With the deep cranking bite in full swing, and the fall crank bait bite just around the corner; I thought I would give you some ideas on making a crank-bait work. It seems I have had several people in the boat lately that talk about crank-bait fishing but really don't understand the factors that make the bait work for you.
Let's first discuss, how to locate fish that will win tournaments. To me this is a big task but one you can accomplish with some patience. It is illegal to troll in a tournament, but not illegal to troll during practice. I generally hang a deep running crank bait over the side and troll the edges and points of the grass lines until I find fish that would win. When I find them I stop trolling find a few more in the same area, mark the spot on my GPS and start trolling again. When I have found about 4 spots I move on.The key now is to get them to bite again in a tournament, most bass will react to a crank-bait by having the bait deflect or bounce off of the cover. The key to this is getting your bait down deep enough in the area to cause the crank-bait to hit the bottom or structure and deflect. A bass is more apt to hit something that moves erratically, and by getting your bait to the bottom you are putting the crank-bait in the strike zone. The depth is irrelevant, if you have found the fish in 10 feet or 25 feet of water it doesn't matter, the bait you select must deflect off what ever structure is down there.
Lastly angle's make a difference sometimes you can be cranking a spot and never get a bite, but with a little change to the angle you are working a crank-bait can make the difference. Point being; work the area thoroughly from several angles before moving on. The fish could be positioned so you just need to work them from a different vantage point and you could catch them.