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Hey Cranking guys... 2025


fishing user avatarStrikeKing75 reply : 

I'm a big crankbait guy and I feel like there is no bad time to throw a crank. I have won and "lost" tournaments by cranking as the only technique I used. I love the fact that I can fish shallow, deep, fast, slow, and everything in between. But I think I love them a little too much. I feel like I let some of my other techniques get rusty by cranking so much. So my question is, for you guys that love crankbaits as much as I do, when do you NOT throw them? Or in a tnmt when do you make the determination that the CB bite simply isn't on that day and switch to another presentation?


fishing user avatarRaul reply : 

Any time is cranking time, the catch is to find out which crank is going to work, I fish spinnerbaits, jigs and worms not when but where, there are places where you just can't fish a crank no matter how hard you try.


fishing user avatarA-Jay reply : 

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~

I'll admit that I really like to Chunk & Wind, so cranking is right up my alley.

But I also like to catch fish so when cranking isn't getting it done it's time to switch it up.

"When" to do this for me is mostly predicated on where I think the bass are at.  They may be too deep or buried up inside of heavy vegetation.

Perhaps the past & / or current water temps are such that something other than a horizontal presentation (think vertical) could get more or bigger bites.

Clearly cranking works.  But just as sure as nothing works all the time, so are the number of alterative methods.

Fun part is being successful in choosing the right one.

:smiley:

A-Jay


fishing user avatarkickerfish1 reply : 

During the spawn and in heavily weeded lakes.


fishing user avatarscaleface reply : 

I dont throw them in  beaver houses , cedar trees , coontail grass ... 


fishing user avatarMontanaro reply : 

Wow one of my go to patterns is cranking beaver huts!


fishing user avatarJeff H reply : 
  On 1/13/2017 at 4:59 AM, Montanaro said:

Wow one of my go to patterns is cranking beaver huts!

You have beaver's in every lake you fish?

  On 1/13/2017 at 4:13 AM, kickerfish1 said:

During the spawn and in heavily weeded lakes.

Lots of weeds everywhere I go.  Becomes a challenge sometimes...


fishing user avatarscaleface reply : 
  On 1/13/2017 at 4:59 AM, Montanaro said:

Wow one of my go to patterns is cranking beaver huts!

You're better at it than me . I'll snag up and ruin a good spot .


fishing user avatarHez reply : 
  On 1/13/2017 at 6:07 AM, scaleface said:

 I'll snag up and ruin a good spot .

 

Isn't that the worst?  I get so mad at myself when I mess around and do that - especially on the first cast somewhere!

 


fishing user avatarRoLo reply : 
  On 1/13/2017 at 4:08 AM, A-Jay said:

cranking is right up my alley <snippet>

 

Very, very few admit to that addiction   :D


fishing user avatarkickerfish1 reply : 
  On 1/13/2017 at 5:46 AM, Jeff H said:

You have beaver's in every lake you fish?

Lots of weeds everywhere I go.  Becomes a challenge sometimes...

Every lake here is heavily weedy and weedy in nearly inch of the lake. I can probably count the days where the weeds aren't an issue. By early April the jerkbait will come back with vegetation on it. We dont have many lakes that set up good for treble hook baits and if we do it is very limited time.


fishing user avatarblckshirt98 reply : 

Guy who works at the local tackle shop throws crankbaits a la Keith Combs 365 days a year, even when it's freezing cold, and catches them.  If cranking is fun for you, gets you out on the water, keeps you there, and catches you fish, no need to branch out too much.


fishing user avatarMontanaro reply : 

Yup every place i go has em.  Lost a 6+ off one last late spring.

 

And if you arent throwing where you can snag you arent bass fishing!  If you snag go get it and come back in 20 minutes.

 

One thing that really helped me was to start by casting out from the hut into deeper water.  A lot of times there are stickups out there not just right on the hut.  I basically start deep and move shallower until Im casting right against the hut. 

 

Going back to the 6 pounder...the water was super clear and as I move beside the hut I could see a large school of yellow perch mixed with bluegill and crappie.  They are amazing fish attractors.


fishing user avatargripnrip reply : 

Take time and read the pinned post at the top of the fishing tackle forum section.  "A rare insight to cranking"  You won't be disappointed.  


fishing user avatarA-Jay reply : 
  On 1/13/2017 at 6:27 AM, RoLo said:

 

Very, very few admit to that addiction   :D

 

 I so confused  ..  ..  ..

