Cranking crankbaits. Best method?

When throwing crankbaits, what are. The most productive patterns. Slow steady retrieve, burning it back, stop and go, 4 cranks and 15" pause? What advice do you tell kids on bass fishing teams or young people just getting started? How long do you fish a spot or method before trying a new method, bait, color, or spot? I learned a valuable lesson Tuesday crappie fishing with a road runner. Spent ALL day using a steady retrieve and only caught 4 fish. Started s l o w l y cranking the real. Barely even enough to get the grub tail or blade to turn, then caught 18 in an hour? Thoughts?!

Think about what a crank bait is imitating. A crawfish schooting along the lake bottom. I've been lucky enough to scuba dive in a lot of lakes. I would swim with my face just above the mud bottom on this lake where I use to work as a life guard. I would often see a poof of smoke (mud really but it looks like smoke to me). Then I figured out that what I was seeing was the mud kicked up from a fleeing crawfish. Some were bigger and some were smaller but they all behaved in the same manner. They would flip their tail and propel themselves away from me. Visibility was limited to just a few feet which is why I could not see the crawfish at first. But I started to follow them and watch them swim backwards away.

A crawfish will flip it's tail two to three times and propel itself out of the way. They they will rest for a second and if you follow them they will flip their tail and swim away again. They eventually will get tired and then turn around with their claws facing you and try to defend themselves.

One of the Large mouth basses favorite food is a crawfish.

So make your crank baits act like a crawfish. I will cast out and then pump the bait three times in a row and then let it rest. Repeat this in a quick manner in warmer water and slow it down in colder water. Let the crank bait bump into stumps and deflect off the stump. LM bass tend to hand around the stump's root system when the stump is right on the edge of a creek channel. The biggest bass will often occupy such a stump. If the creek channel is making a bend and the stump in on the ledge and on the outside edge of the creek channel you will find a bass there most times. Now the bass dont' feed all day long and at times they will seek deeper water and be down on the bottom or out over the deepest water suspended. But when the bass are active and feeding (early morning and evening) then the crank bait is one of my favorite baits to use. I grew up fishing KY lake with crank baits. That was all we used. This was back in the 1950's and 1960's and Bomber was the best crank bait made back them. I still use Bomber crank baits today and they still catch lots of bass and crappie when used right. Crappie like it slow and steady.

My best suggestion to new fishermen is to try different retrieves and let the fish tell you what they want. I found my favorite retrieve this way. Plus I figured out that the bass were feeding on crayfish and how the crawfish moved.

Now I try to make sure that when I'm trolling crank baits I get them just deep enough to touch the bottom once in a while to help kick up some mud trails. And White with Black Spots or Brown spots were always my favorite go to Bomber Colors.


[QUOTE=Rob1678;561337]When throwing crankbaits, what are. The most productive patterns. Slow steady retrieve, burning it back, stop and go, 4 cranks and 15" pause? What advice do you tell kids on bass fishing teams or young people just getting started? How long do you fish a spot or method before trying a new method, bait, color, or spot? I learned a valuable lesson Tuesday crappie fishing with a road runner. Spent ALL day using a steady retrieve and only caught 4 fish. Started s l o w l y cranking the real. Barely even enough to get the grub tail or blade to turn, then caught 18 in an hour? Thoughts?![/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Rob1678;561337]When throwing crankbaits, what are. The most productive patterns. Slow steady retrieve, burning it back, stop and go, 4 cranks and 15" pause? What advice do you tell kids on bass fishing teams or young people just getting started? How long do you fish a spot or method before trying a new method, bait, color, or spot? I learned a valuable lesson Tuesday crappie fishing with a road runner. Spent ALL day using a steady retrieve and only caught 4 fish. Started s l o w l y cranking the real. Barely even enough to get the grub tail or blade to turn, then caught 18 in an hour? Thoughts?![/QUOTE]There is no one size fit's all method it is all about learning each trip, I'm 57 now and have been learning 56 of those.

I would say try lots throughout the day and see what is most productive, but i'm guilty also of only doing a steady crank the entire time

For me water color and temperature dictates my retrieve speed. There is times when I want a slow wobble or a nice steady pace and there is times when I burn it fast. Too many water color and water temperature variables to go into great detail. One thing for sure though if one way is not producing a bite I change my pace of retrieve.

I know at C-land a ratltrap start and stop retrieve in early to mid fall will get your arm broke in the heads of the creek.

What matters is that you are cranking when the fish are biting. Size doesn't matter, color doesn't matter. :)Simple.