A different take on lipless crankbaits
Lipless crankbaits are notorious pre-spawn baits or fall schooling lures for open-water fishing. They are essentially chuck and wind techniques for fast and easy search bait techniques. But lipless crankbaits are more versatile than that and can be used in a wider variety of patterns, here are 3 you’ve probably never heard of.
Deep water off-shore structure fishing
It can be mid-summer, or in the winter’s coldest water, the fish will stay off-shore shielded by deep water from extreme outside temperatures. Typical techniques are deep diving crankbaits, Carolina rig and jigging spoon. But few would think of throwing a lipless crankbait. That’s probably because most lipless on the market are lightweight lures designed to fish a few feet underwater.
That’s where the Cobalt Vib differs as it is a bit heavier than the competition, not only does it sink a bit faster but it stays are the right depth throughout the retrieve. It can easily be fish to 20 feet over humps, rock piles, ledges or deep grass beds. A lipless crankbait will catch and fire up the most active fish, you can then follow up with a jig or a Texas-rigged worm.
A lipless crankbait as a partner for Forward Facing Sonar
This new technology is opening up a new way of fishing and the book on that is being written as we speak. I like to think of it as ice fishing year-round. A lipless crankbait is easy to cast, you can watch it sink clearly and bring it to the fish and watch his reaction. It is very effective at gauging the mood of the fish, some will ignore it but it’s still a reaction technique, it can accommodate high speed of retrieve.
Even if the fish doesn’t hit, I still fish the bait all the way to the boat. It’s not unusual to see a bass appear out of nowhere and hit “without warning”! Finally, always keep a backup presentation like a soft bait ready for fish not willing to commit.
Winter fishing a lipless as an alternative to blade baits
A couple of years back I watched a video of ice fishermen using a lipless crankbait to catch smallmouth and lake trout. They said it often works better than the traditional metal bait they used before. One might assume it’s due to the presence of a rattle inside the bait drawing fish from further away. They were vertically jigging the crankbait through the ice.
And further testing has shown that indeed a lipless crankbait is a great option for sluggish winter deep bass. It can be fished vertically under the boat, jigged up and down. But it can also be worked on the bottom, with a wide sweeping motion with the rod and letting it fall back to the bottom on a semi-slack line. Finally, don’t hesitate to let it sit on the bottom for a few seconds to give bass a chance to get close.