Hi everybody ,

               I'm looking to improve my crankbaiting skills, fishing deep water structure and relying more on my electronics to find fish. I will be making a return to fishing local tournaments this comming spring and I really want to get the facts straight before spring comes around. I find it strange that I consistantly catch fish with a carolina rig, but fall short on the crank baits ? Baits I use well and I am comfortable throwing are the deep wee-r . fat free shad in fingerlength and jr. sizes and the cc shad and shad raps...Any ideas or hints that might make me a better deep water cranker would be greatly appreciated.

                                                                       Thanks in advance

It's more about "where" than "what".

The easiest and most obvious structure is points. Start well off the bank and work inwards. Fishing jigs and soft plastics I prefer working down the slope, but with hard baits I think a better approach is across the point to cover more territory at a variety of depths in the water column.

Isolated humps are another prime target as well as ridges with immediate access to deep water. Rip-rap is another easily identified target. What's more challenging, I think, are old creek beds, roads, trenches and the like. They can be very productive, but are more difficult to find and fish. As you get more comfortable with your electronics, these are things to look for.

One more "special" situation is flooded ponds. If you find one, fish the old perimeter and dam thoroughly. This is a structure that will always hold some fish.

kuddos to roadwarrior on that reply.  Deep cranking is something that is just not that productive for me.  The only times I use them is on points during the summertime.  I like coming across the points or coming up them.  Going shallow to deep has never gotten me anything.

Usually in deep water I like crashing or swimming 1/2-3/4oz jigs

Thank you both for your insite...I'm starting to see why the Crig works better for me...that is that I usually cast shallow and work it down the slope...do either of you use topo maps ? any pointers ? I can usually find the obvious things with my electronics and maps...like roadwarrior states roadbeds and the likes I have trouble with ....some of what I run into is that many of the lakes here are just "bowl shaped" a point can be few and far between and if there is one everybody is lined up or has lined up to take a swing. It is true though, much of what I do with a crankbait is is runn from shallow to deep ...I will however being changing that mind set ...thanks again.

This is my take:

A C-rig is just another way of presenting a soft plastic.

Think of a crankbait, deep or shallow, as an alternative to a spinnerbait.

So, anytime you might use a spinnerbait, you might substitute a crank.

Make sure your getting the crankbait deep enough.  Lower the rod tip in the water (ie. David Fritts) if you have too, and always add a few more feet to the manufacturers depth spec for that specific bait.  If anything you should be able to bump into something and if no bite, throw a soft bait in the structured area.