It's no secret that I love to fish for anything with fins. In my pursuit of our aqua adversaries there are numerous lures that can be successful, however when it comes to figuring out the pulse of just about any body of water, it's hard to beat crankbaits. They come in so many different sizes, colors and depth reaching potentials that there is a lure out there for just about every situation. As I was thinking about this month's article I realized I have never really gotten down to "brass tacks" so to speak when it comes to these lures. That's about to change.

I am going to break this down into several categories, including equipment, lures, size, depth and speed. These choices will cover fish such as large and small mouth bass as well as walleye and hybrid stripers. We will also look at choices for clear and muddy water. Get a cup of coffee, sit back and relax, we have a lot to go over.

EQUIPTMENT

I use both spinning and casting rods and reels depending on what fish I go after weather conditions and water clarity. My basic crank bait set up for stained or muddy water consist of a Pflueger Trion bait cast reel that has a 5:3-1 gear ratio on an All Star 6'6 medium moderate action rod. Slower gear ratio in stained water with a rod that has more of a parabolic action achieves much better hook ups from fish that don't always see the lure they are striking. I usually use 12-15 pound Trilene Big Game line as in this situation I am not fishing deep. I am most likely banging these lures off stumps, logs boat docks or anything I can run the bait into. Clear or lightly stained water or on days when I'm fishing open water and its windy I choose a 6'9 Abu Garcia Veritas medium light action rod, Pflueger Arbor spinning reel and ten pound Fireline crystal. The flat super line allows me greater casting distance in clear water and more accurate cast in the wind. It also has no stretch and long cast still achieve incredibly successful hook ups at even a far distance.

LURES

In stained water I choose crankbaits that give off more vibration, Have contrasting colors and more than likely a square bill. Square bills deflect off shallow cover and cause better reflex strikes in these situations. Several lures that fit these criteria are: Rapala crankin raps, clackin raps the DT Fat. All these lures bounce off cover extremely well. The crankin raps are wide and displace water, the Clackin raps suspend and can be paused next to cover and the DT fat just moves a bunch of water and can be "waked" on the surface causing explosive strikes. In clear water there are numerous choices of lures that I use. Most have round bills that dive quicker and roll over objects at greater depths than squared billed lures. Too many to mention, but here are some favorites: Rapala's DT series including the 4, 6 and 10. The DT 6 is one of my favorite crankbaits of all time catching numerous fresh water fish for me in a variety of situations. The DT Thug is an awesome and lesser known lure that is excellent for hybrid stripers. Also in clear water, I may use square billed baits with more natural baitfish colors that run shallow, fast and can be extremely effective run under large schools of baitfish. It's a trick I use trolling for hybrid stripers in open water in late summer in clear water. I suggest you have a good grip on your rod, as I have had the rod almost ripped from my hands on several occasions as a wide wobbling lure under a school of baitfish tends to displace and frenzy the school, causing explosive reaction strikes from fish.

DEPTH AND SPEED

Depending on depth, if I am fishing a hard bottom, I choose a lure that runs deeper than the area I am fishing. The lure digs into the bottom stirring it up and in this case mostly mimics a crawdad. I want that lure causing all kinds of commotion down there and occasionally pause it, to let it float up and then continue the retrieve. If the bottom is soft I choose a lure that runs shallower than the depth I am fishing and use a stop and go retrieve in most cases. This will have a tendency to cause more reflex strikes than just retrieving the lure. Speed is obviously a critical factor and needs to be adjust depending on several things. Water temperature, clarity and mood of the fish all fit into proper retrieve speed. In cold muddy water, I will probably use a slower retrieve with wide wobbling crank bait so fish can find and react to it. If I am fishing clearer water in summer, I may speed up the retrieve with a lure that has less wobble and more flash. I want the fish to just see an image and react to that. Before choosing a lure, I look at the conditions I am faced with. Then I pick the tool that I feel with best fit the conditions I am faced with and go from there.

What you do not want to do is what I witnessed during a recent in store promotion for Rapala at a local Bass Pro Shops. A couple fishermen were choosing some of the new Clackin raps from the shelves and we started to discuss the lures they picked out. I made a comment to them that these new lures have great squared bills that really reflex extremely well off cover and on top of that they suspend. Neither one of them had any idea these lures had a square bill or that they suspended. Two major keys to getting the most from there lures. Both fishermen choose the lures for the color! Although I know this is easy to do, I want to encourage all of you that to get more out of any lure you choose, know what the lure is capable of doing and how you can best reap the benefits of what it was designed to do.

I have stated this for years that lures are tools to get a job done. If you know what the lures you buy can and will do, you will catch more fish on them. You will put more odds in your favor. You will be more successful and you will unlock the keys to crank bait success.