I’ve heard a lot about speed cranking on YouTube but I haven’t had a chance to try it out. Guys talk about burning crankbaits on 8 speed reels in water all the way down into the 30s degrees . I figured I’d ask here and see if anyone has tried it? 
 

4 minutes ago, August said:

in water all the way down to 30 degrees.

 

Impossible.  Water freezes at 32.

 

Generally speaking, when the water drops below about 50, bass metabolism is going to slow to a crawl and so is their behavior.  So the idea of them chasing down a burning crank bait doesn't seem likely.

I've tried it a few times without success.  It should work, in theory, and the proof I have is that I catch a lot of fish while trolling a crankbait while pedaling across a pond/lake with my kayak.  I average about 3 mph on it.  That's got to be close to what a 8.X:1 reel would get you.

I've never tried burning a crank but a buzzbait gets on plane and catches fish.

30 degree water, I'm watching a football game.

14 minutes ago, gimruis said:

 

Impossible.  Water freezes at 32.

 

Generally speaking, when the water drops below about 50, bass metabolism is going to slow to a crawl and so is their behavior.  So the idea of them chasing down a burning crank bait doesn't seem likely.

lol I meant to write into the 30s  😂

 

11 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I’ve actually done something quite similar to that by accident 😂

Rivers with current don't freeze at 31° F

16 minutes ago, PaulVE64 said:

Rivers with current don't freeze at 31° F

That's correct, because they're already frozen at 32. 🥸

I speed crank all the time. It just depends on the lure and the reel.  It seems to work better in colder water. I can't really say why but it catches fish. With that said, 40 degrees is my cut off for fishing.  

 

Will it work yes. Will it guarantee a fish, no. I've seen this technique work with chatterbaits as well, although not with an 8 gear ratio reel. I had a buddy that manage to smack some nice bass burning a chatterbait with a 5 gear ratio in colder temps. 

The only crankbaits I "burn" is a Rat-L-Trap & yes they are extremely deadly in cold water. 

 

Yes I have speed cranked and yes it works. I have not tried it in water in the 30s though like you say.

22 hours ago, gimruis said:

That's correct, because they're already frozen at 32. 🥸

Wrong.

Your grade school education is lacking real world experience.

Rivers with current don't freeze over like ponds and lakes 

9 minutes ago, PaulVE64 said:

Rivers with current don't freeze over like ponds and lakes 

Tell that to the Mississippi up here, cause I don't think it got the message...that sucker freezes over just about every winter and shuts down the barge traffic.

Mississippi river looking at the Minneapolis skyline from Boom Island.

Or how about Minnehaha Falls?

That solid mass just left of center is the frozen waterfall...the bridge over the stream is above it....stream and waterfall frozen solid.

Moving water does freeze, just not at 32°F. 

It needs to be colder due to kinetic energy and the formation of ice crystals.

 

1 hour ago, PaulVE64 said:

Wrong.

Your grade school education is lacking real world experience.

Rivers with current don't freeze over like ponds and lakes 

The OP is in northern MN fishing lakes. He is not fishing moving water. The water he fishes freezes at 32 degrees, just like the laws of physics says.

Is something wrong with you?

Op talks about burning crankbaits in water, YOU mentioned lakes, I mentioned rivers.

 

why argue?

 

It's actually one of my favorite presentations when the bite is tough. I really don't like finesse fishing, so I'll try burning a crank, or a razor bladed spinnerbait  through hard cover, or just above vegetation.  I don't have to guess when a fish bites. My favorite crank for that is a Speed Trap.

Works for me.  A few times I've been able to get multiple fish from a school/wolf pack, but more often than not, I'm getting solo bigger girls.  This was yesterday morning after 3 days of cold and rain.

 

scott

 

 

Rattletrap in cold water, yes. I've tried the speed cranking in the winter, but it's never panned out for me. 

The water around me is very shallow and I dont use super high speed reels, but I have had success doin it.  If I had FFS, I could do much better, locating and figuring out if the fish are willing to eat is the toughest part for me.  Finding the right bait is important.  It should either suspend or have a very slow rise or sink when the water is very cold.  If the bait just stops instantly and sits in front of the fish, I do much better than having a bait that rises too fast.  Its strange because it's a reaction bite, they crush that bait, but if it doesn't stop right away or floats they just swipe at it or don't hit it at all.  Braid or a low stretch FC works the best for me.  The bait stops quicker with braid, with FC you almost have to bow to the bait and stop cranking at the same time to get it stop quickly. 

I cant really use super deep diving bait here, as deep water is anything over 5' here.  Ive found loaded shad raps and suspending traps to work very well.  There are other shad style cranks that will work, but most of the water I fish is a little too shallow.  I got permission to fish a rock quarry that has been off limits to me for almost a decade.  I'm going to try out burning a crank in there this winter with some of my deeper diving baits, hopefully it works out.    

The only time I really speed crank is when I'm trying to get the bait back to the boat to make a new cast.  In the winter I'll bring the bait in slow, especially spinner baits and bladed jigs that I can crawl along the bottom.

For what it's worth, any sort of reaction bite tends to work better in cold water for me than a slow presentation.  I'm usually fishing swim jigs and jerk baits and lipless crankbaits In the winter time. Sometimes I will have to slow my cadence with a jerkbait a little bit but usually not much. Sometimes I will have to yo-yo a bait and let it fall but usually not that often. It seems like during the winter time bass are chasing bait and you can move your bait pretty quickly and get bit.  Bass metabolism may slow down a bit in the winter but I haven't seen evidence that they swim slower or react slower when it's cold.

One Ton Jig! 😉