Fishing Lipless Crankbaits for Late Winter Bass

A highly effective bait when fishing for late winter bass is the lipless crankbaits. Lipless crankbaits are versatile lures that mimic the action and sound of a fleeing prey such as minnows and crayfish, thereby enticing bass to strike. 

Advantages of Lipless Crankbaits

Versatility: Lipless crankbaits can be fished in a variety of conditions, including clear and stained water, shallow or deep water, using different retrieve speeds and actions. This versatility makes them a great option for anglers who are unsure of what the conditions will be like on the water.

Attraction: Most lipless crankbaits emit a distinct vibration and rattling sound, attracting bass even in clear to low-visibility water. This makes lipless cranks an effective option when fishing in changing water clarities.

Sinking Ability: Unlike other crankbaits that float, most lipless crankbaits sink to the bottom when not being retrieved, making them ideal for fishing in deep water or reaching bass suspended in the water column.

Tips for Fishing Lipless Crankbaits During Late Winter

Location: Late winter is a time when bass move from deeper water towards the shallows, so focus on fishing breaks and flats near drop-offs, creek channels, weed lines, ledges, and other structures where bass are likely to be hanging.

KVD on Fishing Lipless Crankbaits

Did you hear that Kevin VanDam (KVD) won the 2010 Bassmaster Classic on Lay Lake, Alabama using Strike King’s Red Eye Shad, a lipless crankbaits?

How to Fish the Lipless Crankbaits …

In this short video, Kevin VanDam discusses the characteristics and describes how to fish the Red Eye Shad under a variety of conditions …

Great video isn’t it!

KVD provided a number of pointers on how to fish the red eye shad more effectively including:

• Use different sizes of the red eye shad to cover different depth ranges
• Vary the retrieve using yo-yo, stop n go, sweep-stop approaches
• Keep the bait in contact with bottom cover such as stumps & grass beds
• Use a few different baitcasting combos rigged with different line weights (helps with depth control)
• Vary the speed of retrieve to help trigger strikes …

I hope you found this post and video helpful … Please leave comments below with any questions or suggestions you have 

Tight lines and full livewells …

Cold Water Lipless Crankbait Tips

Lipless crankbaits can be one of your best cold water bass catching tools starting in the fall through the pre-spawn season. 

Using the right gear, bait size, cadence and type of retrieve for the conditions (water temp, water color, type of cover) can make all the difference in the world. Take a few moments and listen to bass pro Gerald Swindle explain his tips to increase your lipless crankbait fishing success:

Fishing for Ice Out Smallmouth Bass

After a long north country winter, cabin fevered smallmouth bass anglers itch for the day the ice leaves and we can hit the water to connect with then ole brown fish.

Armed with our favorite ice-out baits like:

• hair jigs
• suspending crankbaits
• thin, flat-sided crankbaits (like shad raps)
• Small spoons or jigging minnows

we head out to find transition areas between their deep water wintering homes and the shallow feeding flats and spawning bays and probe those areas with our traditional ice-out lure arsenal.

There is one bait and presentation we sometimes overlooked shortly after the ice cover departs... using a yo-yo retrieve with a lipless crankbait. 

It can be a smallie killer under the right conditions as Doug Stange from InFiseherman demos in the following video...

I often use yo-yo retrieves with lipless cranks for ice-out largies with great success, time to try it on smallies as well!

Tips for Fishing Lipless Crankbaits

Lipless crankbaits are versatile hard baits that can be fished throughout the year by varying the color pattern, size and retrieves used…

Though good just about anytime, lipless crankbaits really shine during those times of year when bass are actively chasing schooled baitfish, especially in the fall!

Here are some great tips from FLW Touring Pro, Scott Suggs on the equipment and approaches to fishing lipless crankbaits on sloping structures…

Enjoy!

Fishing Weeds with Lipless Crankbaits

It’s summertime and for many bass anglers, the fishing might not be so easy; especially if they’re not good at fishing weeds.

This is the time of year where weed beds dominate a majority of our rivers and lakes so knowing every weed fishing trick definitely helps save many trips during the dog days of summer.

One bait often overlooked for fishing weed beds are lipless crankbaits since many anglers think the exposed hooks hang to often. Truth be told, they can be great assets when fishing weed beds if used properly.

Take a moment and watch the following video produced by the folks at Wired2Fish as they explain the best equipment, approach and retrieves to use when using lipless crankbaits in the weeds…

Are the weedbeds flushed out on your favorite pond?

Time to get those lipless cranks out if so!

KVD on Fishing Lipless Crankbaits

Did you hear that Kevin VanDam (KVD) won the 2010 Bassmaster Classic on Lay Lake, Alabama using Strike King’s Red Eye Shad?

In this short video, Kevin VanDam discusses the characteristics and describes how to fish lipless crankbaits under a variety of conditions…

Great video isn’t it!

KVD provided a number of pointers on how to fish the red eye shad more effectively including:

• Use different sizes of the red eye shad to cover different depth ranges
• Vary the retrieve using yo-yo, stop n go, sweep-stop approaches
• Keep the bait in contact with bottom cover such as stumps & grass beds
• Use a few different baitcasting combos rigged with different line weights (helps with depth control)
• Vary the speed of retrieve to help trigger strikes …