what is the best way to fish a lipless crank?

[fishcrazy123]

???????????

[veilside180sx]

Keep it wet=)

Change it up. Cast it out and burn it in, cast it out and do quick pulls, cast it out and let it sink and retrieve, etc.

[cimfl]

I personally like to change it up, from a steady retrieve, to a stop and go....a lot of times they will hit it on the stop. Other times I just rip them as fast as I can reel, banging them into rocks and cover....draws a lot of strikes. Experiment.

[arkansasbasser]

Get it in front of the fish. If you are fishing shallow water, be reeling in as it hits the water and keep your rod tip high. Deep water requires that you let it sink down. It falls at about 1' per second, so count it down until you are a couple of feet off the bottom. Hold the rod down low. I have very good success with a moderate steady retreive when fishing deep and burning it when shallow. I haven't had much success with the stop and go, but it works for some. I don't do much banging off structure as this bait has no lip and therefore nothing to deflect it away. Consequently, it hangs on almost anything it touches. It's that tight wiggle and maddening rattle that gets em.

[Hunt'nFish]

I agree w/ Jim. Mix it up. But above, particularly this time of year w/ staging fish, I try and put in darned near ON the bank and tend to retrieve pretty fast. Many staged fish will trake a swipe at it simply to chase it off it's bed...a territorial response.

But no hard fast rules....mix it up and let the fish tell you what they want.
Hunt'nFish

[Tar Heel]

Alot of chitter chatter about thse lipless cranks, Rattl Traps. I wonder if anyone else shares my observation that they are great search lures, but when I find the fish, I switch over to something else to land the bigger fish. They cast a country mile, which is great for finding the fish, and will fish whatever depth you want, but as Arkie Basser said, are not great for probing the very bottom--i.e., don't float off bottom struture. Not that you won't ever catch big ones on traps, but I usually do alot better for the big ones with a crank bait smashing the bottom, a jig, swim bait or drop shot once I id where the fish are at. Just my observations, and it looks like guys are catching alot of nice fish on traps, but I tend to do better with the above strategy.:twocents:

[fishcrazy123]

what about best colors?

[bassin newbie]

craw!

[fishnfun]

Chrome/blue or other shad patterns for spring and summer and then craw for fall!

[boblag]

Last year my number one way to catch fish was to troll or cast a 3/8 oz. Rattlin' Rap in craw. As soon as I started altering the retrieve (by pulling the rod forward a foot or two and then letting it drop back) my catch rate improved dramatically. They would often hit it right when it dropped back, like they were following it and waiting for something to change. The only time I might not alter the retrieve is if it is hitting the bottom, because then it's slowing down and speeding up anyway. It gets hung up pretty regularly, but they're easy to unsnag if you've got a boat. They seem to work best in 5-10 feet of water, but I've caught many counting them down to 20 feet. When I first started using cranks I did like the books say and bought a softer action cranking rod and used stretchy mono. That setup works fine, so I've stuck with it.