This weekend I have decided to try my luck with crankbaits. I am wondering if someone could give me an idea of which type to use for lake fishing and the water will probably be semi dark, so I am guessing a fairly bright one would be needed. Any ideas?
The lake I am goiing to has a strong population of Largemouth, Smallmouth, Rainbow Trout, Perch and Walleye.
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The color will depend on the depth of the water, and weather as well as the water clarity.
Try to match the most available forage fish in the body of water in size, shape and color. I.E. if there are shad in that lake, use a shad typy of crankbait, if there are perch use a perch type, etc. Since there are Rainbows, that will be a good choice as well. That said, you can also use patterns of fish that are not found in the lake as well, and be productive with them.
Make sure your crankbait runs in a straight line. You can test them out by tossing them close to the boat(or shore) and reel them in at about the same speed as you intend on fishing them. If they do not run in a straight line, tune them by tweeking the eye just a little until they consistantly run straight. I always like to tie the knot directly to the eye of the lure., Although you can use a snap or small ring, do not use a snap swivel to attach it to your line, as that will affect the action of the lure.
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Also, the water temp is probably pretty cool still, so I would recomend a broken back, suspending crank bait. Broken back lures have alot more "wiggle" than a standard lure. The suspending feature will keep the bait in the strike zone long for those finiky times.[cool]
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Great!!! I was going to post the water temp but at this point i can only guess. It has been in the 80's all week and tomorrow it will be 90 out. I am guessing the water temp would be in the late 50's. The fish still seem pretty lethargic with the non aggressive hits we had on Sunday.
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