Crankbaits - Great For Locating Big Bass!Crankbaits are great lures to tie on anytime of the year. I think first of crankbait fishing when I'm trying to locate fish. Whether on a new lake or just the ones close to home where you fish regularly, these baits will help you find fish. 
Crankbaits are one of the most commonly used lures for bass fishing. They come in all shapes and sizes and in an unbelievable spectrum of colors, but they all have a few things in common. The first thing you notice about crankbaits is the lip or bill on the front of each one. This is designed to plane through the water and get the lure down. The diving depth of the lure can be roughly determined by the size of the bill; the bigger and longer, the deeper it will dive. Another thing you will notice about crankbaits is that there are usually two big treble hooks hanging from the bottom that make it look like it will hang up on the first piece of wood or weed it encounters. While crankbaits often do get fouled in this kind of cover, the attitude or position that the lure travels in is bill first and head down, thereby protecting the hooks from snagging.SELECTING A CRANKBAIT A lot of anglers believe all there is to fishing a crankbait is tying one on, throwing it out and reeling it in! That may work on occasion, but consistently productive "crankbaiters" know there is much more to it than that. What is best about crankbaits is their versatility. They can be fished within a wide range of depths and in just about every type of bass habitat. Learning how to properly select and present a crankbait comes with experience, lots of time on the water, and just good old trial and error. Water Depth Several things can affect whether a bait runs at the proper depth. Effective crankbaiting requires your bait to make contact with underwater structure, ricochet off the bottom, kick up a mud trail, or tick the top of a grass line or some hydrilla. Simply put, the name of the game with crankbaits is contact! Most crankbaits are designed to run within a certain depth. Another factor is line diameter. Heavier/thicker line creates more water resistance thereby decreasing the achieved depth. Line diameter affects smaller baits more dramatically than larger ones. Many anglers mistakenly believe the faster they retrieve a crankbait the deeper it will run. Every crankbait has an optimum speed at which it performs best. You need to experiment with different retrieves to find the one which achieves the greatest depth without reducing the baits motion and performance. Size In the case of crankbait fishing, SIZE IS IMPORTANT! We've all heard the term "match the hatch." In the late spring and early summer use smaller crankbaits. At that time of the season a lot of newly hatched fry and other small forage abound. Logically, as the season moves towards fall and into winter gradually increase the size of your bait to keep pace with the naturally available forage which has grown and matured. Water Clarity Water clarity is another factor to consider. In muddy or off color water, I prefer fatter crankbaits with built in sound chambers since their side-to-side wobble displaces more water and creates more vibration and noise, thereby making them easier for a bass to locate. Clear water is just the opposite since bass tend to rely primarily on their sight to acquire food. Styles There are four basic styles of crankbaits available:
1. Lipless crankbaits - This bait is my first choice when bass are schooling. Bass will explode with a vengeance on a Rat-L-Trap or Cordell Spot.2. Shallow runners - Shallow-running crankbaits are mainly used in shallow water, but they can also become effective when bass are suspended over structure in deeper water. I usually find myself using crankbaits made of wood. Wood baits seem to produce a natural swimming action. 3. Medium runners - The best way to use crankbaits that dive to the medium depths is to bounce them off stumps, the bottom, or run them along the edges of shallow grass. Baits with narrow lips and thin sides have a tight, fast wiggle while baits with a broad lip will produce a wider, slower wiggle. 4. Deep divers - These are the sizes of baits I prefer to use to locate fish. These big-lipped baits should be run down to their maximum running depth, then slowed to a crawl. They do their best when fished over submerged trees or when you're dredging the bottom. Deep divers will also be productive for you around or on top of grass. Crankbaits can be effective just about anywhere there are bass; steep rocky banks and ledges, broad shallow flats, near grass beds, and over and around brush and stumps. All it takes is knowing the characteristics of your favorite crankbaits and selecting the bait that is most useful in each situation. If you're fishing deep structure, get a deep diving lure that will reach the bottom and strike the structure you think the fish are holding on. When you're fishing shallow cover select a medium or shallow running crankbait that will stay up where the bass are and can run through the cover, striking limbs and stumps along the way. If bass are schooling you can "tear 'em up" with lipless cranks. Those are the BASICS of crankbait fishing based on my experience. When you start catching bass on the crankbait you'll know how fun and effective these baits can be and you'll probably end up owning quite a few of them. Crankbaits can catch fish just about all year long and in a wide variety of situations, making them one of the most versatile lures in the box. Tie one on and give it a try!
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