Shallow Divers run just under the surface. They are ideal around wood cover, where you might find a tree laying in the water. Work both sides and then switch back to the medium diver to make sure that bass hog is not hiding under the log.

Lipless Crank baits flat sided without a diving bill. Most of them that I use are made by Rat-N-Trap. They are loaded with the noise making rattles; making them an easy target for MR. Hog. He can locate the bait with ease and can be fished in shallow, medium, and deep water.

Choosing the Crank Bait Colors:

If I was choosing the colors I would try a "Match The Hatch" but what I think would be the first three to buy would be the Shad pattern, Crawfish pattern, and the Firetiger.

The Shad work well in clear to stain water where there are plenty of gizzard shad and threadfin. Look for the silver/white as they work well in spring and fall; that is usually when the shad are plentiful.

The Crawfish Pattern is best around rocks seeing that is where crawfish live and the Spring Time is a very deadly time to be throwing this type of crank bait. They can come in different colors stick with Red/Brown, Red/Black, Orange/Brown, Orange/Black and even a dull Yellow/Black.

Ideas on Crank Bait Retrieves:

Bump some cover that you might be around; remember I said “Bump”. Don't throw in the middle of a brush pile and expect to get your Crank bait back.

Stop and go retrieve works great if the Bass is interested a little but can't make up his mind; the stop and go drives him crazy.

The last way would be get the Crank bait to the bottom and make it look like a crawfish trying to get away.

Rod, Reel and Line Preference

The rod I would use would be either a 6 1/2 to 7 foot with a soft action. They make Cranking rods just for Crank baits; ask your sporting goods department.

The reel I like is the 5-2-1 gear ratio meaning the reel picks up 5 feet of line every 2 turns. This is what I call a slow speed reel and will leave the bait in the strike zone a little longer.

The line used for deep cranking should have a small diameter this will allow the line to go deeper. If you go with 20 pound test to keep Crank bait from going to deep, this will allow you to fish brush tops without getting hung up in the cover.

I can tell you once you get hung remember there are six hooks and it does not take too much shaking to scare all the fish off.

Try this out and see if it does not improve your chances of landing one of my Hogs.

Keep the Hooks Wet!

Steve McGoldrick