Going to really try to hone my cranking skills this fall.  I’m good with a lipless and jerkbaits but after that I don’t have much experience. I know that grinding the bottom is productive but can’t always do that. Any cranks I should be using that don’t grind the bottom or is lipless and jerkbaits the ticket? Any info. Is appriciated. 

Come fall I'm always looking for the shad or other baitfish on the graph. Once I find them I'll select a crank (starting with natural colors) that either runs at that depth or slightly above. Don't rule out the smaller swim/glide baits, they will work too.

Squarebill cranks are a staple crank and a decent place to start too.

Fished mostly shallow, they can be burned, just reeled straight back or even slow rolled with a pause or twitch or two along the way to get bites. 

The 6th Sense Crush Flat 75X Crankbait (Lower right box) has been producing fish for me for a while now.

A-Jay

 

Thanks guys.

As I find many fish in shallow water this time of year, I really like square bills. If a medium to fast retrieve with pauses isn't working, I switch to a thin bait with a tight wiggle. For a tough bite, I really like the Scatter Rap and Mann's 1-Minus (which I can speed up, too}

You don’t always have to be grinding the bottom. You should, however, be hitting cover. That could mean running it across the top of some grass, bumping it against some wood, or bouncing it around a riprap bank. 

On 9/25/2019 at 8:51 PM, Bassguytom said:

Any cranks I should be using that don’t grind the bottom

How deep are you referring too ?