Crank Baits
Personally this is my favourite type of bait to use. I love the fun of seeing a fish go after my bait by using a top water lure, but crank baits have proven to be the most successful for me, the average angler, and even tournament anglers.
Crank baits come in all shapes and sizes. There are lipless crank baits, one’s with lips, deep diving crank baits, and some with rattles. Let’s start off with telling you about the lipless crank baits. I would suggest you use these baits once you have a little bit of practice with the lipped crank baits. Below is a picture of what these baits look like.
Close up of a lipless crank bait
Variety of lipless crank baits
You can get these baits in all different sizes and colours, but for the most part they usually resemble a diamond shape. These baits are great to use if you wish to fish a variety of water depths. The great thing about these baits is that you can cast them out and start your retrieve right away if you want to fish them shallow or you can let them sink and fish them a little deeper. The one draw-back of these baits, when compared to a lipped crank bait, is that they do not offer as much action when they swim through the water. What do I mean by this? Well, action refers to the amount of motion that the bait creates as it swims through the water. In order to attract fish you usually want a bait that is going to move side to side a lot and make some noise. The vibrations from the bait will usually attract fish as they can sense its movements through the water. Vibrations can travel a lot further through water then they can on land so fish are very sensitive to this. This action makes the fish think “hey, this must be a small injured fish that will make an easy snack.” Another great thing about these baits is that you can cast them out, retrieve them fast, if you are fishing shallow water, and then retrieve them at a lower speed to allow them to sink a bit as you retrieve into deeper water. You can really cover a lot of water with these baits and locate where they are hiding.
Lipped crank baits are my bait of choice when entering a lake I have never fished before or if I want to cover a lot of water (fishing as much area as possible) and find where the fish are hiding. I can cast this bait our repeatedly and basically do my own scouting of the lake. What is this lip I am talking about? Well, a lip on a bait determines how deep the bait will dive. If you look at the picture below you will see two crank baits with lips. The lure with the larger lip is a deep diver while the one with the smaller lip will usually stay quite shallow.
Lipped Crank Baits
Lip Size Comparison
A deep diving crank bait can go up to 15’ in depth while the shallow one will usually go just beneath the surface, 2’-4’. A shallow diving lipped crank bait will usually stay on the surface when you cast it out. It will only start to go under the water once you start your retrieve. As you retrieve this bait you will feel its movement on your rod. This is its action. These baits will jump from side to side and for the most part many of them come with rattles inside that increase the amount of vibrations in the water and entice fish. I absolutely love to fish these baits. I will use the shallow diving crank bait as I fish a shore line or if there is a large amount of weeds. I will usually cast it out and retrieve it slowly so that it does not dive too deep and get all caught up in weeds. After all you want to be fishing not catching salad all day. These baits create a lot of action but by fishing it fast or slow you can change its action and movement. If fish are in an eating frenzy then you want to fish it quite fast as the fish will grab at it. If the fishing turns slow and the fish are being lazy then you want to present it as if it were an injured fish, an easy snack for a fish. I will use a deep diving crank bait if I know I am in deep water. Once you cast these baits out they are usually weighted so that they start to sink right away. The action on these baits in similar to the shallow diving crank baits but you will need to retrieve them at a regular speed so that they maintain their action and stay at the depth they are supposed to stay at.
Crank baits are probably the most versatile lure you can use. It is a good idea to have a variety of colours and different style crank baits in your tackle box. They are ideal for covering water especially if you arrive at a lake you have never fished before. The beauty of these baits is that by having a few of them in your tackle box you can catch a large variety of fish, from largemouth bass and smallmouth bass, to walleye, pike and even musky. If you are going thinking of getting into the sport of fishing or are just looking to add something to your collection of baits then go for the crank bait.
