Crankbaits in cover 2025
Sharkicane reply :
I was wondering if y’all will throw a crank bait out when you don’t know what type of cover and/or structure you are dealing with? Where I fish there’s a mix of everything and some of its pretty thick stuff. so I’m always afraid to throw anything that’s not really weedless simply because I feel there are to many things to get hung up on.
Bluebasser86 reply :
Crankbaits come through cover great, especially squarebills, that's some of the best stuff to throw them in.
Sharkicane reply :
On 6/16/2018 at 2:38 PM, Bluebasser86 said:Crankbaits come through cover great, especially squarebills, that's some of the best stuff to throw them in.
Recommendations on a good crankbait or two? The water is gin clear and I’ve only ever caught them on soft plastics dragging it on the bottom. So I don’t know if a crankbait will even work but I’d like to give it a shot.
Bluebasser86 reply :
The Strike King KVD 1.5 is the popular choice for a lot of anglers. I've had good success with the Booyah Flex 2. Around wood I like the balsa baits a little more but those can get really pricey, I've got some upwards of $50 apiece, but they come through everything.
Sharkicane reply :
On 6/16/2018 at 2:44 PM, Bluebasser86 said:The Strike King KVD 1.5 is the popular choice for a lot of anglers. I've had good success with the Booyah Flex 2. Around wood I like the balsa baits a little more but those can get really pricey, I've got some upwards of $50 apiece, but they come through everything.
Awesome. I will give those a shot. I see they have a yellow perch color which is the bait I see the most where I go. So easy enough to match the hatch which is nice.
burrows reply :
Swapping out your hooks to short shank ewgs might help also, the slight inward bend of the hooks help not only to keep a fish pinned but it also helps to get threw cover without as many snags.
roadwarrior reply :
Strike King Red Eye Shad and the Norman Fat Boy are my suggestions.
deep reply :
I have found couple GREAT crankbaits for deeper (6 ft+) brush this season. The bomber fat free shad deep squarebill (they come in two sizes) and the timber tiger (DC-8 and DC-13). All four caught fish (the DC-8 has been the best of the bunch), and rarely get snagged. Now I can get cranks in where the fish don't usually see them and I'm pretty stoked about that.
BigAngus752 reply :
On 6/16/2018 at 2:38 PM, Bluebasser86 said:Crankbaits come through cover great, especially squarebills, that's some of the best stuff to throw them in.
I've tried some of this. Mostly lipless through hydrilla. Can you suggest the best "technique" for pulling them through? Fast and rip it through? Or slow and work it through? I get tired of pulling hydrilla off my hooks after every cast and I wonder if I'm going something wrong. Or perhaps the lipless is what is wrong although I've tried some squarebill also. Thanks.
Catt reply :
Echo 1.75 ????
http://www.rat-l-trap.com/videos.php
If y'all aint then one..huge mistake!
OkobojiEagle reply :
Let me be the contrarian... We need a better definition of what cover we're talking about. Rock, wood, brush, even sparse cabbage you can work a crank bait through. Thick coontail that's grown to the water's surface you're not going to get any treble hook adorned bait through. This cover calls for a single blade spinner bait or buzz bait worked over the top. Maybe a weedless frog (I don't throw these) or t-rigged worm/plastic swim bait. Even a curly tail grub or tube is going to have trouble coming through cleanly.
oe
probably my top technique through weedy cover is a weighted swim bait hook dressed with a caffeine shad skittered over the weeds and let to drop into weedless pockets.
Edited by OkobojiEaglebecause I'm old and I forget things...
scaleface reply :
I'll throw crankbaits around stumps and old standing timber/lay-downs . Brush piles , beaver houses and newly fallen trees I throw something else . I just snag to often and end up ruining the fishing spot . As far as vegetation goes , the stuff we have around here , no-way .
Bluebasser86 reply :
On 6/17/2018 at 12:54 AM, BigAngus752 said:I've tried some of this. Mostly lipless through hydrilla. Can you suggest the best "technique" for pulling them through? Fast and rip it through? Or slow and work it through? I get tired of pulling hydrilla off my hooks after every cast and I wonder if I'm going something wrong. Or perhaps the lipless is what is wrong although I've tried some squarebill also. Thanks.
Working over grass is one of my favorite ways to fish them, but the same technique works in wood and I like it because it's more of a feel technique like fishing a jig or worm. You crank it down to running depth or until you hit cover then slow way down and start feeling your way through, even using your rod to pull the bait along if you like. In grass, if you start to hang you give it a hard, upward snap and then a pull to feel if the bait is wobbling again before you continue the retrieve or snap it again. A lot of bites happen during the snap, or during the pull to check the bait.
In wood, you'll feel the bait coming to cover and you can either crank it fast and crash it through, or you can slowly creep it along and finesse it through. Just depends what the fish like that day. If it starts to hang, just stop reeling, the bait will back out of the cover a lot of times.
