What is your best method and lure for fishing crankbaits in clear weedy lakes? I fish local watersheds that have coontail down to 15', pretty clear water. Abudant bluegill population, but I don't seem to do much good on bluegill colored crankbaits. I actually do better on craw colored lures, Bomber 6a & 7a brown craw and redfire craw.

Any suggestions for a bluegill colored crankbait and method to try? :-[

Rattletraps. Fish them over the top of the grass, and when they hang up, rip them free. This is when most bites will happen.

Fish them on a stout rod, a little heavier line with less strech, and enjoy.

Good luck,

Jack

it's all about what you're confident with. You may be like me and have more confidence with big lipped cranks instead of lipless cranks. I fish a similar lake and have had great luck with splatterback DD22, Splatterback DD14's, and StrikeKing Series 6 splatterback cranks--can't tell you why or what they're imitating--they've just worked. I agree with the above post, we might be better off fishing a lip less crank!! :

If you are doing good with the craw dad colors , why worry ?

I'm not generally one who gets hung up on "confidence lures" for me, if you are thinking clearly and choosing the right presentation, the color only has to be close. And by close I mean a 'natural' color.

However if there is one thing I simply have zero confidence in it is craw patterned and colored crankbaits. And they are working for you.

Most important thing in lakes like this is to have enough colors, and lures of the same brand/design with different diving depths.

Rattletraps. Fish them over the top of the grass, and when they hang up, rip them free. This is when most bites will happen.

Fish them on a stout rod, a little heavier line with less strech, and enjoy.

Good luck,

Jack

Ditto. You can also drop 'em down the edge and rip em up when you contact the ragged edge of the wall.

I wouldn't worry too much about color scheme, or trying to match a bluegill. That's difficult, if not impossible, in clear water, esp under brighter conditions. It may simply be more important, the brighter conditions are to add speed and jerky triggering motions to your horizontal (retrieved) baits.

Your "craw" colored cranks make sense in that, in high vis conditions you want to obscure details of your lure, and craw colors tend to be darkish and "muddy". I also like translucent and chromed finishes in clear water too.

That said, I do like to doctor plugs too for more realism than is likely be necessary. I'll make a separate post about them for those who like to get artistic to get closer to how bluegills actually appear.

Rattletraps. Fish them over the top of the grass, and when they hang up, rip them free. This is when most bites will happen.

Fish them on a stout rod, a little heavier line with less strech, and enjoy.

Good luck,

Jack

Thanks guys, I have tried rattletraps some, and I do need to get more confidence in them to use them more.

Its not like I'm killing them every trip to the lake on craw patterns, but, its the best pattern I've found so far.I catch myself way too often sticking them when their just" not on".

Would the rattletraps be a good choice to let free fall among a group of shad busting the top?

I fish a lot of lakes just like that, and a crankbait is one of my favorite lures. I do really well on sexy shad, firetiger, and craw colors. I fish them in 12 to 14 feet of water just nicking the top of the coontail, or along deep weededges. I have caught a lot of big fish doing this.

Ditto the traps, sexy shad, and Tenn shad.

Your crawfish brown and even the fire red both look like bluegills (the red for the Redear) and if your fishing coontail the coontail should be a green pumpkin to brown color this time of the year and the colors your using is a close match to what hue the live bait should be. In clear water I tend to use a splatterback black white sides or a chartreuse purple back for deeper water to give you other options.

The 'ghost' colors seem to dominate clear water for me (ghost minnow, ghost perch, etc.) during sunny or mostly sunny days. During heavy cloud cover or while deep cranking I use your usual opaque shad or perch colors, due to the lack of light penetration. I preach a faster retrieve while also periodically ripping your crank with a quick sweep of the rod (I do this in stained water as well).  The bait that instantly came to mind when you mentioned the conditions you fish is the Lucky Craft BDS 1 in ghost sunfish.  I guarantee it to work.  It can be a hard color to find though...Tackle Warehouse sells out frequently.

Here is the larger BDS 3 in the ghost sunfish color...