It’s Fall

Crankbait Time Is Here Again

By Margie Anderson

When water temperatures start to go down and lake levels begin to rise, crankbait time is here again.  Fish start moving up and getting a lot more active, and one of the best ways to find them is to start cranking around the same places you found them during the summer, but shallower. 

Long points that have good drop-offs to deeper water are prime early fall areas. 
Fishing crankbaits is easy, but still requires some effort and attention.  You have to learn to feel a crankbait while you’re fishing it.  A lot of times the fish just barely tick it.
 
Some people like fiberglass rods for crankbaits because they have a lot of give to them, but others prefer a graphite rod so they get a better feel for the bites.   

Throwing a silver or gold and black Fat Rap in front of the boat and reeling it in at a 45-degree angle from the bank is a killer technique at Roosevelt, and it always pays to bang your crankbait into things like stumps and rocks — bass often hit just when the lure deflects off these obstacles. 

Best Bet For Getting Deep

If you’re not getting snagged now and then, you’re probably not getting bit much, either.

When you’re reading the box on a lure, depth claims should be taken with a grain of salt.  In order to get a plug to maximum depth, you've got to make a tremendously long cast and even then, it won't reach its maximum depth until it is two-thirds of the way back to you.

 Line diameter is a major factor in crankbait depth, but braided line is still not a good choice.  The lack of stretch in braided line makes it far too easy for an angler to rip the lure right out of a bass' mouth before he has a chance to really take it.

Your best bet for getting a crankbait really deep is to use a long (7-foot) fiberglass rod spooled with 10-pound-test mono.  Make as long a cast as you can, put the rod tip down, and crank at medium speed. 

Fast reeling will not get the lure to its maximum depth.  If you want to crank an underwater hump that's 15 or so feet deep, stay back about 30 feet, make a 100-foot cast, and reel the lure down.  It should reach its deepest point right about where the hump is. 

Keep your rod tip down, but don't point it right at the lure.  Keep it off to the side, and when you get bit, just keep reeling to set the hook.

Lipless crankbaits like Rat-L-Traps and Cordell Spots are easier to fish deep.  Just let them sink to where you want them and move them slowly along. 

These two lures have different rattling sounds, so keep both in your tackle box.  There have been times when fishermen will swear that Spots are filling the boat while Traps aren't getting bit, and vice-versa. 

Success Story
If you are fishing really deep, or the water is stained, or the sky is dark, try using one of the crawdad or fire tiger colored lipless lures.  We were at Apache with Dan Westfall one time when we happened upon a man in a little aluminum boat.  Westfall is one of those guys who talks to everyone he comes across, and it paid off that day.

This man told us that he had been fishing Saguaro, Canyon, and Apache for several weeks, and that he was just killing 'em by slow-rolling a fire tiger Rat-L-Trap in 20 to 25 feet of water.  He was just cruising the shorelines and making sure his lure contacted the bottom every time he passed over a point. 

He had lost quite a few lures, he said, but it was worth it because he caught impressive numbers of fish every day, even when others were getting skunked.

 A big wobbling deep-diving crankbait fished over the flats can be a real producer, too.  At Apache, Jerry Loughran throws big orange Wiggle Warts on the flats for giant smallmouth, and Dan Marzano works the flats at Roosevelt with a white Poe's 400 for similar results. 

When fish are up on the flats, they are usually there for just one reason — to eat.  Take advantage of it and feed them a crankbait.  The deep-diving lures will crash against the rocks and make a racket that will draw the fish for long distances.

Another flats technique that has produced for me is to burn a small Rat-L-Trap.  If you want a limit of unders in a hurry, throw a small silver Trap right up on shore, then crank it back as fast as you can reel. 

I've done this at Roosevelt and Pleasant, and it gets the fish almost every time.  Every now and then a big one will hit it, too. 

All Day Long

In general, wooden lures have a wider wobble and plastic lures have a tighter wobble.  The colder the water, the wider you want the wobble.  You can make a wooden lure rattle by drilling a small hole, inserting a glass rattle, then sealing and painting the hole.

Bass that are heavily pressured or really spooky can often be caught by burning a deep-diving crankbait through them.  They don't have time to make up their mind about it — they either slam it or let it get away.

If the fish really have lockjaw, you can fish a tiny lure like a Rebel Critter on light line with a spinning rod. A tiny slip-sinker on the line will get the lure down deeper and make it easier to cast.

In the fall, you can often fish a deep-diving crankbait all day long.  Fish move up early to feed shallow, then move out deeper as the day goes on. 

If you are catching fish at a certain depth, follow the contours around at that depth and keep catching them.  If the bite turns off, move out deeper or shallower and look for the fish.  They're still around; they've just moved to a different depth.