Erratic Movement

[Shad_Master]

It's one of those things that you think you know, but you don't know until you experience it.  One of my favorite ways to catch bass is on a crank bait - but I haven't been having much luck with them this year.  Last night I went over to my home lake where I have been catching basss on jigs and T-rig worms from shore for a couple of hours of late evening fishing.  On a whim, I tied on an RC 1.5, but didn't realy expect to throw it 'cause this area is full of exposed and submerged brush piles.  After working the jig and the worm all around the point for about an hour with only a few bites and no hook ups, I decided to give the RC a try.  As I was fishing, I remembered a recent Jimmy Houston show and a Bill Dance that I had just watched yesterday.  Jimmy was talking about throwing a Rat-l Trap and moving one action into another action to catch fish.  Bill was talking about erratic movement.  I began to work the RC like a jerk bait (tug, tug, tug, reel - tug, tug, reel, etc.) and immediately got two hook ups in a row.  Chunk and wind may work some times, but I am betting that erratic movement is the real ticket for most reaction strikes.

[MARSH MASTER]

Always gotta ghange it up to see what they want. That erratic retreive aslo works well on many other lures, it causes alot of reaction strikes.

[skillet]

Haven't been fishing cranks for very long but seems like erratic is better than just "chunk and wind"...

                          As Ever,

                           skillet

[Sam]

If you ever study crankbaits you will understand what happened.

There are two basic types of cranks and each have sub-types.

Some go through brush and grass with ease while others do not.

What you experienced is something that crankers know....that crankbaits do well moving through brush and over wood and they not only produce hungry strikes but reaction strikes as well.

In fact, as you bump something make the bait go with a burst of speed.  This can cause a reaction strike.

Depending on the type of crank (lipless or billed) and its material (wood or plastic) and the bill design (various) you can manuever through cover and structure when others will not even think about throwing a crankbait.

And some of the pros will float behind guys who are throwing spinnerbaits and the pros will throw a crankbait and the pros are the ones catching the fish.

Kevin VanDam is a great cranker so read his books and articles.  KVD likes reaction strikes and he can really manuever those cranks all over the place, including skipping them under docks.

Colors?  Have we discussed colors?  Not now, don't have enough room.  ;D

[B-o-b]

Good post Sam. I'm gonna go read some of KVD's articles then.

[JShrock07]

Thanks for making me think about this... I've never tried it that way before but I will now!!!!

-Nitroman

[tyrius.]

I probably look like an idiot when I'm fishing cranks because I'm speeding them up, slowing down, moving my rod tip up and down or left and right.  Basically whatever it takes to get the bait to not go in a straight line.  I fish a lot of suburban retention ponds with no timber or anything else really to hold fish (just weeds).  I try and get the crank to move around so that it looks like the bait is confused and/or swimming away from the bass that is watching the crank.  I've been real successful in the fall fishing cranks this way in those ponds.

[detroit1]

You never know how bass will respond to our retrieves, one hour they want it wild, the next they want it mild. Offer all and let them decide.  8-)

[Bassin_Fin@tic]

Thats called learning tricks of the trade.This also builds confidence in lures or lure types because you know how to get them to hit it.

This inevitably leads to feeding "the monkey" too  :-/