Lipless cranks

[GungasUncle]

Forgot how effective and fun these can be to fish. I've always got half a dozen or so in my crank bait boxes, but usually throw normal billed cranks if I"m not fishing soft plastics.

Went to the lake last week with the family for an afternoon of fishing fun - spent the big majority of that time throwing cranks. Started off with some square bills (was fishing rip rap at the dam) but nada. Then switched up to a black over silver lipless and stared picking up fish. Varied retrieves from slow crawling to burning it as fast as my reel could handle and in between. Got fish on just about every type of retrieve. Wound up with 7 bass on that one and a couple when I switched to my ultra light and a tiny rapala floater/diver when my arm was getting tired. The largemouth weren't big - 10-12 inchers mostly. Lost a fat smallie - maybe a couple pounds near the bank when he jumped.

I've got to remember to throw these baits more often. I literally wore out the bait I was fishing last week - wore the paint off the bottom, I knocked one of the googly eyes off of it, and it's dinged, goughed and scratched up on it's sides from all the banging off of rocks. It's getting retired honorably.

I'm taking the family camping and trout fishing in a couple weeks and I'm going to take my cranking rod and box of cranks with me to take a shot at the bigger trout in the lake - the place we're headed to is known to get some recycled hatchery steelhead planted as trophy trout occasionally - maybe they'll take a swipe at one of these guys.

 

[TimberTodd]

Thanks for the insight GU. I am going to fish Hagg tomorrow and will have to check and see if I have any. Good luck with the big ones in a few weeks.

 

[GungasUncle]

Hit the lake today, just me and my boy. Picked up a bunch of bass (mostly small ones) - all on crank baits and all but one on the lipless variety again.

Only got pix of a couple fish.

Biggest by far. For reference - this bass is almost touching my son, who is 3'4" tall... puts this fish at about 18-19 inches.






Lil dude working the crank bait by himself (slow retrieve, he's still getting used to working the reel smoothly)



Then there was his 2nd fish (didn't have the phone out to snap a pic of his first)

It was only maybe 9 inches or so - almost food for the big guy today.



All in all we caught maybe a dozen bass. Smallest was about 8 inches, average fish were 10-12 inchers again. Lake was windy, water is cooling off dramatically. The fish were aggressive. Didn't get any perch or bluegill on his little rod (fishing grubs and small berkley trout worms on drop shot rigs, and under a bobber) - didn't have any luck on soft plastics on my rods either. They wanted the hard bait today.

I tried a few different lures with success - 2 inch Rattling Rap lipless, a 3" Bomber craw pattern square bill (which the big girl ate), and the hot lure of the day was a 3 inch black over silver Matzuo lipless. Didn't pick up fish on my normally productive shad pattern deep and medium divers, didn't pick any fish on the craw pattern lipless I tried. Had some hits and hook ups on a 2 inch Cabela's branded shad pattern deep diver but none landed on that one.

 

[bass]

Nice reports GU. I wonder if you and TT were at Hagg at the same time (assuming that is where you went). Any report TT?

 

[Shaun Solomon]

Yeah, lipless cranks are the bee's knees. For the last fifteen or so years I have been pruning down my selection of tackle, getting rid of a LOT of stuff, but I still buy Rat-L- Traps. For several years I was fishing a big lake in Nebraska from the dam at night, and sometimes going through five or six Traps in an evening. I remember when Traps were two bucks... losing thirty bucks in crankbaits a night is no fun. I started buying factory seconds (baits with bad paint jobs) on Ebay and it helped a lot. I buy them like 50 at a time and they are $2 each that way. Also, they come without hooks, so I get to put my favorite crankbait hook, the extremely evil Gamakatsu bronze EWG treble. Let me tell you, if you are not using that hook on cranks, you are missing the boat. It is physically dangerous. I only wish they would make it in a size 8, there are a lot of baits I use that I have to stick Owners on because the EWG only goes down to a 6.

One odd thing I have noticed about Rat-L-Traps... I never seem to get a "good" one. Other cranks, sometimes you will luck into a really good producer, and sometimes you can't buy a fish on a certain bait. Traps always just seem about the same to me, which is good considering how easy they are to lose.

 

[bass]

I definitely need to give rattle baits a try again. I have multiple rattle traps (Bill Lewis and Rapala) that are probably 20 years old in my box. I will need to let them see the light of day again.

Shaun, do you use a lure retriever? I usually carry two, one is a pole type that extends to 15' and the other is a heavy weight with some small chains that slides down the line. I rarely lose a lure.

 

[Shaun Solomon]

Yeah, I have a few. Hound Dog, a couple home-brew, and the pole. Walking the bank they don't do much good, but in a craft of some sort they are worth their weight in gold.

I won't bust off my a$$ kickers, but I honestly don't worry about losing Traps too much. I say Traps because about the only one I use is the Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap, chrome/blue 1/2oz, to be precise, though I will toss an odd color Trap here and there, and I also use Cotton Cordell Spots. If the Trap bite is good, but an area starts to fizzle out, often going back through with the Spot will pick up some bonus fish. It is mellower.

 

[GungasUncle]

Good tip on thoe EWG hooks. I've been replacing busted hooks lately - I have four baits right now with hooks that only have one point left on them. I bought a pack of VMC's because they were the best trebles I could find at Sportsman's the other day. I've gotta give the EWG Gami's a try now. Do they make the EWG hooks in red at all?

