Fishing with crankbaits can be one of the most effective ways to cover water and trigger bass into feeding. Once you unlock their potential, they’ll be part of your essential fishing tackle. But where do you begin? The hundreds of different brands, styles, colors, sizes, and features can overwhelm any angler. Diving depth, size, wide bill vs. narrow, wobble vs. wiggle, and understanding when each comes into play. I’ll break it down in this article so you’ll be ready to start confidently fishing with crankbaits. Trust me, they’re worth mastering.
For simplicity, let’s focus on five categories;
- Medium Diving
- Squarebill
- Lipless Crankbait
- Deep Diving
- Finesse Crankbaits
Fishing With Crankbaits: Squarebills
A square bill like a KVD SqareBill is built with a smaller bill designed to dive 0-5 ft. The bill of any crankbait determines the diving depth and how fast ( or slow) it can dive. Squarebills are often used during pre-spawn, summer, and fall when bass can be located in shallow water. Additionally, shallow crankbaits have a wide wobble action as they’re intended for aggressive fish.
Medium Diving Crankbaits
Medium diving crankbaits like the Rapala DT6 and the SPRO Rk Crawler 55 dive-depth are 5-10 ft and have a tighter wobble action. Anglers often target transitioning fish at these depths as they adjust from winter to spring. They also play a role in finding fish when you’re unsure where the fish are.
Lipless Crankbaits
Lipless Crankbaits like the Lucky Craft LV 500 are the most versatile as they can be fished at any depth. Anglers will allow the lure to sink, hit bottom, and then yo-yo it back, swim it straight, let it fall, twitch it, and allow it to fall. Either way, the lipless crankbait sinks, so the versatility is endless. They emit a loud rattle sound and produce a similarly enticing tight wiggle that works year-round.
Deep Diving Crankbaits
Deep diving ( or deep divers) like the Strike King 6xD have a running depth of 10+ ft. and target off-shore structures like ledges, rock piles, points, marinas, and drop-offs.
Finesse Crankbaits
Finesse Crankbaits like the Rapala Shad Rap are lighter, generally smaller, and impart less action, making them perfect for colder water when bass are lethargic and less likely to eat. Often these baits are thrown on fluorocarbon and spinning tackle. In other words, finesse cranks are used when the going gets tough.
Large Bills Vs. Small BillsÂ
Simply put, larger bills will dive deeper, and smaller bills dive shallower. And each has a time and a place when targeting bass throughout the year. The bill serves as a guard for your treble hooks, too. As the bill points down, it shields the hooks from snags while coming in contact with structures on the bottom like gravel, rocks, stumps, and submerged trees. As the crankbait hits objects in its path, it temporarily gets knocked off course and corrects itself. This action is called deflecting. This is the sweet spot for bass; an action that causes them to go off the rails and attack.
Fishing With Crankbaits: Selecting Colors
Crankbait colors range from bold colors like chartreuse to dark browns and natural colors like craw pattern and bluegill. I follow three rules: 1.) use colors that imitate natural forage 2.) use dark colors in poor water clarity and 3.) use lighter colors in good clarity. Also, know what bait fish are in your body of water. Use bluegill patterns if your bass are keyed in on bluegill patterns (picture below). But the predominant colors are bluegill, shad, chartreuse, and craw. It’s up to you to determine the mood of the bass.
Sound Vs. Silent
Crankbaits are often built with a weight and rattle system that provides noise while banging along the bottom. The noise levels depend on the time of year and the fish’s mood. For example, summer is a great time to throw a noisy crankbait while late winter and early spring are best with a less noisy (even silent) bait that doesn’t put the fish off. In many cases, bass are pressured by waves of anglers all using the same style baits – many of which make noise; Day in, day out, same patterns, movements, and sounds. It can sometimes benefit you to throw a silent crankbait and differentiate your lure from others.
Fishing With Crankbaits: Wobble Vs. Wiggle
Crankbait action generally can be divided into two categories – Wobble and wiggle. This all depends on the mood of the fish. A wide wobble action tends to activate bass that are more aggressive and willing to feed. In colder months, a tight wiggle action is preferable as bass are less likely to chase down fast-moving bait.
Let’s go a step further and break down each season;
Fishing With Crankbaits In Spring
It helps to understand how bass behave in spring. As the water warms, Bass begin transitioning toward spawning territory in shallow areas. They use migratory routes from offshore structures and will stop at other structures, main lake points, creek channels, laydowns, and boat docks. This is called staging before the spawn. Bass will stage until water temperatures exceed 60 degrees and move up-shallow looking for spawning territory. During the timeframe discussed, anglers will fish a crankbait with a wiggle action. The Rapala DT series is the best for targeting bass between early to late transitioning, as you won’t always know what depth to look for them.
