Gentlemen:

I'm looking to get some info from some of you southern gentlemen on how to make a crankbait dive deeper.  I'm talking 20 FOW+

Any help would be appreciated.

I've seen people modify the lip with a lighter I don't know the specifics though I believe you heat the end of the lip up and bend it down, never tried cause I've never encountered more then 8-13 feet of water, maybe try some salt water baits.

buy one with a bigger lip  ;D

Fish it on a Carolina Rig.

Really, fish your crankbait on a Carolina Rig and use the leader to keep it as high off the bottom as you wish.      

What Sam said.  This also works with floating Rapala-style baits if you need it to suspend off the bottom.  Use a floater with just enough weight to get it down. Great as a search bait.

I use braid on my deep cranks...much thinner so I can get a farther cast, dives deeper, and gives much better sensitivity so I can feel the bottom.

Using a glass rod, I've found that the "no-stretch" of braid is not an issue, as the rod absorbs the load that normally the line would absorb.

[movedhere] Southeast Bass Fishing [move by] five.bass.limit.

I've always read that Fluro should be used with Crankbaits. The line sinks, so it allows the crankbaits to run 1-3 feet deeper then they normally would with mono.

Just a thought, not sure what line you are using.

Steve

According to tests in "Precision Casting" by Holt and Romanack, very few crankbaits dive 20 ft +. One that does is the Luhr Jensen Hot Lips Express 3/4 oz, which will run 22 ft deep on a long 100' cast with 10 lb line. Max depth is attained only in the last 30 ft of the retrieve. Using 10 or 15 lb test braid will get a foot or two deeper. For comparison, a Norman DD-22 runs max 17 ft deep under the same test conditions (which gives you an idea of the hype used in naming crankbaits!).  One brand I "sorta trust" is the Rapala DT series, which includes a DT-20.  Other than those, you probably need to get in to some custom built wood baits with very large lips.

Does running say a splitshot or rubbercore sinker a few feet up from it ruin the action???  The main reason I ask is beacuse I have a few crappie sized cranks but none of these tiny treats will run deep enough to get to schools of crappie. I also have a jointed shad rap 04 that I know catches crappie just can't ever get it deep enough unless they are near the banks spawning.

Like KVD said, Fluouro is a must, sinks faster and will get your bait deeper down to the bottom

The sinker doesn't really affect the action, as long as its a foot or more away from the bait.  It would probablydampen some of the really wide wobblers, but if using this technique i usually use shallow divers/narrow action baits anyway.  It would probably work really nice with crappie baits as the weight tends to ride over the cover and the floating bait tends to stay above it.

Couple of things you can do in addition to thinner line and C-rigs, is to use a three-way swivel or a dropper loop.  If bouncing off the bottom use a lighter rated dropped line so in case you get caught up, you will just lose the weight.

Another tactic I like, saw it in one the magazines, is treat the crank like a drop shot.  Drill a hole in the bill just a little forward of the ring.  Then tie on the crank with a long tag end.  Put the tag through the hole in the bill and attach a drop shot weight.

Eddie