 

[GungasUncle]

Nice reports GU. I wonder if you and TT were at Hagg at the same time (assuming that is where you went). Any report TT?

Si senior, I was at Hagg. As much as I fish the place I'm surprised I haven't run into Timber Todd, You, or a few other regulars who haunt the place. The youtube dude "Kayak Fly Angler" is out there a lot too - I"d like to run into him and shoot the crap. He does way better on trout, on a fly rod, out there than I ever have.

 

[bass]

Si senior, I was at Hagg. As much as I fish the place I'm surprised I haven't run into Timber Todd, You, or a few other regulars who haunt the place. The youtube dude "Kayak Fly Angler" is out there a lot too - I"d like to run into him and shoot the crap. He does way better on trout, on a fly rod, out there than I ever have.

I fish out at Hagg a fair chunk in the summer with my son. We use my Nucanoe Frontier (lime green) tandem and it has a trolling motor. If you see us definitely give a shout out.

I was thinking of hitting Hagg tomorrow by myself but I think I will probably fish the Willamette instead. I have not been sturgeon fishing since April and I can barely remember what they look like. I am in definite need of a refresher course

BTW, pardon my ignorance but does EWG stand for Extra Wide Gap? If so, why do you all prefer those for hard baits? What does the shorter shank per bite get you?

 

[Shaun Solomon]

GungasUncle- they do make them in red, though it is over nickel. Hooks are plated AFTER they get chemically sharpened, so the thickness of the plating effects the sharpness of the hook. Nickel goes on thicker than bronze, so I use the bronze because honest to God they are sharper. Actually, I think the Gamakatsu bronze finish hooks are the sharpest out of the package you can get. The bronze finish does not last, and the points roll more than the Owners, but I replace the hooks continuously, so it is never an issue.

bass, EWG does indeed stand for Extra Wide Gap. I like the geometry of the hook. Without getting excessively verbose, just let me say that they set with very little effort, have small barbs that do not tear, and keep fish buttoned better on cranks than any other hook I have tried. And trust me, I have tried a few.

Regards,

SS

 

[billsnp5]

I go through a lot of the lip less baits thuout the year, they are my go to baits. I can sometimes fish a whole weekend with one bait and sometimes I might lose 3 or 4 baits in one day. I like the Bill Lewis traps also but I also like the Cotton Cordell hot spots just as well. I can get the spots from Academy Sports for $2.99 each and free shipping with a $25 order. I usually get 20 to 25 at a time.

 

[Shaun Solomon]

Yeah, Spots are great. Pretty much the only other lipless bait I throw.

 

[cdat]

Hope you guys don't mind be butting in, what size hooks do you guys use on your crankbaits/spinners etc? I'm just getting started bass fishing, and perusing old threads looking for tips.
Thanks
John

 

[Shaun Solomon]

CDAT, you are not "butting in" in the slightest. This is what forums are all about.

Regarding swapping hooks, use your best judgement. Some baits can better tolerate hook substitutions than others. As a rule, if you take off a #4, replace with a #4.

Hook size is confusing for a lot of people, it was for years for me. Smaller hooks have larger numbers, until you get to #1, then adding an "ought" or number zero increases the size. Worst system ever, but I didn't invent it. So a size #30 is extremely small, and a 10/0 is very big. For most hardbaits, a #6, #4, and #2 is about all you will need. Maybe a #8, or rarely a #10 on tiny baits. For bigger baits like bass anglers or salmon anglers might use, you might go as high as 3/0 for huge hardbaits, but that is pretty rare.

Most hardbaits that make it to market are designed with the WEIGHT OF THE HOOK as part of the overall design of the bait. Complicating matters further is the fact that there are no "standard sizes" as you go from one manufacturer to another, so for example Owner hooks tend to run about one size smaller than Gamakatsu hooks in my experience. So a #1/0 Owner would be about the same size as a #1 Gamakatsu. Also, hook size has nothing to do with hook weight. Length of shank and the diameter of the wire are going to play a role in how much a hook weighs. You really should weigh the hooks you take off of a bait and replace with hooks that weigh the same. If it is a hassle to get a small, extremely accurate scale (like the sort of thing your friendly neighborhood cocaine dealer might use) then you can bend a paperclip into a balance beam. Calibrate it by using two identical hooks, then you can test potential replacements by simply hanging them on one side, and the factory hook on the other.

Hope that helps.

SS

 

[cdat]

Appreciate the info, was not aware that hook weight made such a difference, my concern had always been about gap size and shaft length. I was primarily asking as I had planned on ordering some of the rat l traps 1/2 oz, was wondering what size/type hook you would recommend? Thanks for the help.
John

 

[Shaun Solomon]

1/2 oz Rat-L-Traps come stock with a #4 up front and a #6 in the back. I have found no degradation in performance by using two #4 hooks. I like Gamakatsu EWG bronze finish trebles for light line fishing (up to 10lb test on a soft crankbait rod) or Owner ST-41 for up to 15 pound line (again, soft rod)

Really strong fish like hybrid stripers can bend open the Gamakatsu hooks easily unless you play the fish very conservatively, but if fish look at them, they are hooked. For largemouth, smallmouth and walleye in open water, I use the Gamakatsu.

Cheers!

SS