The Bill Lewis Rat_L_Trap has forever been known as a power player in the lipless category. It gives anglers an edge when fishing early to mid-spring, especially in murky waters.
The Rapala DT- 8 and DT – 6 in demon color red are an unstoppable lure that triggers early spring bass into biting. The medium range of depth allows you to cover water and search for bass effectively, and the action produced is a silent, wiggle action that borders on wobbling. This halfway action and depth range is why DT-6 is so effective in picking up bass somewhere in the middle mood-wise.
Lipless Crankbaits like the Stike King Red Eye Shad in Chili Craw, have a truly tight wobble action and emit a rattling sound from within that triggers strikes.
How To Fish With Crankbaits In Spring
Whether on a boat or shoreline, you can target early spring bass. Areas to look for include rocky areas such as main lake points. Use Google Earth to locate these areas on your lake. A medium diving crankbait will cover the 5-10 ft depth range and target bass in transition. Determine what direction the wind is blowing. From a boat, cast into the wind. Bass will always face the wind because food and other nutrients travel toward them. Make sure you position your boat far enough away from your target so that you can effectively cast beyond and dive your crankbait to the optimal depth. That way the fish will hear your lure coming from a distance and give them time to hone in on it. Use red colors, especially in early spring. Bass see red colors vividly after long months offshore during a dark winter. Red also pops out in murky water.
How To Retreive A Crankbait
The standard retrieval consists of varying your speed, stopping, speeding up, etc. If you’re at the optimal depth, you’ll notice that your crankbait will make contact and bump around. This is the best thing you can do. You won’t need to vary your retrieve if you achieve good deflection. This action will trigger fish to chase and strike and it’s what crankbaits were designed for. However, reaching the bottom isn’t always possible. Sometimes we underestimate the depth or fish line that is too large (more on that later). When this happens and you’re retrieving in open water, vary your speed, pause, and twitch it. This will achieve a similar action to deflecting.
Fishing With Crankbaits In Summer
The Strike King 6XD is an example of a deep-diving crankbaits that reach 10ft or more. You’ll notice a big difference in resistance as you reel in a crankbait with a bill that size, but the lure dives faster than most other deep divers. It takes practice, but deep cranking is a technique mastered by tournament anglers and for a good reason – it catches big fish. Similarly, The 6th Sense Crush DD Series allows you to dive 10-20 ft. It has a perfect wobble action and deflects pretty well, too.
Bass will either go deep or stay shallow in summer. It’s pretty predictable. This all comes down to two categories of crankbaits: deep diving and squarebills, offshore and shallow. Fishing with crankbaits off-shore requires a deep-diving crankbait and positioning your boat in 10-15 feet of water. Like spring, find deep ledges, main lake points, creek channels, and deep rockpiles. Position your boat facing the wind, bomb a long cast across the target area, and speed reel to the optimal depth. As soon as you feel your bait deflecting on the bottom slow down and crawl it across the bottom.
Fishing With Crankbaits: Off-Shore Colors In Summer
The KVDÂ 5xD and 6xD in bold colors like chartreuse and sexy shad are effective when fishing offshore. Use chartreuse colors for poor clarity and when fish are active and aggressive. Natural colors work best in colder water situations or when bass are less active. But for temperatures above 70 degrees, the best colors pop out.
Fishing With Crankbaits Up-Shallow In Summer
Bass tend to be more aggressive in warmer waters. You can target them with a crankbait with a wide wobble like the KVD Sqarebill (pictured below) or Rapala BX Brat. These baits are designed for fishing in 2-5 ft of water and cause a commotion that catches attention. Bass will use shallow cover and structures like stumps, fallen trees, and small rocks as ambush points. Position your boat parallel with the bank and in 5-6 ft of water and cast at a 45-degree angle or less and slowly retrieve your lure back, deflecting off rocks, stumps, limbs, and gravel.
It is important to find a structure like this to achieve deflection. Remember to varry your retrieve and allow your bait to rise slowly to avoid snags. Locate rocky areas with fallen trees and stumps. Try to avoid grassy areas. Although there is a technique where anglers tick the top of grass lines and rip it free, it requires more practice.
