Part 2

By: Scott Patton

When to use a certain lure and how to use it properly, this is a question that goes through every anglers mind. I am going to go through crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and plastics. I will discuss how and when to use these lures. This is the second part of a two part article, for those that missed the first part it can be seen at my web site, listed below. Remember that a lure is a tool that is used to catch fish and each lure will work at its best under a certain time of year and conditions.

CRANKBAITS: I fish crankbaits a lot in the spring these lures are great fish locators. I like to start out early in the spring with this lure, and fish it on chunk rock banks and I will usually want a creek channel or deeper water close by, I will fish this lure at a fairly slow speed and I want it bumping the bottom or the cover that is in the area, if there is grass in the area I will go to a rattle trap this lipless vibrating bait is at home in grass year round. It can be fished a lot easier in this situation and is a favorite of big bass. Even though in fishing this lure in grass or some type of weeds I still look for the deeper water close by this deeper water is what makes the better quality fish move into the area. I will also fish a crankbait in the back of the creeks this is a good place to catch fish a little later in the spring, right before the spawn and right after, I like small crankbaits and I fish them on 10 to 16 pound test team fish camo line, this camo line is a must in clear water.

A little trick that I have learned with crankbaits is i fish them when fish are on a good spinnerbait bite. Now when fish are eating a spinnerbait that means they are feeding on shad most or the time. So with everyone using spinnerbaits I will go to a shallow running crankbait, and fish it right in the middle of any cover. By doing this I will get bites that other anglers wont get because of the spinnerbait pressure fish aren’t seeing a crackbait, but I can put the crankbait in the same strike zone as others are doing with the spinnerbait. And by doing this the quality fish will eat my crankbait.

When ever I fish crankbait I use St Croix’s pro glass rod, I like the seven ft med action and I have been using it for over seven years, this is so omportant in hooking and landing fish. The glass rod is more forgiving than graphite and you won’t have the fish pull of when its barely hooked.

SPINNERBAITS: this is a very versatile lure it can be fished any where and anytime. I will use it to draw what I call a reflex bite most of the time. And by doing this I can fish it and get bit on it when the so called spinnerbait bite isn’t on. Now the way I do this is by fishing very fast all the way to the boat or I’ll fish it fast to the cover and when I get to the cover I will stop my retrieve and let the bait die (fall) six to twelve inches and that’s when the strike will occur. You can do this at different depths but it helps if you can see some part of the cover even if its just the shadow of the tree or what ever cover it is.

PLASTICS: I will flip plastics year round and in the spring its hard to beat a ZOOM tube or lizard, these are great big fish baits. I will flip bluff walls early in the year and as spawning season approaches I will move on to the flats and the back of creeks. I will also caroline I lizard in the spring on the spawning flats or in the channel in the back of a creek. I will use natural colors most of the time and I dye the tail of my lizards with a chartruse zoom dye marker.

One other thing is after the spawn I will flip a plastic crawfish I don’t know why it has to be plastic its like they don’t want a jig, maybe they have seen them all spring and the plastic is something they haven’t seen as much.

Goodfishing!

Scott Patton is sponsored by- Stratos boats,Yamaha outboards, St Croix fishing rods, Team fish Fishing Line, ZOOM, BlueGrass Lures,Rattle Trap, his website is www.scottpatton.net

Good fishing, Scott

Sponsors – Stratos Boats, Yamaha Outboards, St. Croix rods, Team Fish Fishing line, ZOOM, Bluegrass lures, Rattle Trap

See Scott's Web Site