Bassin' USA - Bass Fishing Forum Archives

Hey Guys,
Sure, bass fishing season is over for some of us especially up North, but we need to continue to submit posts. It saddens me to check the site and find maybe only one post and only one or two replies. We've got to work hard to keep this site going.
Got questions? Thoughts? New products? New techniques? Fishing news? Good fishing locations? Made any good catches? Made any bad choices? Got answers? Lets get those posts going. Johnnie

OK Johnnie. I'm an OK bass fisherman, not the best nor the worst. If it wasn't for plastics, and jigs I'd have to take up golf (heaven forbid). I just can't get the hang of crank baits, and I'm the only angler on the planet who has very little success with spinnerbaits. I've done everything I can think of, slow, burn, stop and go, yo-yoing, willow leaf, colorado, bronze and silver blades. For clear water with a little stain, what choices do you recommend for spinners? You've already posted bronze blades for fall, whats more important, skirt color, or the color and type of blades? I suspect that crankbaits without rattles might be worth a try. Do you know where I could order some? I ordered a couple of baits, but they came with rattles, so we drilled them and filled the cavity with super glue. Didn't work, completely destroyed the baits action. Haven't been out much this past three weeks or so, because of problems. The last two times out the only success I had was with a drop shot rig in a creek channel 30' deep, and they were only small ones. (This lake is way over stocked with small ones; the lake super. told me to take all the small ones I wanted, even though the State creel is 6). Fishing isn't over here, water temps-low 60's, although cold air temps have moved in. I guess I've rambled on long enough. Carl

Jonnie,

I guess I'm just as guilty I check the board almost every day and hate to see it so slow. I will try and come up with some stuff to post about and maybe do a write up or two on some different thing that I tried this year that got us our top six finish in our tournaments for the year.

Carl,

I know you were asking Jonnie but I would like to say something about spinner baits!!

I hate them too!!!

I have caught my biggest fish in tournaments on spinner baits but I still hate to fish them. I do it because they work. Both of the big fish came from slow rolling that bait just inches off the bottom in about 6 to 8 foot of water. The baits I use are double willow baits and I use as colors that look like bait. In stained water I go with white or chart. with white and chart. blades. Funny looking bait but man it catches them when the water in dirty. In clear water I use sparkle skirts that have alot of glitter in the skirt. and build them myself. You can get them from Bass Pro. I cant remember the name of the skirt but its there when you see it you will know which one I'm talking about.

Any way I cast the bait out and let it go to the bottom then I just lift the tip of the rod to get the bait up and start cranking it in really slow. Almost dragging it along. You can do the same with a Indiana or round blade. I wish I spent more time fishing spinner baits but I just cant take it because I see so many folks using them and I just want to present something different. Most of the time I throw a spinner bait is when I see that no one else is using it. Down here fish see so many spinner baits through out the year I want to show them something that they havent seen in a while. Never had any luck burning a spinner bait but thats because I never stayed with it long enough to give it a chance. lolo

Try that next time you go out and see if it will get ya a big one??!!!
I'll let Jonnie take the crankbait question since he is our resident cranking expert. I have learned alot about cranks from reading what Jonnie has written here on them. Thanks Jonnie!!


Conley

Carl, ahh, crankbaits!!
Make no mistake, all crankbaits will take fish from a variety of waters. In very clear water they're not my first choice.
I use basically a Poe's Super Cedar crankbait 300 &400 series. I use these for two reasons, they are the deepest diving baits made and I can prove it, and they don't rattle. There's been a lot of discussion on whether bait fish make noise, but I'm pretty sure they don't rattle!
Of course, my bait color selection is determined by water color, I don't really even worry too much about the predominant bait species. I just want a bait the fish can see. I use shad, spook, which is sort of off white with light gray bars,(my favorite), chartresue glitter and brown colors.
The Super Cedar baits are very heavy, cedar is a heavy-dense wood and although they don't suspend without a little help, they come very close. The wqeight and design of the bait allows it to dive extremely deep for its size. The 300 series will reach fifteen feet with ease while the 400 can scratch bottom in 18 feet and I have even drove them down to twenty. I make long casts, start cranking fairly hard and when the bait reaches near maximum diving plane, I ease off a little. The bait will stay in the deeper strike zone for some time.
Plastic bait have a built-in air bubble that keeps them from reaching maximum depths and the air keeps the bait from sustaining that depth.
I also use a Rapala DT 6 series. This bait is wood, but for some odd reason the company added a rattle, but it is so minute, it doesn't seem to bother the fish or me very much. I use fire tiger and shad only. These baits perform best in eight to ten feet of water.
The only true rattling bait I will use is a Storm Wiggle Wart in the medium size in either bone or crawfish green color. This bait has a wide-very slow action that works really well in the six to eight feet range and takes sluggish fish.
Hope this helps, if uyou can't locate any of these baits I'll send you some addresses. Good luck, Johnnie.
ALWAYS have faith in crankbaits-ALWAYS.

