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a cranking rod that it has a nice soft tip, which helps keep the hooks from ripping out of a bass’s mouth.
When it comes to spooling your reel up for shallow cranking, I feel there are two options. The first being
monofilament. Mono will keep your bait from diving
Suggested Gear: To get the most action out of your frog and to help you get the bass out of the heavy cover, you’ll need a stout rod, but with a soft tip. This will help you give action to your bait and then with the solid backbone of a rod and heavy braided line, you’ll be able to get those pigs out of the thick stuff. My choice is a 7’2” Wright & McGill Frog rod with a Victory II reel; spooled up with 65-lb Seaguar Smackdown braided line.
SQUARE-BILL CRANKBAIT
To cover water quickly and also mimic the shad that the bass are feeding heavily on as they fatten up before winter, I use a shallow running crankbait. What makes throwing a shallow running crankbait appealing to a bass over a spinnerbait is that a crankbait looks like the food they are eating. By choosing the correct color combination, size and style of your crankbait you can match the hatch to what the bass are eating at that time.
Each shallow running crankbait has its own unique action and shines in a specific scenario, that is why it is important to try them out and determine their action. Some of my favorite shallow running crankbaits included the Mann’s Baby 1-Minus, Rapala DT Fat 1 & 3, Spro Fat John and the Strike King KVD 1.5.
Suggested Gear: To help make precise casts in tight quarters and place your bait near the cover and not in it, I use the Wright & McGill S-Glass Cranking Rod that is 7’ length. It is important when selecting
Cranking up some shallow fall bass begins with these baits. Photo: Glenn Walker
as deep, since it floats, so if you are waiting to run your bait over vegetation or numerous laydowns, mono would be a good choice.
Now if you need to get your bait slightly deeper to run parallel to a boat dock or around rip rap, then using Fluorocarbon is a good choice. My lines choices for shallow cranking are either 15-lb Seaguar Senshi mono or InvizX Fluorocarbon.
As you prepare to do some fall fishing, make sure you have these lures rigged and ready to go. They’ll product some great fall fishing action for you.
Glenn Walker has been fishing tournaments for over ten years, spreading his passion and knowledge of the sport via articles and videos. For more information check out glennwalkerfishing.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/glennwalkerfishing
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