Northwest Fishing Reports

I recently found a crankbait at a lake I know of. I have never really fished cranks, I have always been more of a plastics and spinners guy. I just wanted to ask what some general tips are for fishing them. The crank is a rattling shallow runner, if I don't run it fast, it bulges the top of the water. Should I cast far past my target, then reel it past the target as not to spook the bass? Most lakes I fish don't have many rocky piles, are there any other good locations to throw them? Thanks in advance. With the dropshot, and now this crank, I'm starting to feel that I can't catch fish with anything but plastics.

For the most part if you aren't making contact with something (like the bottome) then you are wasting time. Unless its a shallow diver they are good for skimming the surface or running over tall weeds in mid to late season. Bassmaster just had a great read about "wake baits". If its a super shallow swimmer hold your rod tip high and swim it back leaving a V wake in the water. If it dives a foot or so try to tick them on the top of tall grass. If you see or feel it getting hung up just stop and let it float then start again.

I like to cast to or just past my target and let it "die" (until the ripples go away) then give it a few cranks and pause, twitch, twitch and then crank (repeat). I LOVE CRANKBAITS!!!! You will most likely get "hit" on the pause, when the lure is slowly floating back up, that's when the "twitch, twitch" part REALLY drives them crazy....they can't help themselves.

bassackwards wrote:I like to cast to or just past my target and let it "die" (until the ripples go away) then give it a few cranks and pause, twitch, twitch and then crank (repeat). I LOVE CRANKBAITS!!!! You will most likely get "hit" on the pause, when the lure is slowly floating back up, that's when the "twitch, twitch" part REALLY drives them crazy....they can't help themselves.

Like EBM can't help but tease me about my new font?

iPodrodder wrote:

bassackwards wrote:I like to cast to or just past my target and let it "die" (until the ripples go away) then give it a few cranks and pause, twitch, twitch and then crank (repeat). I LOVE CRANKBAITS!!!! You will most likely get "hit" on the pause, when the lure is slowly floating back up, that's when the "twitch, twitch" part REALLY drives them crazy....they can't help themselves.

Like EBM can't help but tease me about my new font?

Like pickin the low fruit....too easy. I'm not gonna pile on a man when he's down. I hope your "violet probation" is over soon. We're all here for you man!!

You're gonna have to watch Nascar on continuous loop for two days straight to get back to "par"...LOL

iPodrodder wrote:... I'm starting to feel that I can't catch fish with anything but plastics.

i use to think the same way

:king:

you have to learn to move out of your comfort zone, and be willing to try new things, even if it doesnt produce. i went out of my way to put down my plastics this year, and honestly i dont think i will pick them up anymore.

Cranks are by far my favorite lure to run. I like to work fast, probably not a great habit, but sometimes I can't stand fishing plastics.

I love shad raps on rock piles for smallies..

Crankbaits are like bread and butter. They are one of the most versatile baits out there. You can dredge the bottom with them to imitate a scurrying crawdad. You can tick the tops of weed beds. Play the dead and dying baitfish. Or my favorite "Crash and Burn!" Reel a crank into a stump, let it hesitate a second after impact, and then burn it into the next obstacle.

I use Rat-L-Traps the most because I spend a fair amount of time in river work as well as a few select lakes. With it you can control your depth better and work it near the surface or bumping and thumping the bottom. They are amazingly snag resistant around rocks and wood. In weed tops they tearout nicely.

My other faves are Rapala's DT series and old fashioned Bagley's. Cast beyond the target to allow the lure enough running time to achieve the desired depth before getting in the bass' strike zone. I love crankin'.

i am aslo new to crankbaits, i have a couple "bleeding" cranks and regular wiggle warts but i still have not caught anything on them. i have a friend that loves cranks and uses them on a regular basis but i have never seen him catch anything on them, which is weird but i have heard that if you bounce them off of stuff you can get some great reaction strikes but other than that i am clueless

See now I have the exact opposite opinion. I have had terrible luck with plastics (wacky rigged worms on a drop-shot rig excluded) but seem to have excellent luck with cranks.

Perch print along the side of weed edges down deep.

White in clear water

Shallow perch print over the top of weed beds that I cant use the deeper ones on

The lure you describe is essentially the same as the one I was using when I picked up my last 15" crappie in 12' of water that had 6-10' tall weed beds

E

I am a crankbait fiesherman all the way. It depends on the contitions bu t during the fall season for largemouth, I will reel the crank down to its maximum depth then just barely reel it slowly back in, and it has been very productive. For smallies, I will reel down till i bump the rocks then stop and let it float up about a foot to give it that stunned baitfish look. Bouncing these baits through rip rap works great too.

IT'S all about the reaction strike. :compress:

See...crankbaits work

:thumright

iPodrodder wrote:Like EBM can't help but tease me about my new font?

I only teased you the first day. I have been good! LOL I'm fighting my urges to be a wiseguy!LOL Do you need a tissue?

EdmondsBassMan wrote:

iPodrodder wrote:Like EBM can't help but tease me about my new font?

I only teased you the first day. I have been good! LOL I'm fighting my urges to be a wiseguy!LOL Do you need a tissue?

I DO need a tissue....

I got another crankbait from the people I fished with on Beaver Lake. I think it is perch print (?), same function, just smaller and newer.

:safe: out.

:safe: You are a great guy! You take the jabs like a champ! Are you posting in that color all winter?

EdmondsBassMan wrote::safe: You are a great guy! You take the jabs like a champ! Are you posting in that color all winter?

Maybe. It gets out my cabin fever (well, bass cabin fever). I'm going to do it until some guy on a lake snags me with a pink rooster tail and says, "Sorry Mr. :safe: ". Then I'll go on a huge rant in the most obnoxious font I can find then be back to normal.

:safe: out.

Hey, stay on the thread :safe: !!! No pink rooster tails here. Talk about those pink crankbaits. This is a bassin' forum!