This is my first fall fishing, I fish in central NY in what i think is the upper Susquehanna watershed, I know I should be throwing crankbaits but I've never caught anything with them and am probably using them wrong. For context, the Susquehanna is pretty shallow up here and there's only a few bodies of water where I can get to 5-10+ foot deep water from shore (dont have a boat sadly). There's a boat launch at goodyear lake where I can get to deeper water (about 15-20ft) with a rocky bottom, have caught 2 smallies this week there jigging stuff but bites are few and far in between. Seems like the right time and place to use a crankbait but I'm gettin nothing.

 

I guess I'm not sure how to retrieve them effectively (i know a straight retrieve works but not sure how i should be pointing the rod, how fast i should be reeling, stops/starts, etc.) I know bigger bill means deeper dive but I feel like none of mine are diving much at all, even my squarebill along the shore where its only 3-4 feet deep, seems like they just zigzag right below the surface most of the time. 

 

Basically any advice or step-by-step explanation yall could give me on how to use them right would be greatly appreciated, I'm not ready to stop fishing for the year but getting skunked often in the cold is disheartening! thanks in advance

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These two vids well set you straight:

 

 

 

I fish hard baits exclusively for one whole season, because I wanted to learn how to fish them. I still don’t have it down pat yet, but my confidence is a lot higher now. 
I should have watched the hook removal video first. 

 

I’m not a big crankbait angler. If I do, it’s mostly squarebills. Those I cast and either retrieve straight back to the boat, or will retrieve, stop (bait floats up a bit) and repeat until back at the boat or fish on. 
 

If you haven’t tried bladed jigs, try those as well. I’m having my best year ever fishing those. Mostly vary the speed of the retrieve. 

I have always struggled fishing crankbaits from shore because they always dig in as you are trying them to reel them back in. 

 

I use them fairly often when fishing from the boat because I can set my boat position as needed to work the baits at the depth I want and keep them in the strike zone more efficiently.

 

Doing it from shore is another story though and I struggle with that as well. I've had much better luck with jigs myself.

 

Brian's suggestion for bladed jigs is a good one though!! Those, I HAVE had good luck fishing from shore OR the boat

You’re going to need to throw 160-190 feet, & before you think it’s not possible, think again. I do it all the time. Line, rod, & reel, all must accentuate one another. Next grab some 3/4-1oz deep divers. Long casts, & deep diving crank baits that are going to get down and bump the structures that are there (no matter the depth) That’s exactly what you want. Don’t even worry about snags or lip breakage just bump and grind and kill it for a second when you bump or crash into structure, don’t be afraid to speed crank it. If the water is very cold, perhaps use a suspending jerk bait. That’s a great way to catch them in colder temperatures (water temperatures) If the fish are relating to a rocky bottom, a deep diving suspending jerk bait with timely pauses can and do get bit. It’s not my jam but I do break them out at times and I do catch nice fish this way. 
 

You have to bomb cast to allow for the crank baits to dig down to depth and still have sufficient coverage of the structure type you’re fishing. 

You should also try a 3/4-1oz spinnerbait along the bottom. 
 

Squarebaits: Same basic principle, crashing & bumping structure only in 5 feet or less water. 

 

I can tell you what NOT to do.

 

Open up a brand new crankbait and get it snagged on the third cast.

 

Bye bye DT10, barely knew ya.

 

Just did that on Friday.

 

Time to buy a lure retriever.

Fishing from shore you don’t want to start using deep diving crank baits!

Shallow running floating crank baits like square bills are a good choice, wake baits and shallow running jerk baits should also work for you.

Remember these lures have treble hooks and snag easily. The hook set is reel and firm rod sweep, not a hard rod whip set.

Crank baits are all about retrieve cadence and chance of pace. Steady cranking can work but stop and go usually works better. Cadence means speed that can be fast, slow, in between or a combination of all 3. Trial and error until the bass react. 
From shore I would start in a marina, the dam area and long point points are places that bass tend to locate when hunting prey fish.

Tom

 

Raise your rod tip up higher if you're casting out and during the retrieve you're hitting the bottom or bringing in vegetation.  You can also try retrieving very slowly to keep the bait just under the surface.

The reason you want a floating crank baits that dives is when you stop reeling the lure float up out of trouble, then restart the retrieve and repeat. Holding the tip up helps the lure to run shallower.

When you feel a snag slow down or stop the retreive, if it pulls back reel and set the hook.

You will loose diving crank baits fishing from shore!