You can fish a lipless through grass, but you need to reel fast and really rip the bait free when it hangs. It's a great way to catch fish. Going to a little stouter rod, or braided line will make ripping the grass off the hooks easier.
ohboyitsrobby reply :
I use everything from squarebills to 5 xds around stumps, standing timber and brush piles. Do i lose more crankbaits than most people? Probably. But I also catch a lot of fish this way. Especially running a 3-5xd through deeper brush. Either ticking the top or running it in and letting it float back out( which doesn't always work).
riverbasser reply :
I've had several days where banging cranks off wood was the only way to get bit. Jigs and worms would come back untouched and then next cast same spot with a crank and they slam it
Todd2 reply :
On 6/18/2018 at 11:52 AM, riverbasser said:I've had several days where banging cranks off wood was the only way to get bit. Jigs and worms would come back untouched and then next cast same spot with a crank and they slam it
That happened to me Friday night. I was throwing plastics for a while and got nothing. Picked my crank and bounced it off a tree on the return and a solid 3lber swallowed it. I rode that pony as long as I could and had a decent night searching for stumps/standing timber to bounce off of. Still had to be close to a point or I'd get nothing.
Dangerfield reply :
I'll throw a crankbait just about anywhere, isn't that huge bill there for a reason? Cast and get hunting. Now I'm not throwing it directly into coontails if I can see them. But I'm also not afraid to get one hung up when I know there are fish in that spot.
The way I see it, the more deflecting a crank does the better, it is a reaction bait after all. I usually get hook ed up right as I turn the crank, on the fall or on the way upwards back to the boat.
Top choices - Spro Little John or a Duo Realis M60 series. I also have some DTs that are in rotation, just no hook ups yet.
scaleface reply :
On 6/18/2018 at 9:58 PM, Dangerfield said:I'll throw a crankbait just about anywhere, isn't that huge bill there for a reason?
Yeah , it gets the lure to dive .
Sharkicane reply :
On 6/16/2018 at 2:44 PM, Bluebasser86 said:The Strike King KVD 1.5 is the popular choice for a lot of anglers. I've had good success with the Booyah Flex 2. Around wood I like the balsa baits a little more but those can get really pricey, I've got some upwards of $50 apiece, but they come through everything.
If the water is gin clear does my retrieve need to be faster than normal? How do I match the proper speed with not getting hung up in cover in gin clear water?
Sharkicane reply :
I don’t even know if I should throw crank baits in gin clear water but I’d like to try lol
FishDewd reply :
I have 4 primary squarebills I'll throw: one is silent and mostly white with some yellow on the side. It's worked for murky water and I suspect it could work even better in clear water. It only dives about 4' deep. I have another one that is a Berkley that rattles which resembles a bluegill and dives maybe 5'. I have a green Rapala BX brat that will hit 6' and is also a silent lure. Then the one I rescued from the tree is silent and appears to only go about 3' down and it's a Cabela's mean eyes. So that pretty much covers all the depth of water I would want to run one in. When in doubt, start shallow and work further down. If you feel a snag, stop the retrieve and try to see if it float itself out of the way. If not, a few little pops will usually free it up. The squarebills seem to do pretty well for the most part, but I wouldn't try tossing it over logs intentionally though. Maybe parallel too though.
kcdinkerz reply :
Ive had great results throwing a wake bait crank over grass. And fishing a kvd 1.5 like a worm, just using the rod tip to move the bait then picking up slack. Grass is easy to get a crank out of but I still loose a few baits to trees since I fish from the bank.
scaleface reply :
On 6/19/2018 at 8:33 AM, kcdinkerz said:Grass is easy to get a crank out of but I still loose a few baits to trees since I fish from the bank.
Its sure not like that in local lakes . If I cast a crank in the grass its coming back encased in a big old glob of green stuff .I dont what this grass is called .There is no ripping it free like I read about .
Russ E reply :
On 6/19/2018 at 8:40 AM, scaleface said:Its sure not like that in local lakes . If I cast a crank in the grass its coming back with a big old glob of green stuff .I dont what this grass is called .There is no ripping it free like I read about .
Same around here. Crankbaits don't work on our weedy lakes.
FishDewd reply :
On 6/19/2018 at 8:33 AM, kcdinkerz said:Ive had great results throwing a wake bait crank over grass. And fishing a kvd 1.5 like a worm, just using the rod tip to move the bait then picking up slack. Grass is easy to get a crank out of but I still loose a few baits to trees since I fish from the bank.
Which ones? I like to lure hunt with my new retrieval tool. Hehe. If I'm ever in your area I can get them back... problem is, I claim them if I do! :P
papajoe222 reply :
Cranks are great 'search' baits for areas you're unfamiliar with. They can tell you everything from bottom composition to where the depth changes, not to mention what types of cover and how high the vegetation grows off the bottom. The hardest part of not getting hung up or snagged is learning when your crank is approaching cover or vegetation. With wood and rocks or boulders you'll feel the line dragging over it before the bait actually comes in contact with them and you can work the crank over them with a slow,steady lift of your rod tip and a short pause when it bumps the cover (hang on because that's when you'll likely get bit). Vegetation is a little different, especially if you encounter it before your crank reaches maximum diving depth. Learn to slow down your retrieve speed once the bait reaches running depth. (It's much easier to concentrate on what's happening at the end of your line when you're not burning the reel's handle) If you feel it start to load up, stop reeling and allow the bait to rise a little before continuing. Once you establish how far down the weeds are you can switch to a crank that runs shallower or adjust the running depth by raising your rod tip.
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