Do you guys feel that crankbaits are less effective than they used to be with the increased fishing pressure on most of our lakes? Or do you think it is such a reaction strike that it doesn’t matter? I know Fritts is considered the best ever with a crankbait and his performance has been terrible the last couple years. I know that can be attributed some to age but maybe the fish are more finicky than they used to be.
Interested in hearing opinions on this.
Crankbaits are still very effective. These days there are so many different techniques that it seems it drowns out just good they are.
‘First off you have so many types of crankbaits from lipless to deep diving. You have squarebills to rounded bills. You have wide action to tight action cranks. The color selection is almost endless.
You can fish then fast, slow, stop and go. You can fish for the suspended fish, the bottom fish to top water action.
To me the crankbaits are the best hunting type lures that when used right can find you fish quicker than any other lure on the market.
I don’t feel they are less effective at all. With all the new baits that come out every year almost all of us go back to what we are confident in and catch fish. When the crankbait comes less effective so will the jig, senko, and spinnerbait. When they’re on a crank bait bite they’ll eat it. Feider said it best in his last article; “It’s kind of like fishing – every year I buy hundreds of dollars of untested tackle, including every crazy lure from Japan, and then I catch the majority of my fish flipping a jig or on a tube. “
And for Fritts he said a lot of the reason for the worst finish in his career was for someone in his family (I believe his mother) was sick and he was not able pre fish or practice for any of the tournaments last year.
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I don’t think their effectiveness has slowed at all
I feel like I've seen baits gain and lose effectiveness as they lose and gain popularity, respectively, for quite some time. I've always figured it's sort of the nature of the beast as a fish that's been stabbed in the face by a bait is almost assuredly less likely to bite that bait in the future. As the population of fish that have been caught by that bait increases, there are less fish willing to eat it. Then you've got an entire generation of fish conditioned not to eat a bait, its effectiveness dies off, and guys stop throwing it. Eventually you've got new fish coming around that haven't seen it, and the cycle starts again. Maybe I'm giving the fish too much credit, though I think there have been studies done on bass becoming conditioned to certain profiles (and related results suggesting that they don't become conditioned to certain other profiles).
I've not noticed this happening with crankbaits, though I'm a horrible crankbait fisherman so that probably doesn't help matters much. In fact, if I had to go one way or the other I'd probably say that they have gotten a little more effective around here, though I think that's driven in large part by more guys being willing to risk losing them to toothies and actually throwing them. MN is decidedly different than much of the bass fishing world, though, and I suspect that crankbait effectiveness will begin to taper off if guys continue throwing them a lot.
The bait that jumps out at me most for exhibiting this is the spinnerbait, except it's one that seems to have gotten "stuck" at not being as effective (relatively speaking, of course...I'm certainly not saying it's not effective anymore, it's just that it's not as effective as it once was and there are often better ways to catch them). I keep expecting it to turn around since many (not all, but many) of the "serious" anglers in my neck of the woods have all but stopped throwing them, but it has not seemed to make a comeback with the bass at this point. I think this is driven at least partially by it being the first thing a non bass angler will pick up when the walleyes or crappies aren't biting, so the fish are still being conditioned not to eat them. Other baits I've seen it happen with recently are frogs and Whopper Ploppers, both of which were like cheating for a time but which have quickly become far, far less productive (at least for me) than they used to be. I suspect that the chatterbait is quickly headed in that direction as I can definitely detect a drop off just from two years ago to this past season, though time will tell. Not willing to name off the baits that I've seen make a comeback after having tapered off....
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Gotta go with Drew on this one,(well almost) Yeah I think the fish become accustomed to having the same bait vibration all the time. When I threw cranks the last one I wanted to throw was what the pros were throwing,, because EVERYONE was throwing them. Then I was catching just as many fish throwing jigs with crankers in the boat with me. I just keep 3 or 4 rods with different weights tied on and still cover the same water as fast as the crankers in the boat..What I see are most fish are hooked in the lips (reaction bites) rather than in the mouth.
