"It's
never too late to try Crankbaits."
Author - John E. Brady, Hanover PA-USA
Copyright 2001
e-mail - jeb@jebswebsite.com
If you've never fished with crankbaits before, but have always wanted to give it a try, it's never too late to start. As the popular saying goes in the fishing circles - just "tie one on!"
A crankbait is a plastic hard body bait typically recognized by it's characteristic "lip" and it can be one of the easiest artificial baits to learn to use. It can also be one of the most frustrating without knowing what makes the bait perform properly in various situations. There is a wide variety of crankbaits on the market with designs to be used for any situation needed from performing a frantic action on the surface to diving and probing depths below 20 feet.
To get started, you need to know a few basics about the crankbait that will help you understand what makes it perform.
First, as I mentioned earlier, a crankbait is recognized by the "lip" which is the front piece of the bait that extends out from the body. Crankbaits come with a variety of lip sizes and the size determines the depth that the bait will dive or "run" when retrieved. The smaller the lip, the shallower the bait will dive; the larger the lip, the deeper it will dive.
Typically, top water baits do not have lips, but are designed with cupped or rounded fronts or faces to allow them to create a disturbance on the surface. For diving crankbaits, the smallest lip will allow the bait to dive to within 1 to 2 feet, the largest lip can dive to over 20 feet with a wide variety of diving depths in between.
There are also diving "lipless" crankbaits that can be used for fishing almost any depth with the depth controlled by the speed of the retrieve. These baits do not actually have lips peruse, but have them incorporated into the body style.
The lip as well as the body style of a bait also will determine the attitude, action or "wiggle" of the bait as it moves through the water. A narrow body bait and or lip will have a tight wiggle, while a wide body bait or lip will have a wide rolling wiggle with variations in between.
Other variables that can affect the diving depth of a lure is line diameter or thickness, rod tip position while retrieving, and rod length. The thinner the line, the less water resistance it has therefore allowing the bait to dive deeper. Although difference in line diameters may seem trivial, the difference between using 8 pound line instead of 12 pound line can be substantial when trying to fish very deep water.
To get the most out of a crankbait, keep your rod tip as low to the water as possible. Hence the need for as long a rod as possible. Holding the rod tip high creates drag on the crankbait hindering it from diving to it's maximum depth.
The resurgence in popularity of crankbaits in the last decade, sparked a boom of creativity in crankbait designs and features. Besides those mentioned earlier, new designs have created baits that are less buoyant allowing them to suspend in place when a retrieve is halted, or slowly fall or rise, instead of the rapid rise to the surface or sink to the bottom like older crankbaits.
Another popular addition to most crankbaits is internal weights and rattle chambers, and very elegant colors and finishes. The internal weights allow baits to dive deeper than ever before. Rattles are a must when fishing murky or stained water, and the improvement in finishes is a plus for clear water fisherman.
Another innovation for improving the effectiveness of crankbaits popular among hard-core "Crankers" is a system developed by one of the top crankbait manufacturers that consists of a set of weighted dots and strips that can be applied to the baits that will change the original depth or action; and can be removed without causing damage to the lure.
Once you get the basics down, crankbait fishing can be easy, enjoyable and one of the most successful ways of consistently catching fish in highly pressured fishing areas.
Remember... "they call it fishing, but the goal is catching."