Shallow Cover Crankbait Colors
The 6th sense Crush Crankbait has a natural color scheme that blows the competition away. From natural to bold chartreuse, it depends on the fish’s mood. But natural is always a good start like shad, bluegill, and craw colors. As fish are sitting in shallow water, visibility is better than it would be in 15 feet.
Fishing Crankbaits In Fall
Lipless Crankbaits like the Lucky Craft LV-500 Max can hold at lower depths of 15 ft, unlike the LV-500. You can burn this bait back to the boat or let it fall, and it’s perfect for loud sound and tight wiggle. These imitate baitfish perfectly as bass will transition up shallow and gorge on baitfish. Medium Diving crankbaits like the DT 4 and 6 will target bass in slightly deeper water, and squarebills are perfect for throwing up-shallow. Cover this range, and you’ll run into fish. But use lures that have notable features, like sound and vibration.
By doing so, they stand out among the schools of bait fish. Choose your lure color to match the water clarity, and look for active bass or baitfish. This may be indicated by topwater action, birds diving on fish, and big bait balls on your fish finder. Use more natural colors for clear and darker shades for poor visibility, and keep moving. Cover as much water as possible and move if you haven’t gotten a bite. Fishing with crank baits in the fall can be fun if you move around a lot and keep chucking and winding.
How To Fish Crankbaits In Winter
Winter can be the hardest time of year for anglers but the most rewarding. This is when water temperatures are 50’s and below and steadily dropping for much of the season. For many anglers, winter means time off the water. But the season produces enormous bites for anyone capable of launching a boat without plunging into ice.
Like offshore summer fishing, find areas with deep ledges, and rockpiles. Bass will typically reside in 15-20 ft but this is relative to your body of water. For some, 40 ft could be the deepest area where bass will be. For others, it could be 10 ft. Bass have a unique survival mechanism that allows them to slow their metabolisms down and eat less. They’ll sit complacently offshore on hard bottom and rise to areas like flats or ledges to feed. But this doesn’t mean you can’t catch them. In fact, you can catch the largest fish on your lake in winter.
Speed Cranking
Speed Cranking is an awesome technique that utilizes a deep-diving crankbait with muted colors and less action, and involves using a rod with a good parabolic bend, 12-15 lb monofilament, and a high-speed reel (more on gear selection later). Bomb a long cast beyond your intended structure. Reel as fast as possible while making frequent pauses in between. This creates an erratic action that ironically triggers large predator fish to chase and eat – even in the dead of winter.
Finesse Crankbaits in Winter
The Rapala Shad Rap is an outperforming lure (pictured below) that tournament anglers have relied on for years. This bait is a perfect shad imitation when water temperatures are in the 50s and below. It’s a fantastic presentation for early winter to catch early transition bass picking off shad offshore. Depending on where you are in the country, you can throw this bait on any time you hit cold snaps. However, it’s a true winter bait in my opinion.
This is the lure to pick up when nothing else appears to work. As bass begin transitioning to deeper water, you can target them with a Shad Rap along creek channel edges, drop-offs, and areas like wide flats and islands with immediate access to deeper water. Areas like this will provide bass comfort and security and thus they’ll be more likely to feed.
Rod And Reel Selection For Crankbaits
A good crankbait setup should consist of a rod with a good parabolic bend, preferably medium to medium heavy glass. This extra give in the rod will allow your treble hooks to sink deeper and keep the fish pinned without muscling them out. Lengthwise, 7′ -7’4 is a good range. You should be able to make long casts, especially in the wind.
Reel selection should be based mostly on gear ratio. A 6:2:1 – 7:1 speed should be used for slowly bringing your bait back to the boat, allowing adequate deflection. For winter speed cranking a faster reel is preferable such as an 8:2:1
Your line selection should be monofilament as you’ll keep more fish hooked. Braided lines are static meaning they don’t stretch. This will place too much power on your hookset.
Favorite All-Around CrankBait RodsÂ
- The St. Croix Mojo Bass Trigon Glass Casting RodÂ
- Â Shimano Zodius Casting RodÂ
- G Loomis IMXPro Bass Casting RodÂ
Best Casting ReelsÂ
Budget Crankbait Rods
Budget Casting ReelsÂ
In Summary:
Crankbaits are some of the best search baits you can use year-round. They tend to activate fish differently than other baits by interacting with their environment almost violently by knocking and deflecting off structures. They use sound and movement uniquely and have a wide range of versatility from lipless applications like jigging and allowing it to fall, to retrieving fast (burning it) back to the boat, and everything in between. Understanding the range of baits available, how to fish them, and when, will put you light-years ahead of other anglers.
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