:confused50:

A-Jay

 

 


fishing user avatardrew4779 reply : 

I stop throwing them if it's too weedy and I'm constantly clearing the hooks (unless I'm catching them).  I hold off throwing them in super clear water, as other presentations seem to be more effective.  I tend to stay away from them the first week or so after ice out (this excludes jerk baits which are among the top cold water baits for me).


fishing user avatarBaitMonkey1984 reply : 

Love cranking, especially after making the switch from a spinning reel guy to BC a few years back now. You would be hard pressed not to find me without a crank bait tied on. That, a wacky rigged senko, and a texas rigged crazy legs chigger craw is always on the deck. I think the ned rig made a good case to be included in the must have tied on baits last year, let's see what happens this year.

 


fishing user avatarscaleface reply : 
  On 1/13/2017 at 7:28 AM, Montanaro said:

 

 

And if you arent throwing where you can snag you arent bass fishing!  If you snag go get it and come back in 20 minutes.

 

I fish every beaver house I find thoroughly  , just not with diving treble hooked lures .


fishing user avatarww2farmer reply : 

I throw crankbaits a lot, but I let the day's conditions and my "gut" determine if I use them or not.

 

Slick water, sunny skies, calm wind, post front etc...I am probably not cranking............BUT, I have caught enough on days like that with a crankbait to always keep it within reach, especially if it early or late in the day during a long stable stretch of weather.

 

A front rolling in, it's clouding up, wind is starting to blow....I will probably crank.

 

Then there are those days when you think it's perfect for cranking, but they want nothing to do with it. 

 


fishing user avatarPaul Roberts reply : 

I break presentations into two -vertical and horizontal. Which of these I choose has mostly to do with how far the fish will move. I think in terms of whether the fish will chase -how far they will move horizontally. Depth (proximity), and speed (trigger).

 

It's possible (and neat) to do both with almost any lure type, and cover a lot of conditions. But, certain lure types lend themselves to certain scenarios. Texas Rigs and punch rigs lend themselves to vertical, buzzbaits and crankbaits lend themselves to horizontal. One reason I like swim jigs so much is that they can do it all, although I do have to change weights as I figure things out. I also appreciate lipless cranks bc they can lend themselves well to both horizontal and vertical presentations, without having to tie a knot (or open a snap).

 

My first order of business is often finding out how much help the fish are going to be. Under good conditions I'll start out burning a lipless, or a buzzbait. I also start high the the water column; If the bass will meet me half way -Great! If they won't chase, I slow down (forward speed) when fishing horizontal any number of ways: by increasing stops, duration of pauses, decreasing plug buoyancy, to... going vertical. I like to fish horizontal, if the fish will allow it.


fishing user avatarFisher-O-men reply : 
  On 1/13/2017 at 6:07 AM, scaleface said:

I'll snag up and ruin a good spot .

Lay your snagged rod down and fish a worm or jig before retrieving your lure.


fishing user avatarscaleface reply : 
  On 1/14/2017 at 3:07 AM, Fisher-O-men said:

Lay your snagged rod down and fish a worm or jig before retrieving your lure.

I think I'll just throw the worm first .LOL


fishing user avatarBluebasser86 reply : 

I doubt I caught 50 bass on lipped cranks last year, just never got even a decent cranking bite. Fished a majority of my tournaments with no cranking rods out.


fishing user avatarcgolf reply : 

I usually start out crankin and when the bite either dies down or they aren't buying the crank I switch to soft plastics. Exceptions are the interior of thick reed beds, will toss cranks carefully inside sparse reed beds, once the weeds have taken hold plastics all the way and those cool flat sunup trips when the fish aren't quite awake yet. 

 

One thing that shocked me last year was the RES bite on our third cold front of the week. Bass were active and the musky and pike were jumping and were trying to eat our lures as we were lifting them out of the water. Not sure I will ever see the fish that active/out of their mind again. 


fishing user avatarFisher-O-men reply : 
  On 1/14/2017 at 7:19 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

I doubt I caught 50 bass on lipped cranks last year

Me either, or on anything else, for that matter.


fishing user avatarBlackhawk83 reply : 

I love fishing crank baits and always have at least one tied on.  I tend to use them as a search bait primarily but will put it down if I can not get them to run through the vegetation without fouling up.  If that is the case I just switch to Texas rigged 7" culprit worm, it is slower but very effective


fishing user avatarCTBassin860 reply : 

Cranking is where it all started for me.The dam I used to fish was full of crappie.I used to catch one after the other all day long on a small KVD sexy shad pattern.Then one day I was fishing the weed line and hooked up with my first LMB.I was shaking I was so excited.Now I'm a bass fishing junkie because of that.I still shake a hoot when I hook into a big one.Ponds and lakes seem to be full of weeds by fall and cranking becomes quite difficult.The major drought last year may have made it much worse than it should have been.




9431

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