Tom

@WRB-2.0 That’s not necessarily true Tom, I’ve fished a 1 oz Yozuri deep diver from the rip rap of many a lake dam from shore, banging that bait all the way up and have caught many 3-5 pound fish. They absolutely destroy it. 
 

Funny, I’ve never lost a bait doing this, not by snags but wore down plastic lips.. 

37 minutes ago, F14A-B said:

@WRB-2.0 That’s not necessarily true Tom, I’ve fished a 1 oz Yozuri deep diver from the rip rap of many a lake dam from shore, banging that bait all the way up and have caught many 3-5 pound fish. They absolutely destroy it. 
 

Funny, I’ve never lost a bait doing this, not by snags but wore down plastic lips.. 

I mentioned trying the dam area for that reason. Floating debris including trees sink by the dam, it not always a rip rap dam face. Good advice👍

Tom

2 minutes ago, WRB-2.0 said:

I mentioned trying the dam area for that reason.

Tom

My speed read is missing 😆🤷

I dont know why but the Bomber Model A have been a favorite autumn bait for many,many years.

6 hours ago, WRB-2.0 said:

Fishing from shore you don’t want to start using deep diving crank baits!

Shallow running floating crank baits like square bills are a good choice, wake baits and shallow running jerk baits should also work for you.

Remember these lures have treble hooks and snag easily. The hook set is reel and firm rod sweep, not a hard rod whip set.

Crank baits are all about retrieve cadence and chance of pace. Steady cranking can work but stop and go usually works better. Cadence means speed that can be fast, slow, in between or a combination of all 3. Trial and error until the bass react. 
From shore I would start in a marina, the dam area and long point points are places that bass tend to locate when hunting prey fish.

Tom

 

2 hours ago, F14A-B said:

@WRB-2.0 That’s not necessarily true Tom, I’ve fished a 1 oz Yozuri deep diver from the rip rap of many a lake dam from shore, banging that bait all the way up and have caught many 3-5 pound fish. They absolutely destroy it. 
 

Funny, I’ve never lost a bait doing this, not by snags but wore down plastic lips.. 

I fish deep diving crankbaits from shore in water that is 8' or less often. I find that the deep diving cranks snag LESS than one that runs at "correct" depth. I think that is because the  deeper diving crank runs "bill down" therefor deflects off rocks and snags instead of dragging the hooks directly into the snag. As mentioned, you will wear the bills out doing this, but it is worth it.

The more you can make it deflect, the more fish you will catch.

If I'm blind casting it is to find something to hit.  If I find something to hit I will hit it many times from different angles.  Then move on looking for something else to hit.  Rinse and repeat.

One of the cool things about crankbait fishing is when the bass takes the water off your bait.  When this happens I say "I just got whooshed!".  You hit something, pause it, begin reeling again, and your bait "disappears" for a second, then you feel it again.  That was a bass!  

Happens a lot with bladed jigs, swimming worms, and swim jigs too.

My deep divers don't quite make it to the bottom where my bass are sometimes located.  Using a hard stop and go retrieve is a great second place to grinding the bottom and is also effective for suspended bass.

 

scott  

I've been fishing them a lot lately. You've got the basics. Lots of advice here about trying to find objects to bounce them off is great. 

 

An additional two retrieval tricks.

 

The first is do a start stop retrieve as you bring the lure back to you. Crank for a bit and pause. REALLY lay on the speed when you start your retrieve back up and then just as quickly drop down to your normal retrieval spees. That'll cause the crank to jerk or zig-zag suddenly which has a similar effect as deflecting off hard cover and will get a reaction strike. 

 

Secondly, when starting your retrieve, crank quickly to get your lure down to it's intended depth. 

 

Another bit of advice that's worked for me. Fish the smaller cranks. In the water I fish that drives the bass crazy. I think a lot of people aren't fishing those smaller crank baits. 

Thank you!!

On 10/13/2025 at 2:31 PM, WRB-2.0 said:

Fishing from shore you don’t want to start using deep diving crank baits!

Shallow running floating crank baits like square bills are a good choice, wake baits and shallow running jerk baits should also work for you.

Remember these lures have treble hooks and snag easily. The hook set is reel and firm rod sweep, not a hard rod whip set.

Crank baits are all about retrieve cadence and chance of pace. Steady cranking can work but stop and go usually works better. Cadence means speed that can be fast, slow, in between or a combination of all 3. Trial and error until the bass react. 
From shore I would start in a marina, the dam area and long point points are places that bass tend to locate when hunting prey fish.

Tom

 

Very helpful, thank you!!