Crankbait Presentation

Just like many other things in fishing, there is an art to cranking weeds. Lots of factors to take into consideration including things like the depth, both rooted and growth height, thickness, "stiffness," sharp walls, flats, or tapering drops, crankbait running depth, buoyancy, lip size, season, species or type, and just a host of other things. All things considered, I'd much rather be hitting weeds than not with my crankbaits, though you can often get by keeping your retrieve/bait very close to them.

The other beauty of crankbaits and weeds is even when the crankbait might not be the best approach, it is one of the best tools for finding the weeds in the first place, pulling them up so you can identify them, and giving you enough information to be able to make an informed decision as to what the best lure and technique to fish them might be.