Bassin' USA - Bass Fishing Forum Archives

Hello, just joined here so I'll start by saying hi!
I recently started fishing and fish faily large lakes in central Florida. I bought a rod and reel from Wal-Mart for about 20$. It's a medium rod with 20lb. test line. I got two crankbaits, heard they were good for bass, one is dominently green with some red, and the other is chrome with a little bit of blue, both are 1/4oz. I generally fish near weeds and lilly pads, with an average depth of 5-10ft, primarily in the 6-7ft range. I generally reel in at a moderate speed with some gently tugging on the line. Just wanted to know if i'm using the right bait and technique for the right situation. I havn't caught a fish yet so any advice you can give me would be great.
Glad to be here, and I'll see you around.

Thad

Wish I could help but I'n not very good with crankbaits. Our resident pro, Johnnie should have some advice for you. Carl

Thad, there are baits better suited for your fishing situation, such as plastic frogs, worms and spinnerbaits, however; since you asked about crankbaits I'll try to help. A lipless crankbait (Rat-L-Trap) would have been a good selection, but we'll work with what we have. Fist, I would fish your green crank fairly fast and use a stop and go technique, rip it fairly hard, allow to stop, but not actually float up too much. Many times, the vibrations and sounds produced by a ripped crank will draw bass out of the weeds where they can attact the bait. Many anglers don't know that crankbaits can be pitched and flipped into weed pockets where there are small openings. Wait for the wave rings to disappear then just twitch the crankbait in place as long as you can, use the brighter chrome/blue bait for this. Also I use a "dip and dive" technique, this is pitchin' a crankbait into weed cover and just pulling the bait with the rod until it dives about a foot then allow to swim its way back to the surface, repeat, repeat-etc. Fish the crankbaits along the edges of the lily pads, crank it right up to the pad stems then rip it fairly hard, this may stimulate a strike and also helps get the bait back through the vegetation. Good luck and thanks for posting. Johnnie