deep divers
tiPS & techNIques
by chaRlIe WeyeR
Photos by Jody Only
W
e are moving in to the wintertime and the water temperatures are starting to cool. one of the baits that i like to keep ready in the winter is deep crankbaits. When i start out, i fish areas that are about halfway back in the creeks up towards main lake points. i’m looking at depths of 14-feet down to 20-feet for this technique. The best places in the winter are steeper rock wall banks with river or creek channel bends into them. Bonus spots on these areas include trees, rock piles and brush piles. These and other structure points are the best places to bang your crankbait into and trigger a reaction bite. i also fish humps, rock piles and other offshore structure with deep water access nearby. it is important during this colder time of year to think vertically. i know i am going to catch most fish on steeper, vertical structure from 45-degrees to rock-sheer walls. The fish just want to go vertical in the winter. in the spring, you will find them on horizontal structure; but in the winter, they just like that vertical placement. in some circumstances there are pieces of structure that hold baitfish. This is always a good place to run a crankbait; because it gives a point or a place for the bass to ambush the baitfish and that is something that definitely helps out for getting bit during this cold time of year. i find the bite is good enough first thing in the morning to pick up a couple of fish; but it really gets good as the water starts to warm - maybe, after 10:00 a.m.
Most of the time i am going to fish with Seaguar abrazX in 10 or 12-lb-test, sometimes 15-lb. in clearer water, i am going to use lighter line and in dirtier water then i’m going with heavier line. When i fish a deep crankbait, i keep the retrieve slower - almost a crawl - when the water is colder and then i will go faster if it is warmer. There are those occasional times when you can burn it in cold water and get a fish to bite; but i only try that in the afternoon, when there is a little bit of warmth in the water compared to the morning. i never try it in the morning. When you are going super-slow, you want to keep it on the bottom going so slow it is almost like you’re going to get stuck in the rocks. You want to keep it crawling on the bottom; because in cold water the bass will hug the bottom for warmth and you want to get down there where they are. Sometimes you will feel your crankbait run over them and if you hit them, they will turn around and hit it. They may not really want to eat it; but you are making them eat it with that reaction strike. i like to make super-long casts and allow for a long, lingering retrieve - slowly grinding it in to the rocky-bottom and causing this reaction strike. remember, you are not always hitting structure, if you’re really in tune to your bait, you will be able to feel the difference in hitting a bass or hitting a rock or wood etc. When i am deep crankin’, i use one of three Powell rods. i use an 804 CB, a 706 CB or a 754. For my reels, i also can use three different ones. i like a 5:1 in the morning to keep me going slower and then a 6.2:1 or 7:1 later in the day, when i can speed up. i don’t
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