I'll throw a crank anytime, most anywhere I know there are fish there. The only time I might not throw one is when I am in some deep limbs and brush piles. I then might change out to a shallower crank if I can cruise it over those obstacles.
It's how you fish crankbaits, not the type or style. If you are not getting bit, fish it differently.
Spinnerbaits are another matter. I have notices a dieoff for other fishermen, but not for me. If you fish a spinnerbait as it comes out of the pack, you cut your bites to less than half. How you prep it makes a big difference.
I rarely throw a chatterbait anymore. 15 years ago when no one was throwing them, they were great. Even for deep spotted bass. A year after the pros posted winning tournaments on them, their effectiveness took a big nosedive to the point I rarely use them. I have better luck with a spinnerbait.
Agree, it's all about conditioning, as Drew mentioned recently it has been frogs and ploppers, years ago I recall the same with sluggos.Originally Posted by DrewFlu33
I feel like I've seen baits gain and lose effectiveness as they lose and gain popularity, respectively, for quite some time. I've always figured it's sort of the nature of the beast as a fish that's been stabbed in the face by a bait is almost assuredly less likely to bite that bait in the future. As the population of fish that have been caught by that bait increases, there are less fish willing to eat it. Then you've got an entire generation of fish conditioned not to eat a bait, its effectiveness dies off, and guys stop throwing it. Eventually you've got new fish coming around that haven't seen it, and the cycle starts again. Maybe I'm giving the fish too much credit, though I think there have been studies done on bass becoming conditioned to certain profiles (and related results suggesting that they don't become conditioned to certain other profiles).
I've not noticed this happening with crankbaits, though I'm a horrible crankbait fisherman so that probably doesn't help matters much. In fact, if I had to go one way or the other I'd probably say that they have gotten a little more effective around here, though I think that's driven in large part by more guys being willing to risk losing them to toothies and actually throwing them. MN is decidedly different than much of the bass fishing world, though, and I suspect that crankbait effectiveness will begin to taper off if guys continue throwing them a lot.
The bait that jumps out at me most for exhibiting this is the spinnerbait, except it's one that seems to have gotten "stuck" at not being as effective (relatively speaking, of course...I'm certainly not saying it's not effective anymore, it's just that it's not as effective as it once was and there are often better ways to catch them). I keep expecting it to turn around since many (not all, but many) of the "serious" anglers in my neck of the woods have all but stopped throwing them, but it has not seemed to make a comeback with the bass at this point. I think this is driven at least partially by it being the first thing a non bass angler will pick up when the walleyes or crappies aren't biting, so the fish are still being conditioned not to eat them. Other baits I've seen it happen with recently are frogs and Whopper Ploppers, both of which were like cheating for a time but which have quickly become far, far less productive (at least for me) than they used to be. I suspect that the chatterbait is quickly headed in that direction as I can definitely detect a drop off just from two years ago to this past season, though time will tell. Not willing to name off the baits that I've seen make a comeback after having tapered off....
And now the Jackhammer
I'm not into the theory that bass recognize baits. First off there are so many bass in lakes anglers may only catch less than 1% of a given year. Plus and in that years or last year creel numbers, it becomes to the point that we begin to think bass have some great memory here....they don't. Bass are predatory creatures, they attack things which bother them, disturb them, then you add that they have to eat what is n the water with them. They have no other choice, they can't jump out of the water and go hunting for other food. I think people give bass way more brains than they really have here.
Pressured lakes are caused by one thing, pressure on them by anglers fishing, every boat in the world zooming by, add in the jet skis, wakeboats, pontoon boat and lakes like Guntersville, 500'+ barges going down the lake and pretty much turning the lake into a mud hole as the go by.
We throw whatever lure you want to add here as a likely forage that bass eat or we think will make them be aggressive and attack it. If they are active or seeking forage they will eat it, if you tick them off they will attack it to get it away from them. This is what I think is the short bites and just the bump or tick you feel on your line. Crankbaits, worms, spinnerbaits etc., are our way to imitate that forage and in today's bait and tackle business they make them as real to life as possible. Color is important, sound is even more important but finding those spots where fish is and they are active is the #1 reason you will catch a fish.
