Spring can be an unpredictable time for bass fishing, but the big bass action can be outstanding. Here’s how to pick the proper crankbait to maximize your success.
Catching bass on crankbaits in spring is one of the most fun and successful techniques when fish are on the move. Whether bass are in transition to shallow water, amid the spawn, or hanging around cover to feed, throwing the best crankbaits for spring bass fishing will keep your line tight.
Crankbaits come in a variety of sizes and shapes to mimic baitfish, bluegills, perch and crayfish. The shape and size of the crankbait’s bill will help it stay shallow or dive to specific depths. The bill’s shape might also help it deflect more easily off wood or rock cover and may impart different action to the bait during the retrieve. A crankbait is designed with specific degrees of angle to the bill, body shape, position of the hooks, eye-screw and split ring for the line, and how water flows over it during the retrieve.
When things are right, and when a crankbait is ricocheting off rocks or dock posts or alongside a shoreline laydown, it’s hard for a bass to ignore. The red craw crankbait mimics a skittering crayfish darting to and fro. A shad-colored body imitates baitfish, while yellow-green or shades of black-blue-green-orange resemble perch and bluegills. Largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass love to hate crankbaits.
“Spring simply is a great time of year for crankbaits,” said veteran guide and tournament angler Jimmy Mason of Alabama. Mason guides on the Tennessee River and is intimately knowledgeable about largemouth and smallmouth on Guntersville, Wheeler, Wilson and Pickwick lakes.
“Whether I have a guide trip or am focusing on a tournament, I’ll have several crankbaits tied on to determine what’s working best,” Mason said about spring bass fishing. “I’ll often have two of the same kind, but in different colors, tied on so I can see if the fish like one over the other. It’s cliché but it’s true. You have to let them tell you what they want, instead of trying to force what you want on them.”
Here are Mason’s thoughts on five of the best crankbaits for spring bass fishing.