Carl,
Conley gave great advice as usual concerning spinnerbaits. Spinnerbaits are the most versatile bait ever. I fish them mostly on top. I make a pronounced "VEE" across the surface. Feeding fish can't resisit that. Learn to keep the bait bulging the surface at the slowest speed posible. I use large baits, 3/8 to 1/2 ounce with at least #5-6- or 7 blades. I start reeling before the bait hits the water, this gets the bait headed your way before it has time to sink any. I prefer to fish this technique parallel to steep banks or through stump fields.
I have and will use any color blade, mostly gold-silver-charteuse-brass and gray, in that order. White, chartreuse/blue/green, or salt and pepper skirts. I prefer one large blade over a tandem spin. The front blade of a tandem takes water and lift away from the larger rear blade.
Carl, I fully understand your frustration with not being able to catch fish with some baits. I was that way about plastic worms years ago. Here's what I had to do to survive the tournament circuit. I bought some purple Creme Scoundrel worms, some hooks and sinkers and went fishing. I took nothing else, that way there was no temptation to switch. For two hours I went fishless, I tried different retrieves, jiggling, wiggling, crawling, hopping, straight swim and finally, a solid tap tap set me straight. I caught a two pounder, then another until I had boated six fish. There was nothing magic about it and it was slow. But now I have the confidence to fish worms anywhere and everywhere. They are a great tool. I just had to keep at it and let the confidence build.
Basic rule of thumb for spinnerbaits, clear water-silver blade light skirt, stained water, gold blade mixed skirt, dirty water, colored balde (Chartreuse-orange-or white-, dark skirt, purple-brown-black-black/blue. For some odd reason, brass or copper works best when the leaves are falling, don't know why?? Willow leaf for clear calm water, Indiana or Colorado any other time. Johnnie

Great info. guys, wish I had asked in the spring. thanks, Carl

Johnnie,tried to email you but I guess I'm not literate enough to figure what "ever". Got an offer for you to go in-shore fishing. My friend who lived, now works, and is in-shorefishing. He says after the pollution cleared the fish, reds, trout, porposes came back in droves. Give me a call, [email protected]

Just my luck!! After imploring everyone to stay busy with new posts, my computer got several virus'. I have been down for a week! A couple hundred bucks, some new virus protection and a week of aggravation and I'm back. Thanks for all the feedback. Johnnie

I love this!!

Carl you asked for spinnerbait info and you got two completely different approaches to fishing them.. Both of them will work for you,, you just have to figure which one works best for you!!!

I'm going to do it again here with my choice in crankbaits.. I like to use the smaller baits the ones that dive in the 6 to 8 foot ranges because I know that there are always some fish in that depth. I also like the shallow square lipped baits instead of the shallow spinner baits. I like to bang both of these baits off any and I do mean any object that is under the water. Find you some really clear water were you can see your crankbait as it starts its dive to the depths and watch what it does when it comes in contact with objects under the water. It will vear off to the sides, pause the burst away from the object. This action will get you bit by fish that are around. There is something about that bait acting different that just turns them on to it. I had one bait that you could cast it out and start cranking real slowly and then give it a sharp little jerk and the bait would dart to one side then the other and then track back straight when I returned to cranking real slow again. That bait caught more fish than any bait I had in the boat. Unfortunatly it got busted in some rocks on a wild cast and it is no more. I have a swimming pool that I test all my baits in I am trying to find those baits that act just a little diffenent than any of the others. So far I have not found another that would act like that magic bait. When you do find one save it for those special times when you really need a fish.

My wife and I fish alot of couples tournaments and a crankbait is all she will throw. She even goes so far as throwing the same gizzard shad color all the time. I always ask her if she wants to try something different to no avail. I ask her why?? "Well this bait looks and acts like a shad right? Bass eat shad, right? Why would I want to use anything different?"
Kinda hard to argue with that?? sometimes keeping it simple is the best approach. I know she has kicked my tail pretty bad in some tournaments, sometimes so bad I find myself digging into her tackle box full of gizzard shad cranks!!

Conley, you're absolutely right about the differences in crankbaits. I have several which look identical but have different actions. Some days only one will work, other days all will work, some days-none will work. Shad patterns are always a good bet. I like to rough mine up a little with some light sand paper, kind of take the shine off. Even have used a rock to scrape the sides a little to remove the shine and maybe look like a roughed up- easy to catch shad. One thing about shad patterns, they show up in basically any water color.
Good advice about watching crankbaits carrine off objects, I think its the unpredictible reaction from the bait that triggers the strike. I seldom use crankbaits when there is no structure to bounce off of. Free swimming baits just aren't as effective.