I will give you an example here, for me at least one of the hardest way for me to catch fish is in deep water, be it with a deep diving crankbait, worm, spoon, jig whatever, I find it hard to catch fish in deep water. Well ... I do believe most anglers do have problems catching fish in deep water but yet as I have noticed most everytime I fish, the percentage of fisherman are not fishing deep water, they are near banks, docks, blow down, brush piles. But yet they catch fish on a more regular pattern. Then ask yourself this question, if those fish are getting use to all these baits then why do you catch more there than in deep water where the fish are not pressured with lures and where most anglers do not fish. It would seem in deep water you could easily fake those fish out with your lures since they do not see them near as often as those in shallower water.
I guess I am of the thinking that fish are just fish, they are either hungry or you have ticked them off to make them hit or bit your lure than they have a cheat sheet of lures and sit there and think this over and decide that last week I saw this type fish and it's fake. If that were a true statement fish would not eat real crayfish or wounded minnows either because what we throw imitate those and they fish now can determine of its real or not.
I purpose that we just need to fish our baits more like the real food source they we are trying to imitate, then we should get more bites that we did before. Back to the OP question now, crankbaits are a great lure that do a great job in fooling the bass or fish into biting, but worms, spinnerbaits, jigs and any lure that would be in those waters as a natural food source, fish are not that smart, they are just very aggressive creatures.
I agree with drew , I see it in muskie fishing as it's more pronounced that they are not eating that lure but will watch it for a minute. The old tried and true lures will have highs and lows and currently the whopper plopper is in a lull but in 5 years it will spike again till the masses of people start throwing it every day.
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For me, squarebills have become much less effective over the last year or so, but switching to a little John did the trick even though I was fishing the same depth.
I have found spinnerbaits to be making a comeback for me, especially the Terminator Titanium models that are 15 years old.
The one thing I really can’t explain is how unbelievably effective the Jackhammer has become. Once I really dedicated a few months to learning when, where and how to use it....it’s become an absolute killer for me!
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A bit off topic but I remember reading a while back where someone tested the concept of bass getting conditioned to lures and the only lure that they did not get conditioned to was the original rapala. I cant remember how long ago it was and what lures they tested but from my experience, I would add the 5 inch senko to that list. Maybe the neko has the potential to be one of those lures?
Imo the a rig shows more of fish getting conditioned than any other bait. When it first came out it was honestly easy and almost unfair. You were either throwing it or getting beat by it. As people have started to throw it a LOT, the number of bites you get on it becomes less and less. Something is making it less effective. If not conditioning, then what?
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I think a lot of t goes beyond conditioning. Delayed mortality kills more bass than we know. So what is left to reproduce are those that are not susceptable to current methods. Meaning we are breeding traits into the fish that keep them from hitting current methods. Which means we have to change methods over time.
I’ve not noticed a drop off with any type lure that I’ve used when I use them. Maybe them Alabama bass are a little more dense? I do not catch as many fish on crankbaits now, that might be because I do not throw one as much as I use to. I rarely catch one on a spinner bait, mainly because I rarely throw one. I catch most of my fish on the Ned Rig, properly because I throw it more than my other lures.
Of course there are days when I can’t catch anything, including a stump, rock or a low lying limb but I usually have thrown most everything I could think of. But that is to be expected from time to time.
The more stimuli that a lure produces, the more likely that fish will associate those stimuli with the negative experience of getting caught. Comparing a Original Rapala with a Rat-L-Trap, for example. the fish would become more easily conditioned to the Trap versus the Rapala. Dull looking plastic baits like worms and Senkos produce far fewer stimuli than crankbaits, spinnerbaits, vibrating jigs, etc. Thus, fish never seem to get conditioned to most plastics.
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Yep, A-rig has certainly lost effectiveness around here. It will still catch fish, but it has become more about skill in how to fish it and how to rig it. The easy days are over.
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