Fishing tip of the week

Fishing Tip of the Week

Thursday, 12 August 2021 05:57

Crank bait season is near
Mike Gerry

As we progress into fall and the summer starts to cool you will find the bass more active, more willing to chase, and working a crank bait around the edges of the channel, creek beds, and thin grass will have the potential of loading the boat. I know, for many, this can be frustrating as you seem to hang up a lot in the grass, but nothing will put more fish in your boat, in the fall, than a crank bait.
Don’t be myopic, it’s not always your traditional crank bait, as many times in the fall we see lots of schooling fish and nothing catches fish better than a small ¼ oz. rattle trap when the fish are chasing and feeding. This time of year, the size of a rattle bait is extremely important, for in the fall we get large bait fish hatches weekly so the bait they’re feeding on is small in size. Matching the hatch size is very important to the feeding process.

I also believe that during the fall, as the water quickly changes its temperature, and with every passing front, bass seem to follow the bait to the edges of the river channel to find the cooling water. As this occurs, the edges of the channel load up with bass and fishing eight to ten feet by running a crank bait at about a 45-degree angle off the edge of the channel can be a deadly presentation. You will hang up on grass some, but once you find the correct angle off the edge it won’t be bad at all, just snap through the grass when you hang it; not only will this free the bait but the quick snap movement will cause reaction bites from the fish.

I believe that the fall crank bait bite is much about the wobble of the bait. The flat-sided crank baits that have a tight wobble are very much the bait of choice. Flat-sided crank baits cause more vibration, replicate the natural bait, and are easier to size to the hatch than the fat rounded crank baits that many of us are used to. It’s also true that we get less rain in the fall than any other time of year so, use bright colors.

Captain Mike