Steve Rogers has some tips to share on how to get more bites on your crankbait lures, from gear setup to stance.
Hi there, Steve Rogers here, today I want to go over a few easy tips to help you get more bites on your crankbait.
The first thing I want to talk about is the length of your rod. Make sure, if you’re fishing deep diving crankbaits, that you have a rod designed for that purpose.
A long rod, specifically something between 7 and 8 feet will have a better crank to it.
If it has more parabolic action, more flex, and a medium power range, it will allow you to get a lot more whip when casting the lure out there.
A big factor to getting more strikes on a crankbait is ultra-long casting. If you’re thinking, “Why do I want those longer casts?”--it is because often times when we're throwing bigger crankbaits, it takes a while for them to get down to depth.
When anglers have a target area, they often throw deep diving cranks right at the target area. By the time the lure gets down to depth, they have already missed that sweet spot. That is why we want to throw way past the focused area.
So, by the time the lure is down to depth you’ll be coming through the sweet spot, exactly at the depth you want.
To help with this, a long rod with more parabolic action will give you more whip and allow for a further cast.
The next thing to focus on is making sure your rod tip is pointed towards the water. If you think about the distance between your rod tip pointed up versus pointed down, that can be a 3 to 4 foot difference in depth. So, by keeping the tip down and you’ll get more depth out of your lure.
As you come into a shallow or a flat, you can slowly raise the rod tip up and it’ll bring your bait up as well. But for the most part you’re going to want to keep it pointed down.
Another easy way to change depth is to alter your line. Smaller diameter is going to get you deeper, and fluorocarbon will take you deeper than monofilament.
Don’t forget many crankbait series, like the Strike King XD series, have lures of the same color, profile, and design that focus on different depths. You should get a series of deep diving crankbaits, like a 6XD, 8XD, and 10XD. This will allow you to make more direct changes in your depth.
I hope these little crankbait tips can help you out on the water and allow you to get more strikes this upcoming season.
