How to Fish For Bass With A CrankBait

There are all kinds of bass lures on the market today. They come in all shapes and sizes along with every color imaginable. It may not be the color of the lure that attracts that bass you are searching for. How you retrieve your bass lure can make all the difference in what you catch. Let me teach you four ways to retrieve a crankbait whether it is a rattle trap or quiet.

Retrieval #1 Retrieve your floating crankbait in at a slow steady pace or your sinking crankbait at a fast steady pace allowing it to ride just under the surface a foot or so. You will have to adjust the speed depending on what your reel ratio is so learn the feel of your equipment it will give you a lot more confidence and confidence will mean more fish. The slower pace could entice some of those lazy lunker bass who don’t want to work to hard to eat while the faster pace gets the attention of the bass.

Retrieval #2 Pull and Pause is a great retrieve alongside a submerged log or alongside of a dock or boathouse. I like to pull the lure about two feet then pause as I reel back the two feet keeping the line tight as I reel in. Then I pull another two feet and repeat all the way back to the boat. When using a sinking crankbait this allows the lure to fall a little bit simulating a minnow that is injured. Of course, the exact opposite happens if you are using a top water bait like the floating Rapala that sinks a couple of feet when pulled and then floats wobbly back up to the surface. Either way will entice the bass to strike and the fun begins.

Retrieval #3 If you want to fish a little deeper and still give your crankbait a little more action try the up and down method. I just use my rod tip to make my crankbait rise and fall. Even though this is similar to the pull and pause method of retrieval you will be getting a larger distance between the shallow and depth of the lure. You will want to get a 10 to 12 foot up and down ratio to get your crankbait down to where the bass are holding at to entice them to strike.

Retrieval #4 Simple try to incorporate two or more of the above methods and see what happens. Remember an injured baitfish is going to be all over the place. It is injured after all and I assume writhing in pain flopping around like a wounded fish. So if the bass are not biting try some variations on the above or if the crankbait is not catching them then change bait. You should have an arsenal in your tackle box.

Dennis has been fishing mainly for bass for over 45 years he has reviewed two ebooks on bass fishing which can be seen at http://www.squidoo.com/bass_fishing_review