Lipless crankbaits

[JoeTC]

I have a few lipless crankbaits but I never find myself using them. Does anyone have any success using them? And if so, in what situations? They seem popular during prespawn and colder water periods in the tournament series but we obviously don't get much on an opportunity to fish prespawn in mn.

Joe

[bassfshin24]

Love lipless cranks. They are my goto spring and fall baits. It's a great way to cover a ton of water fast. Find some of the first weeds growing in the spring and rip the bait through it. Fall find your last green weeds and do the same. Very your speed and figure out what the fish want. Some time they want it burnt through the area and other times they like it yoyo'd back to the boat. It should definitely be in every anglers arsenal their first time on open water in spring.

[RumRiverRat]

Spring and fall baits for me.

Use them a lot on Pool 2,4 and 5 in the spring. Work them parallel to riprap banks.

In the fall burning then over remaining green weeds results in vicious strikes.

Sometimes a stop and go retrieve is needed, the key is to give the bait slack when you stop. The Red Eye Shad will wiggle and vibrate on the fall and this is sometimes needed to entice fish that are following the bait.

The other popular technique is when the bait contacts weeds to violently rip it from them, the sudden fast movement as the bait is ripped free will trigger strikes.

Only manage to catch pike and get bit off in the summer time.

I use

Redeye Shad

Xcalibur Xr and XrK

Clackin Rap

Bought a few of the new Sebile Action First Lipless Seekers to use this year.

[Basschaser]

All of the above is great advise. I probably use a lipless crank bait more than all other types of crank baits combined. If I could only fish with three baits, one of them would definitely be a lipless crank bait.

[Wayne Ek]

I have absolute confidence in lipless cranks in the spring and fall. In the spring they have become one of a handful of go-to baits for me when pre-fishing for tourneys. In the fall it's a toss up between a 3/4-oz. lipless or jig/pig. In the fall a lipless crank will produce big bass and big eyes. My main lipless is the Red-Eye Shad (Strike King). This past summer I had great luck yo-yoing Red-Eyes on deep weed lines.

[tunrevir]

I love these baits because of the versatility they afford. You can run and gun by burning them over emerging weedlines, use a stop and start retrieve kind of like rip jigging, you can vertical jig them in deep water or slow roll them. I find they truly excel from opener to late july on the lakes in my area. I especially like running them along deep weedlines at a superfast retrieve to get reaction strikes from bass. I have run them up inside of 2' of water with great results as well. I like to fish them fast. It is also a multispecies lure that will catch you bass, pike, muskie and walleyes.

Tunrevir~

[RuddyDuck]

I like to use them quite a bit. I like them best for searching flats with scattered weeds and no good weed edge. It allows me to cover all depths easier when the height of the weeds vary.

The Xcaliber ones, Cotten cordell Spots and Red eye shads have been my favorite of late. I am going to try a few more silent ones, but they didn't produce well the few times I tried them last year. I also seem to have better luck with the multiple bb style, versus those with one big bb in it, such as the clacking raps and Xcalibur one knockers. Those just haven't worked as well for me either.

[Wayne Ek]

So now I can make some of you jealous. I still have a 1/2-dozen floating rattle traps. Which you can slow roll (like a wake bait) in less than a foot of water. A killer spring lipless presentation, on extremely shallow non-aggressive fish.

[RumRiverRat]

Funny you mention that Wayne I purchased 24 floating Traps a couple weeks ago. Brand new in the clear plastic boxes.

Guy on another forum had several hundred old stock Traps in sealed dealer cases and was selling them dirt cheap.

[MN BassFisher]

These are definitely a confidence bait for me! The tips that are listed above are great and I would recommend them as well (yo-yo in deep water, rip when you gut hung up, vary speeds, find green weeds in the fall).

[Deitz Dittrich]

like many others have said, for me they seem to be a spring and fall lure. Though I know guys that use them all year and are their go to bait. in the fall I love to throw them on deep weed lines and fish them like a jig.

the suspending ones are killer in the spring. I have a bunch from sebile that flat out rock the fish from time to time in the spring.

[Raider4ever]

Excellent search bait all year 'round.

[bemidjibasser]

I like to bang them off rocks for smallies too,as well as the above mentioned tactics.

[JP Z]

Lipless cranks are my go-to bait all year round. I love those things.......Just ask Deitz!

[JoeTC]

Thanks for all the great info!

Joe

[slopmaster]

Like others have said they shine in the sping/fall. I like a yo-yo retrieve or rip them through weeds. Great search bait

[Todd S.]

I fish them year round, always have one tied up. Typically I fish a sunfish or bluegill color. Can't help but wonder if I should be throwing "red" colors in the spring.

Any seasonal color preferences?

[RumRiverRat]

About the red color in the spring.

I do not think it makes a difference.

The areas in MN that you can target bass legally in the spring do not have an abundance of crawdads emerging from burrows like in the southern part of the country.

Chrome/Black Back, Chrome/Blue back and a Chartreuse/Purple back have been the most effective for me on Pool 2 and 4.

[Gobbles113]

Lipless crankbaits--always an excellent search bait tool to catch multi-species fish on any given day. It is one of the most versatile bait to catch fish. It can be worked shallow to very deep water...there is no right or wrong way to fish them depth-wise. Also, speed retrieves pretty much dictates the day how fish react--just love the feel of lipless cranks feel on my rods. I tend to have one or two of them tied on my rods in most of my outings because I know they have an important value in my fishing expeditions.

[dfv87]

We use them all season to catch Bass, Pike and Eyes and occasionally a crappie! they usually are really nice crappie too! We cast troll and jig them... so many uses... becoming a favorite/go to lure.

[Bobby Bass]

I throw them a lot searching in flats before the weeds come up and also on rock piles in the evening. Trying to think what I have not caught on them.

[Todd S.]

About the red color in the spring.

I do not think it makes a difference.

The areas in MN that you can target bass legally in the spring do not have an abundance of crawdads emerging from burrows like in the southern part of the country.

Chrome/Black Back, Chrome/Blue back and a Chartreuse/Purple back have been the most effective for me on Pool 2 and 4.

RRR-so what your saying is I've been spending way too much time online reading every article I can get my hands on and buying tackle just for the sake of buying tackle won't necessarily put more fish in the boat, and I should stick with the 7 shades of bluegill that I have confidence in.....

[RuddyDuck]

Some of the colors I like are: chart/black, chrome/black, chart/green and others. Seems certain colors and style of lipless cranks work better on certain lakes. I did start using the red craw color last year with good success on some lakes. This was mid summer and later. Not sure that it looks like anything swimming in the lake, but some days the bass seem to like them!

[RumRiverRat]

RRR-so what your saying is I've been spending way too much time online reading every article I can get my hands on and buying tackle just for the sake of buying tackle won't necessarily put more fish in the boat, and I should stick with the 7 shades of bluegill that I have confidence in.....

Yes and no. I do the same thing, just have not bought a red lipless crank. Mine are all baitfish imitators. Bluegill, shad and what not.