LIPLESS CRANKBAITS
- in a category by itself. A true reaction bait. You're looking for the same deflecting principles, although it's less of a deflective bait. It's absolutely perfect for the ripping technique in grass situations and is an awesome yo-yoing bait for cold water.
- in a category by itself. A true reaction bait. You're looking for the same deflecting principles, although it's less of a deflective bait. It's absolutely perfect for the ripping technique in grass situations and is an awesome yo-yoing bait for cold water.
- Grass - The rattle type baits work in the same grass paralleling technique talked about earlier. But they really shine as coverage bait for unidentifiable grass lines or grass flats. You can cover a tremendous amount of water. Using the ripping technique, you can free the bait anytime it hangs in grass.
Keep the same cranking traits in mind. Heavier line will allow you to keep the bait further up out of the grass. Choose colors according to the two golden rules: primary forage and water color. Use wider wobbling baits in warm and tighter in cold. You can usually determine the wobble of a rattle type bait by looking at the width of the nose of the bait. I always like to put a bigger belly hook on the bait when possible. The nose down retrieve protects the belly hook better. - Cold Water Tool - a really underutilized technique. It's an awesome fish catcher under winter and early spring conditions, say water temperature between 40-50 degrees. Again it produces that reaction type of strike associated with sluggish cold water fish.
The yo-yo technique also imitates the action of a naturally dying shad or minnow. Yo-yoing is a lot like fishing a jig or slow roll spinnerbait. I'll cast the bait out and let it fall to the bottom on a semi-slack line. Once in a while a bass will inhale it on the initial fall. After the bait hits the bottom I will pump or rip the bait back off the bottom. Again I will let it fall on a semi-slack line waiting for it to hit the bottom. I really experiment with pumping and ripping motions and speeds, until the right retrieve is found.