Looking to get more into lipless cranks as summer starts to wind down and fall draws near. What do you guys think is better for fishing them:

 

7' medium-heavy/fast with a 6.4:1 baitcaster with monofilament, or

 

7' medium/moderate rod with a 7.1:1 baitcaster with braided line?

 

I've heard, especially when ripping them through grass, it's good to have a bit more stiffness to the rod to really get the grass uncaught, but I've also heard you can use your typical cranking stick and instead of using mono or fluoro tie on braid and the lack of stretch will give you what you need to rip your bait through the grass while the medium/moderate rod helps keeps fish pinned without pulling out the hooks. I ask because these are the two rods I have that I would use a lipless crank on, so I'd love some input!

Medium/heavy with either mono or braid

Perfect answer is a medium heavy with a more moderate action. Since you don't have that option I'd go with option #1. The medium heavy will have enough backbone and the mono will help with keeping the fish pinned once you hook him.  Braid on medium will just compound the fact that the medium rod isn't stout enough to snap your hooks free of grass. And braid with trebles is often troublesome. 

for me ... 7' & 6'6" medium fast ... 3/8 oz. rattlin rapala ... with reel of a least 30" ipt ... 12lb. mono ...

 

good fishing

 

 

 

 

 

I like to throw lipless on the same rod that I would throw a buzzbait/chatterbait. 7-73MH MF, 14 pound mono.  I like the BPS Bionic Blade 7MH and the Expride 72MH glass.  

I just bought an enigma 7’mh Eglass Rod. It’s on the heavy side. Grip feels ok. Will give it a try this coming week. 

For me, I like to use a 7'2'' Med Mod with 12lb FC.  Not a big fan of braid and crankbaits. 

 

On a side note, I always here the term "ripping through grass" when comes to lipless crankbaits and over the years I think I have changed that to "catching salad".   I have never seen the point of ripping a bait through weeds.  You always end up disturbing a spot by pulling in more weeds than fish.  I tend to prefer other techniques (heavy jigs, punching weighted creatures, etc.) when it comes to fishing in heavy weeds.

7'6 medium heavy moderate is what I throw them with. 7 ratio or 6 ratio works well. 12 lb yo zuri hybrid for open water , 40 lb braid rippin grass.

3 hours ago, FishTank said:

For me, I like to use a 7'2'' Med Mod with 12lb FC.  Not a big fan of braid and crankbaits. 

 

On a side note, I always here the term "ripping through grass" when comes to lipless crankbaits and over the years I think I have changed that to "catching salad".   I have never seen the point of ripping a bait through weeds.  You always end up disturbing a spot by pulling in more weeds than fish.  I tend to prefer other techniques (heavy jigs, punching weighted creatures, etc.) when it comes to fishing in heavy 

Here in the midwest in spring with pads and weeds emerging you can bounce or rip a lipless crank thru them and catch giants. I use a St Croix Premier 6'10" heavy/mod-fast rod with mono. That rod has good power but has some give too, rated for 1/4 to 1oz lures but is also now discontinued.  Rest of the year I agree nothing but weeds and it is a pain to even try.

7 hours ago, zell_pop1 said:

Here in the midwest in spring with pads and weeds emerging you can bounce or rip a lipless crank thru them and catch giants. I use a St Croix Premier 6'10" heavy/mod-fast rod with mono. That rod has good power but has some give too, rated for 1/4 to 1oz lures but is also now discontinued.  Rest of the year I agree nothing but weeds and it is a pain to even try.

Definitely.  I was at Monroe two weeks ago and there is a spot I always love that is off shore where there is a 8-12 foot hump.  Its pretty much awesome most of the year. In spring it's filled with fish but right now with the water low the weeds are impossible to cast through and even worse to get a boat in to that spot. 

I would opt for the 7 foot med and spool it with the mono .  Thats what I generally use for  lipless baits .

I use a MH/Fast for lipless.  If I'm throwing it in relatively vegetation clear water around rocks and humps I'm not against using my Med/Moderate though. 

My dedicated lipless setup: 

 

1/2oz to 5/8oz

ROD: Dobyns DC 705CB 

REEL: OG Zillion 7.1.1

LINE: Yo-Zuri 12 Lbs  

 

1/4oz lipless (also serves as crankbait)  

ROD: Dobyns DC 705CBMF GLASS

REEL: OG Zillion 6.3

Line: Yo-Zuri 10lbs 

6 hours ago, FishTank said:

Definitely.  I was at Monroe two weeks ago and there is a spot I always love that is off shore where there is a 8-12 foot hump.  Its pretty much awesome most of the year. In spring it's filled with fish but right now with the water low the weeds are impossible to cast through and even worse to get a boat in to that spot. 

I've only been on Monroe once, I read they have been stocking bass and putting in habitats so I may try it again.

I use a fury 705cb with a currado dc. You can really throw it out there with this. So much fun. 

In heavy grass a 735c with a high speed reel, like an 8:1 with 30# braid to a 17lb Fluoro leader is my go to. I'm going to get a lot of haters for this. Burn that lipless through the grass, pop it and you're catching fish and your partner is still wondering why you're using a jig rod for crankbaits...meanwhile you have 4 fish in the live well and he's slow rolling a jig. I just catch fish on this set up. 

On 9/7/2019 at 12:11 PM, Dens228 said:

I use a MH/Fast for lipless.  If I'm throwing it in relatively vegetation clear water around rocks and humps I'm not against using my Med/Moderate though. 

This

The tackle you use should be tuned to the type of cover/structure you are casting a lure into.

Where I fish lipless crank baits it’s all about shad and sparse over. The rod, reel, line needs to be able to cast distances to schooling bass feeding on shad, nothing special then any other treble hook crankbait.

Where there is vegetation to rip the lipless through then braid and longer stronger rods work better.

Tom