MIBowhunter
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Tiny crank baits can lure bass, especially in rivers
September 4, 2003
BY ERIC SHARP
FREE PRESS OUTDOORS WRITER
PORTLAND -- Good things really do come in small packages.
The little Rapala crank bait is only about an inch-and-a-half long, yet the Grand River smallmouths are going after it like it was their last meal.
Water levels are late-summer low, and it's a great time to fish for bass in streams, mostly because it's a lot easier to figure out where they will be.
A deep pool with current -- and in this case, that means anything above the knees -- produces three fish on six casts. Most of the big rocks that have a foot or more of water flowing around them also hold fish, usually behind a rock but sometimes in the slack water in front.
Another hot spot is in weed beds at the edges of open areas with good current. The fish appear to be holding just under the edge of the weeds and darting out to smack hapless bait fish that are pushed or swim too close to the greenery.
Most of the bass are 10-14 inches, but every now and then there's a surprise when a fish tail-dances in a rainbow of river spray and reveals itself as a chunky 16- to 18-incher that goes two to four pounds.
A lot of bass fishermen hold to the formula that big baits produce big fish. And that seems to be true in bigger water, especially places like lakes St. Clair and Erie, where the bass prey on four- to eight-inch round gobies and alewives.
But 10 years of experimenting has convinced me that the formula isn't as surefire in smaller waters, and especially rivers, where the prey tends to be smaller fish like spotfin minnows and baby sunfish, crayfish and even insect larvae like mayfly nymphs and hellgrammites.
The theory was bolstered a few days ago when I fished for bass at the dam on the Escanaba River. A half-dozen other anglers fished the same waters for several hours, and one of them out-fished the others by about 3-to-1.
When I sidled up close enough to see what he was using, it was a small, fat-bodied crank bait about two inches long. The others were tossing four-inch crank baits, big jig-and-pork tail combinations and bigger plastics.
I really got my eyes opened about three years ago when I tried some Yo-Zuri Snap Beans, miniature crank baits with bodies one-half to three-quarter inches long. I bought them because I figured they might work well on panfish, and they did. Sunfish, perch and crappies loved them.
The surprise was that so did bass, often large ones. Then I learned that Southern anglers often had a big selection of Snap Beans in their tackle boxes to use as finesse baits in clear water.
But before anglers run out to buy miniature baits, they need to be sure they have the tackle to cast them.
I usually cast Snap Beans with a 10-foot rod designed for European bank fishing, where anglers often must toss light lures and baits long distances. It easily will cast the three-quarter-inch lure 100 feet using four-pound line, but the little lures are hard to cast with the shorter rods and eight- to 10-pound lines more common in the United States.
The small lures in Rapala's new line are slightly heavier and cast well with many of the rods sold in this country. A good choice would be a seven-foot spinning rod designed to cast four- to eight-pound line. A nine-footer for the same line weights would double as an ideal steelhead, trout and salmon rod, as well as for warm-water species like catfish and carp.
I also like to replace the treble hooks that come with the lures with a single, better-quality treble at the rear. Multiple hooks are necessary on lures this small. And because I've gone to a single hook, I usually go up one hook size on lures for bass. Keep the same size on the Snap Beans, which are good panfish baits.
Finally, try to fish these lures like the real thing. In rivers, that means casting across and downstream, twitching the lure to make it look like an injured or sick bait fish struggling across the current.
September 4, 2003
BY ERIC SHARP
FREE PRESS OUTDOORS WRITER
PORTLAND -- Good things really do come in small packages.
The little Rapala crank bait is only about an inch-and-a-half long, yet the Grand River smallmouths are going after it like it was their last meal.
Water levels are late-summer low, and it's a great time to fish for bass in streams, mostly because it's a lot easier to figure out where they will be.
A deep pool with current -- and in this case, that means anything above the knees -- produces three fish on six casts. Most of the big rocks that have a foot or more of water flowing around them also hold fish, usually behind a rock but sometimes in the slack water in front.
Another hot spot is in weed beds at the edges of open areas with good current. The fish appear to be holding just under the edge of the weeds and darting out to smack hapless bait fish that are pushed or swim too close to the greenery.
Most of the bass are 10-14 inches, but every now and then there's a surprise when a fish tail-dances in a rainbow of river spray and reveals itself as a chunky 16- to 18-incher that goes two to four pounds.
A lot of bass fishermen hold to the formula that big baits produce big fish. And that seems to be true in bigger water, especially places like lakes St. Clair and Erie, where the bass prey on four- to eight-inch round gobies and alewives.
But 10 years of experimenting has convinced me that the formula isn't as surefire in smaller waters, and especially rivers, where the prey tends to be smaller fish like spotfin minnows and baby sunfish, crayfish and even insect larvae like mayfly nymphs and hellgrammites.
The theory was bolstered a few days ago when I fished for bass at the dam on the Escanaba River. A half-dozen other anglers fished the same waters for several hours, and one of them out-fished the others by about 3-to-1.
When I sidled up close enough to see what he was using, it was a small, fat-bodied crank bait about two inches long. The others were tossing four-inch crank baits, big jig-and-pork tail combinations and bigger plastics.
I really got my eyes opened about three years ago when I tried some Yo-Zuri Snap Beans, miniature crank baits with bodies one-half to three-quarter inches long. I bought them because I figured they might work well on panfish, and they did. Sunfish, perch and crappies loved them.
The surprise was that so did bass, often large ones. Then I learned that Southern anglers often had a big selection of Snap Beans in their tackle boxes to use as finesse baits in clear water.
But before anglers run out to buy miniature baits, they need to be sure they have the tackle to cast them.
I usually cast Snap Beans with a 10-foot rod designed for European bank fishing, where anglers often must toss light lures and baits long distances. It easily will cast the three-quarter-inch lure 100 feet using four-pound line, but the little lures are hard to cast with the shorter rods and eight- to 10-pound lines more common in the United States.
The small lures in Rapala's new line are slightly heavier and cast well with many of the rods sold in this country. A good choice would be a seven-foot spinning rod designed to cast four- to eight-pound line. A nine-footer for the same line weights would double as an ideal steelhead, trout and salmon rod, as well as for warm-water species like catfish and carp.
I also like to replace the treble hooks that come with the lures with a single, better-quality treble at the rear. Multiple hooks are necessary on lures this small. And because I've gone to a single hook, I usually go up one hook size on lures for bass. Keep the same size on the Snap Beans, which are good panfish baits.
Finally, try to fish these lures like the real thing. In rivers, that means casting across and downstream, twitching the lure to make it look like an injured or sick bait fish struggling across the current.
