Deep Cranking

[Irish]

I would like to try more deep cranking this year. What kind of areas do you guys focus on when fishing deep diving cranks? Also what is your favorite deep diving crank?

[Deitz Dittrich]

thats a really open ended question Irish.. But will do my best to be short and still answer your question..

What am I focusing on? Hard bottom.. for the most part. But not always.. But look at it this way.. I am almost concentrating more on how accurate my casts are with a crank than I am flipping a jig. Boat position is key, angle to the area you are casting to is as key if not more. But casting accuracy is #1.. You need your crank at the right depth at the right moment. I think far too many people just fan cast, and dont have a plan.. You need a plan! You have to visualize what is down there and you should come in contact with it. Sometimes is sand.. sometimes its rock, sometimes its a firm weed like coontail..

As for my faves.. Rapala makes good ones.. I really like many of the DT series, DT7FS, DT10, DT16.. I also like the older Poes.. Poe 400, Poe400+, Poe 300's.. Bandits also make good baits.. 200's 300's.. Got quite a few Fat Free Shads in the boat too. As well as a good assortment of Bagley DB series. And Tennessee Killers as well..

The key is to find the one that will dive the right depth with what line poundage you are throwing..

[Irish]

Would it be best if the that hard bottom is near a deep weedline?

[Cecil]

Usually yes. But they could be on a deep rock hump too.

[RK]

Hiya -

It's partly because of the kinds of lakes I fish, but I catch most of my deep crankbait fish on weedlines. Cranking deep weedlines is absolutely one of my favorite ways to catch largemouths, and it's getting to be prime deep cranking time right now. Usually it's mid-July into September for me but things are a little ahead of schedule this year.

Hard bottom or weeds though, Deitz is dead on about the precision necessary to fish cranks as effectively as possible. You have to be very aware of boat position and casting accuracy, especially around weeds, because a cast in the wrong place is either in dead water too far off the edge, or up in the weeds and fouled. Either one's a wasted cast.

I try to fish parallel to weedlines when possible, and use the crank to feel out all the little points and fingers along a weed edge. Think of the crank as a depth finder you can throw out in front of you. So I just feel my way down a weed edge. Cast and hit weeds, so the next cast is out a little farther - you cover an arc in front of the boat as you move along.

To do this you have to really pay attention to what you're bait's doing. I mean - REALLY dial in on it. It takes as much attention as fishing soft plastics. More maybe. I usually fish deep cranks pretty slowly around weeds, and try to 'walk' them through the weed edge. As soon as you feel it hit weeds stop and see if it floats off. Shake it if it doesn't, and if it still won't come loose, give it a short, sharp upwards snap of the wrist to see if it'll pop loose. You can get through coontail and cabbage most of the time. Bladderwort never comes off, and I hate the stuff. A lot of bites come just as it pops free or floats up off a weed. I suppose fish see it on the weed and shaking, knocking stuff loose, then smoke it when it bursts free. It's cover contact just like cranking hard bottom, but in weeds not over rock or gravel. It's definitely a learned technique and takes some patience, but you can really clobber midsummer bass when the school up on weedlines.

As for baits - my list is pretty similar to Deitz's. I like the DT series from Rapala, Poes 300s and 400s, Norman DD-22s when I'm on a real deep edge (I fish some lakes with coontail in 19 feet). Over the last couple of years I've really gotten to like the Strike King Pro Series cranks - especially the Series 5.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm