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Old 05-20-09, 02:23 AM   #1
NWOhioBear
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Default Soft or hard cranks ?

I am probably going to get some crankbaits in the morning since most of the ponds I fish are just covered in blue gill. I am curious as to what is the better option? The waters are fairly clear a good 10 foot visibility some more. Not much in the way of cover most places they are sitting on the shelves mainly that I can tell. Where it drops from shallow to deep water.

Its still kind of cold up here water temp wise. Tomorrow I am going to take a thermometer with me and get a good gauge of how cold. Any ideas prior would be great though. I've been using a "texas worm rig" ? I guess lol. Used 5 colors nothing as of yet. Thanks for the help.

Simple questions

Soft or hard ?

Colors ?

Bear

p.s. Any links would be great thanks.
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Old 05-20-09, 02:36 AM   #2
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By definition Crankbaits are hard, there are a few that are kinda soft, but stick to hard cranks. I would say rapala dts are good cranks, or bomber or bandit. I like fat free shads by bomber or dt-10's and 14's best, but recently tried the new xps pro series from BPS and am very impressed to say the least. For colors, I would say match the forage, get a picture of a bluegill and take that with you when buying your cranks.
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Old 05-20-09, 06:41 AM   #3
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I'm with Bassin on this one. I'd also stick with the hardbodied cranks. He mentioned many good brands that I also use. Bandit make one in a finish called chrome bluegill. It's an excellent color pattern for what your looking for. Also, you might want to try a spinnerbait I've had very good luck with lately. It's the KVD line of spinnerbait. I believe they are made by StrikeKing. They have one in a bluegill color pattern skirt, with gold blades, one colorado and the other a willow blade. Thats been a very productive lure for me lately in the lake I fish which also is full of bluegills.
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Old 05-20-09, 10:20 AM   #4
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Rapala DT's are an excellent choice in a crankbait.

Since there isn't much cover or structure, and you're confident that the Bass are stacking up on the 1st drop, don't overlook working a wt'd creature bait or jig up the drop off slowly. You should have a field day.
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Old 05-20-09, 08:06 PM   #5
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Well these are the ones I got. I don't have much money at the moment one of the reasons I can fish so frequently.. Damn work but I went and got 4 just to try'em out. I got 3 bomber 4a's and one that was on sale and seemed to be more natural a rattling rapala..It's got a blue top silver side and orange bottom. I looked on the site didn't see an exact match and the box is in the trash.

The colors I got were fire tiger, royal shad, citruse.. I only used the citruse and fire tiger so far. I got a lot of tracking with the fire tiger just no good hits. Anyone know what I am doing wrong ? I tried speeding up slowing down letting it ride higher in the water. Just for some reason i didn't get any good hits on it. I did get some walleye tracking at the last quarry I hit though. I am going to stop by there early tomorrow and check it out again. They might not be bass but they are fun.

I am just using an ugly stick from shakespeare. Just a cheap set up if that matters. 10 lb mono. 6'6 rod not sure what else ya all need.
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Old 05-20-09, 08:12 PM   #6
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Sorry what exactly does wt'd mean? I am sure it's a simple thing just I don't know that abbreviation. Anyone have a damn dictionary of fishing terms they can link for me ? :P Sorry I'm a noobie again
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Old 05-20-09, 08:19 PM   #7
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I'm sure he was talking about (wt'd=weighted)
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Old 05-20-09, 08:31 PM   #8
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Ahh ok thanks.. The problem is with that the ledge is nothing but slime and algae covered weeds.. Good for the fish bad for having anything come accross the bottom.
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Old 05-20-09, 08:47 PM   #9
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Well cold water temps can kill fishing, that we all know!

But, I can tell one two things about cranks, they're not to great in colder water, and I never heard of a soft crank!?!?!

But most of the lakes/ponds I fish have lots of gills to! and when I do use cranks, I'll mostly use Rapala shad raps, and manns cranks, Bandit, and sometimes strike king.



http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descp...ES.html#pImage

http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descp...M3.html#pImage

http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descp...M3.html#pImage

http://www.rapala.com/products/lures...shorsalt=Fresh

Check this out!!

http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descp...BG.html#pImage

Good blue gill imitation, at a reasonable price too!

Have fun!
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Old 05-20-09, 09:05 PM   #10
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Ok stop teasing me about the soft cranks or I'll edit my post and make you guys look silly for talking about them!! Thanks for the information though.
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Old 05-20-09, 09:18 PM   #11
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i think yo are confused about soft cranks. meaning what oyu call soft cranks are actually swimbaits. and in order to use a crank in cold water is kinda hard to do. a swimbait is not a bad idea. or maybe even using a drop shot.
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Old 05-20-09, 09:32 PM   #12
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If you really wanted to fish a crank, what I would do is throw some Firetiger DT100-200's. Since Bluegills are their primary food source, you want to try to match your lure color with the color of the bluegills.

