DEEP CRANKING
Jared Lintner

Find and catch deep active fish

DO me a favor; stand at the front of your boat and look back at your engine, see that, that's roughly 20 feet. Doesn't seem very far does it? Its not, but for some reason many anglers are scared to throw a crankbait that can reach that depth, and they're missing out. Fishing the clear canyon lakes of California , I learned quickly how effective deep cranking could be. I used to catch crankbait fish during the spring and fall in shallow water, throwing small crankbaits and figured that was the only time fish wanted to eat one. When the fish were out deeper during summer and late fall I would throw jigs or a Carolina rig, but both were slow and required me to wait for the fish to bite. That's when I gave deep cranking a shot, while everyone else was either pounding the bank fishing for the same fish, or dragging a jig out deep, I was searching for active fish by throwing a deep crankbait on offshore structure.

When throwing baits that dive as deep as 18 feet, you need to beef up your equipment a bit. I recommend a 7- 7 1/2 foot fiberglass rod, the rod I use is a 7'5” Powell fiberglass crankbait rod. The rod needs to have enough parabolic bend so you don't pull the hooks out of the fish, but enough backbone that the crankbait's action doesn't double your rod. I try and use a light a line as possible, I do this to get the maximum depth and action on the bait, I stay around 8-10 pound test. As for the lure itself, I use a Jackall Muscle Deep Crankbait. I have found that this lure has a more realistic wobble then most others on the market, and the colors are dead on, it's unique and has proven to be a necessity when fishing the BASS Elite Series.

When fishing in the west, a lot of lakes are deep clear waters that have very little visible structure and a lot of fishing pressure. For those lakes I've learned to evaluate structure much better using the Jackall Muscle Deep Crankbait. I do this by working the bait through the structure and feeling what its banging into.

This bait is also essential in helping me find and catch the active fish relating to this off shore off shore structure. Its been a huge benefit when I've used that knowledge to help me catch fish around the country, deep cranking has its place at any lake at the right time, and no angler should fear going deep with a crankbait year around.