Fall brings much excitement to the decks and livewells of bass boats across the country. With changing water temperatures, shorter daylight hours and fish that naturally know when to start fattening up, a lipless crankbait is a near-perfect choice from sunup to sundown. These lures come in a variety of profiles, colors and sound variations, but one of the most important reasons in choosing a lipless crankbait for fall is due to the lure’s versatility.
Lipless crankbaits have been around since the late 1960s when Bill Lewis introduced the Rat-L-Trap. Since then, hundreds of variations and designs have helped anglers catch largemouth and smallmouth bass in a multitude of fisheries.
Not only are they designed to cover water as a search bait, lipless crankbaits are also designed to draw bites from a distance.
No matter the type of fishery, these lures can be fished just under the surface, in the middle of the water column or along the lake floor. As fish movement advances, this is one hard bait that can get the job done no matter the depth or water temperature.
LIPLESS CRANKBAITS
There are many color patterns, sizes and weights to consider when choosing a lipless crankbait. An angler fishing over the tops of weeds would want to choose a lighter option versus an angler who is implementing the yo-yo technique in 20- to 30-feet of water.
The most ideal in my experience has been a ¼- to ½-ounce for weed lines and a ¾-ounce or heavier for fishing deep.
No matter how or where you’re targeting fish, color patterns seem to be very important in the fall. I stick to natural shad patterns to match light forage fish, or tie on a perch pattern for any lake home to yellow perch.
Multiple companies now manufacture lipless crankbaits that are worth noting such as Strike King, Spro, Lucky Craft and Yo-Zuri. These brands seem to dominate the tackle boxes of many anglers out west and for good reason – their results include a lot of fish photos as proof.
One of the major factors is not the packing, but the confidence in knowing that you’re fishing the right bait in the right area at the right time. Your confidence in the fall should be higher than that of spring and summer simply because largemouth and smallmouth are on a mission – to gain the most weight possible before winter.
LAY OF THE LAKE
There are two key areas to focus on in the fall when it comes to the lipless crankbait. Since many fish will be moving up aggressively to feed, giant flats next to deeper breaks can be extraordinary. These may be 8- to 12 -feet deep, next to an area that drops down to 20-feet or more, but the key ingredient is finding these flats that are also home to vegetation growing up from the bottom.
More often than not, smallmouth and largemouth will take advantage of key areas like this for longer periods of time throughout the day in the fall.
As soon as the sun sheds light across the flat, ticking your lipless crankbait across the top of the vegetation will certainly call out feeding fish.
This type of area calls for a medium-heavy rod with a fast action mainly because “clearing” the lipless crankbait from the weeds takes a fast snap or two.
Some anglers prefer braid for the no-stretch properties, which can certainly help when fishing these baits for a prolonged period of time. Numbers of fish keep me to 15-pound InvizX Fluorocarbon; because I feel more confident with this in the clear waters of the inland northwest.
THE DROP OFF
The other key area is the actual drop off into 20-feet or more of water. Think of covering this deeper water as a safeguard to “not miss fish”.
While this is part of the water column that often gets overlooked, it can often yield much larger fish. In my experience, the biggest fish in the lake or reservoir tend to do everything first. By fall, there will be a population of fish that have already advanced into deeper water in preparation for winter.
When fishing this deep, the same medium-heavy rod will work just fine; but I prefer to reduce my line diameter to 10-pound InvizX, because most baits will sink faster with thinner diameter line.
For those who prefer to fish with braided line, 20- and 30-pound braid is great for an even longer casting distance and increased sensitivity.
TIME NOT WASTED
Lipless crankbaits are a really great way to present a loud, noisy search bait alongside something more conservative. I often have a heavy football jig or swim jig next to it on the deck; because as you know, conditions change quick on the water and finding fish is the most crucial part to breaking down the bite.
The advantage of lipless crankbaits versus billed-crankbaits is the ability to go up and down in the water column without needing to pick up a different rod or tie on another bait. Identifying the depth at which the bass are suspending or relating can help determine which key area is best to start on and then working towards getting a few bites to duplicate the pattern.
Advertising