I always talk to people and they seem to always mention "cranking the cliffs" this time of year.   I know by "cliffs" they mean the  steep walls that surround portions of the lakes in az.  The only confusion i have is that when using a crankbait it is best to bounce into structure or cover, but there is neither by most  cliffs.  Is this an exception to the rule or do i need to still find cliffs with structure to hit.   Please let me know what you guys do  because i would appreciate some help.  Thx!!

Great question

"Banging" a crankbait is just one of many presentations/techniques.

The vast majority of my cranking is over structure without any contact.

Structure holds the fish, they don't always need to be alerted to the presence

of your lure. They came there to eat!

8-)

I'm no expert nor have I ever cranked a cliff but...You can tune a crank to run slightly in one direction. I have done this to make it bang into bridge pillings,retaining walls,and under docks. Same thing can be done with a spinnerbait,buzzbait,and topwater plug.

Banging a lure against cover (rocks, trees, etc.) can be effective but it's not the only way to trigger a strike.  Especially, as roadwarrior said, if the fish are in an active feeding mode.  Sometimes simply stopping the bait momentarily or changing the direction can coax a bite.  But sometimes they'll just hit it as it's coursing through the water.

Parallel them.  

The Salt river lakes; Apache, Canyon, Saguaro, Roosevelt and the Colorado river canyon lakes, like Mead, Havasu and Mojave tend to have deep water walls. The advice to cast your deep diving crank bait parallel to the rock walls is good. Look for irregularities like outcropings, pockets, cravices, salt cedar trees and shaded areas. The bait fish are shad, so use shad color cranks during the day time and black/red cranks at night.

Structure spoons and spider jigs are also very productive on these river lakes; smoke with red flake is your best choice for spider jigs.

Pleasant, Alamo, San Carlos and Bartlett; you are better off using a spinnerbait in lieu of a deep crankbait and drop shot worms.

WRB

Parallel them.

Yep. Killer technique on Table Rock this time of year.

Parallel them.

exactly!

"Banging" a crankbait is just one of many presentations/techniques.

The vast majority of my cranking is over structure without any contact.

Structure holds the fish, they don't always need to be alerted to the presence

of your lure. They came there to eat!

Pithy, perfect response. Wish I could do that!

Rather then working a deep diving crankbait along a rock wall, I prefer to work the same pattern with a Jerkbait.