I was watching some older prespawn videos to prepare this season and really want to catch more fish on moving hard baits this year instead of worming, I love worming but I do it too much. Anyways enough of the rambling do I really need a flat sided squarebill or can I get away with a standard kvd 1.5 style crank. 

 

P.S I have quite a few flat sided cranks but they are not squarebills and they are more  of a coffin bill, anyone have luck with these and if they come through woody structure decently like squarebills do?

You can use regular squarebills just fine. It's like anything else, some days they'll eat a flatside better, some days they'll eat a regular one better, even in the winter. 

1 hour ago, Bluebasser86 said:

You can use regular squarebills just fine. It's like anything else, some days they'll eat a flatside better, some days they'll eat a regular one better, even in the winter. 

Good information, thankyou! Been toying around with crankbaits and they are an amazing lure that has trebles but also comes through cover nicely, im starting to grow on them

One of the best cold water crankbaits is the Wiggle Wart®...not exactly flatsided.

It really depends on when and where, as well as how the season develops. I don't throw a flat square bill in the middle of winter, though I'm sure I could catch a few if I did. I find once we have mid 40s water with an upward swing, that's when I start relying more on them. It's funny some days they want the square bills, and sometimes the chatter does better, haven't figured out why. 

I've found success with them in the spring on water that sees a lot of pressure.  Maybe it's just something different?  My favorite is the 6th Sense Crush Flat 75x.

 

Cold/shallow water I throw a lot of DT-4 when (I think) everyone else is throwing the DT-6.  That works for me, too.  It's a little more subtle.   

 

Waiting on an order of the OG Tiny 4.... Hoping it's the best of both worlds! 

 

I can't say if you "need" to throw a flat side, but I find that it is a useful tool.

Don’t forget about the lipless 

2 hours ago, GReb said:

Don’t forget about the lipless 

So true, I really need to fish cranks more in general!

I catch fish on flat cranks all winter but around here there seems to a window of time where they're really hard to beat.  It's a short window around here, 2 or 3 weeks maybe where they can be more effective then a chatterbait for numbers and still match the quality of fish, especially in tougher conditions.  

I think one of the biggest factors on the tougher days can be using a silent or less aggresive sounding bait.  

 

A flat sided crank with a coffin bill will come through timber just fine, especially if you give a slight pause when it contacts a limb.  The plus side to those and baits like the SK KVD 1.5 Flat Side (https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/strike-king-kvd-15-flat-side)

is they run deeper than most square bills. During pre-spawn, that can make a big difference.

Flat sides have done extremely well for me in early prespawn, and were producing big fish last weekend in 46 degree water too.  I threw them on a hunch because the deepest water for a long way was about eight feet, and I knew gill presentation had been productive in this area before, chatterbait low and slow wasn't working.

 

I fish them as slow as I can without it rising up. That doesn't get me a lot of fish, but whew the big girls love it. I'm not deflecting off anything. I'm just swimming like a swimbait a couple feet off the bottom. S...L...O...W...

 

Flat side crankbaits are the biggest driving factor in my risking frost bite to my hands fishing in the winter… and that’s saying a lot because my hands are my livelihood!

The Arbogast Mudbug is not flat and has netted me several lunkers after ice out .

In the winter, I have always better luck fishing with shallow running crankbaits more than flat sided crankbaits.