I really don't fish cold water, so I wouldn't know what to throw?!
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Old 05-20-09, 09:52 PM   #13
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NW, I have been taught that when the fish are tracking or following. You are on the technique, but the color needs to be changed. So next time you get the heat seekers, but no good solid hits, try to switch up the colors.
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Old 05-20-09, 10:17 PM   #14
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Welcome to the forum!

If you have followers you are on the right track. Since different retrieves didn't work the color change as suggested earlier is one option. Another is to go with the same color in a larger or smaller size.

Another bait to try is a weightless soft plastic. In cold water just cast it out and let it sink-don't move it much, just dead stick it. Watch your line-if it twitches, moves off or tightens up set the hook.
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Old 05-20-09, 10:43 PM   #15
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Would a Bill Dance "Dancin shad" be concidered a soft crankbait or a hybrid?
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Old 05-21-09, 12:25 AM   #16
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Ty bubba and well everyone. As I mentioned not a lot of resources atm so I will try to switch up the colors I never did pull out the one which was probably the one they wanted! Going to a different place today. We will see what happens. Also it's kind of nice that the walleye in the ponds react similar to bass in some aspects. Thanks again.
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Old 05-21-09, 06:54 AM   #17
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NW, hey there. Luckey Ohio is south of Toledo, isn't it? surprisingly, we've had water temps of 63+ degrees at some of the lakes we fish in MI, so I'd say a bit warmer here, especially being a smaller pond.

Around here, my number one crank is a Bandit 100 series in Chrome Bluegill. If the water's a bit deeper, go with a 200 series. The rapala DT 4's and 6's are great baits as well. Firetiger, bluegill, and even shad (or just silver w/ black back) are good colors around here. If there's yeller perch in the pond, Rapala's yellow perch color is great. Try the shad rap in the yellow perch.

By the way, I'm just west of Toledo, pretty much the outskirts of Sylvania. We should try to meet up somewhere, there's a lot of nice reservoirs west of me.

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Old 05-21-09, 09:28 AM   #18
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Nice bigbassin.. And yeah. Luckey is just south of where I280 deadends. I've only been back fishing about a week so I am still working on finding spots. I am heading back out to gibsonburg today then on the way back maybe stop and as a few people I know for permission to fish their ponds.

I would love to have a fishing partner. I'm trying to get my dad up off his *** to go with me a bit just it's an uphill struggle. Where abouts do you go and are the area's open?
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Old 05-21-09, 09:34 AM   #19
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Oh yeah one more question. Obviously I can't scent the crank baits any suggestions on a way to do just that ? I mean i don't think it will take much just more nothing would be better.
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Old 05-21-09, 11:33 AM   #20
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I just tied some thick red thread around the back treble hook of each bait.
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Old 05-21-09, 12:01 PM   #21
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Hard baits like cranks, spinnerbaits, and other fast-moving lures don't need scent. They trigger a reaction strike from the fish, not a "Hmmm, I'm kinda hungry, that looks good, but what's it smell like, yeah, I'll eat that" kind of strike. They see something small that looks similar to another fish, crawdad, whatever, and they take it before it gets away. There's no need for scent, since everything happens so fast.
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Old 05-21-09, 04:55 PM   #22
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sippi dude's right. I never put any scent on mine. If you want to, they do sell scent in like gluestick like form. I forgot the brand though.

I fish Metamora Reservoir quite a bit, it's about 20 miles west of toledo, and about 10 from my house. I also have a small pond in my backyard, but nothing but dinks in it. Surprisingly, tomarrows my last day school! and I'll be fishing a ton. Shoot me a PM and find a day or evening we can meet out there. We are going fishing memorial day though, so that won't work. Going up in MI.

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Old 05-21-09, 04:59 PM   #23
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Oh, one thing about Metamora. There's a sign that says no trespassing, so fishing, swimming, boating, etc. But they only put it there because people used ot come and party there and trash the place. You can still fish, but they do lock the gates sometime between 5:00 and 7:00 during the summer. You can still park your car outside and carry your tackle in. We've caught some nice bass there, but when it gets real hot, it gets choked out by weeds.


Hoping this link works.
http://maps.live.com/#JnE9eXAubWV0YW...cyMDcwMzEyNQ==

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Old 05-21-09, 05:00 PM   #24
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Ok, the link worked. switch the view to 'birds eye view' and follow 120 to the left (west) until you get to the railroad tracks. it's a bit south of there they cross.

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Old 05-21-09, 05:30 PM   #25
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Joel View Post
don't overlook working a wt'd creature bait






hows about inglish der joel.. text speak sucks..

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