still not getting bit.....I need to try something else. Maybe I don't give it enough time. I will from here on though, I have too many to let them just sit in a box!

[stkbassn]

While many anglers prefer to “rip” lipless cranks over grass I prefer to throw them around brush, lay downs, & standing timber. While it is not necessary to come in contact with something ricocheting a lipless crank of “wood” will tremendously increase you odds of getting a bite.

In open water situations you will most likely be targeting suspended schooling bass and in these situations I use a variety of retrieves.

Stop-n-go is one retrieve; kneel-n-reel is another & yo-yoing is another

I'll try all of those! Thanks! Might pick up a rod for this....any recommendations? I saw an All Star AST rod made for this application on sale at FFO......might get it for $60 bucks....can't go wrong I suppose...