Working with Cranks

Today’s crankbait arsenal enables a sophisticated approach to fishing offshore structure. Baits built to dive to specific depths help dial in your presentation to match the depth of different structures and the depth bass hold on them.

Mann’s Bait Company pioneered the depth rating game, offering their Manns 20+ in 1986. They added the 15+, 30+, and 10+, along with the shallow-running 1-Minus, while Norman’s Lures released the DD22 and DD14 models. Yakima’s Timber Tiger DC (depth control) series reached new levels of depth specificity with lures built for 1-foot increments from 1 to 5 feet, plus divers for the 8-, 13-, and 16-foot range.

Rapala has the latest lineup, their DT (dives-to) Series constructed of balsa, with a weight transfer system to enhance casting distance, plus a rattle chamber. Over the last 6 years, lure designers in Finland have collaborated with American crankbait experts such as David Fritts, to create baits that achieve depth goals while also offering bass a look and feel that’s hard to ignore. The DT-16 led the parade, followed by DT-10, DT-6, DT-4, and DT-14. The new DT-20 promises to be one of this summer’s hot baits.

Depth-rated crankbaits allow you to predictably contact bottom and humps at various depths and stay in the zone across the many features that adorn the best humps. Note that the Rapala cranks are designed to reach designated depth on a long cast with 10-pound mono. Other baits also run deeper with thin line.

Despite the presence of big bass, don’t be afraid to spool thin line. On a recent TV filming trip to Mexico’s famed El Salto, Senior Editor Steve Quinn and Mark Fisher of Rapala used DT-16s to scour offshore channel bends and humps with standing timber. Fisher had spooled with 10-pound mono and was able to root the baits down deep, nudging and bumping them through the limbs. Wary of break-offs, Quinn worked with 14-pound line but soon had to respool. The extra diving depth afforded by 10-pound made a big difference in the number of bites. And they didn’t break off a single bass, among the dozens over 5 pounds they caught there.

On humps with thick vegetation, shallow runners and rattlebaits that work cleanly over vegetation often are the ticket. But also try casting parallel to the edge of a hump, in deeper water. Despite attractive weedbeds or woodcover, bass often suspend off humps in stable weather conditions.

Alternative Tactics

In addition to crankbaits, Richardson has had success slowing down and fishing jig-and-pig combos, short-arm spinnerbaits, and topwaters, after straining the area with crankbaits. He recommends options including jerkbaits, giant grubs, various other soft plastics, and Carolina-rigged lizards and worms.

These structures also are prime for swimbaits, particularly the weighted varieties that can be worked from 5-foot depths out beyond 20 feet. On the deepest humps, bladebaits, jigging spoons, and tailspinners come into their own as well.

Another crankbait tactic called strolling is worth noting, too. Classic strolling involves pulling deep-diving cranks or Carolina rigs along deep humps or roadbeds with the trolling motor, or by drifting if wind direction is favorable. To achieve maximum depth with crankbaits, strollers make a long cast, then freespool another 60 yards or so of line before engaging the spool. Forward movement with the trolling motor pulls baits across the structure. Crankbaits achieve amazing depth, Norman’s DD22s routinely bumping bottom in 24 feet of water on 14-pound-test mono.

Tournament anglers generally aren’t allowed to troll but they can achieve similar results, if in a more time-consuming manner, by casting a crankbait past a structure and then moving off, while freespooling lots of line. Once the lure is far enough back—again, 50 to 60 yards­—it can be retrieved to dive well beyond 20 feet while banging rocks, stumps, and other prime cover.

There’s something highly satisfying about scouting structures far from the banks that most anglers target. Achieving correct casting angles and depth control also yields fantastic catches of summertime bass.

Brett Richardson, Las Vegas, Nevada, is an avid bass angler who frequently contributes features and columns to In-Fisherman.