Late-Season Crankbait Tips

There may not be a better time to throw a crankbait than now. Why crankbaits in fall? Because they allow you to cover lots of water when searching for fish, provide fast-moving lures in water depths that fall bass prefer and, more importantly, they best emulate primary fall forage - baitfish.

In my part of the country, schooling shad run to the backs of creeks once the water begins to cool down. Because crankbaits dart, wiggle and are shaped like shad, they look similar to the food bass are keying upon.

My experience at a Lake Wylie tournament in September exemplifies how reliable the crankbait pattern can be. During practice, I put together three good patterns - Carolina-rigging the points, slow-rolling a 1-ounce spinnerbait through river stumps and churning a buzzbait along the face of the dam.

However, by 2 p.m. on tournament day, I didn't have a fish. With an hour remaining, I scrapped those patterns, tied on a shad-colored crankbait and headed into a creek that had several stumps on a flat next to the channel.

I knew the shad often bunched up there in the afternoon and the bass would be actively feeding on them. My hunch was right. I caught a limit and was culling in 15 minutes. I won the tournament.

My favorite fall strategy is to choose a creek in which shad are schooling and crank its flats and ledges. I'll look for birds feeding on shad and watch my depthfinder for large balls of shad as I idle around the creek channel. I'll note where the creek channel cuts near the flats and work the shallows and channel edges until I find fish. If there is current moving through that creek, I'll cast into it so my crankbait is moving with the current.

Not all lakes have shad, but they will have some kind of forage fish that bass will target. For example, when I was fishing in Minnesota last fall, the bass were feeding on yellow perch along the grass lines. The perch were schooling just like shad do on Southern lakes, and the bass were gobbling them up. Naturally, I chose a crankbait that resembled the yellow perch and caught a ton of fish.

The lesson learned is that it's important to match your crankbait to the baitfish in size and color.

I tend to prefer smaller crankbaits for clear water. Unfortunately, that's not possible when fishing deep, clear water because most lures that run deeper than 15 feet are large.

Rattling baits are great when the lake is off-color, but I prefer non-rattling versions for clear water. I believe they get more bites.

Silent-running wood baits are another option, but most of them don't run deep. To compensate, I'll drill a hole just beneath the bill and add weight to the nose.

Another effective trick is to take a standard Carolina rig and, instead of tying on soft-plastic bait, put on a 30-to 60-inch leader and attach a minnow bait. This allows you to get a shad-imitation hardbait to the bottom and work it where the fish rarely see a lure like that.

The wobble can matter, too. A wide-wobbling lure is a great choice when fish are aggressive. However, if the water gets cold or the lake receives a lot of angling pressure, tighter-wiggling baits such as the Rapala Shad Rap, Norman Little N or Mann's Hank's Crank are better options.

When cranking fall waters, be persistent. You can go a long time without a strike, only to hit a big school of bass and fill out a limit in short order. Just remember, find the bait and you're close to where fall bass live.

BASSIN' Magazine Fall 2003