The King Of Cranking Offers Hardcore Advice

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Anyone who read the coverage of the recent Guntersville FLW Tour knows it was a pre-spawn hardbait celebration. Nearly everybody threw lipless cranks, but that also meant nearly everybody lost a ton of fish.

The two seemingly go hand-in-hand – cranks and lost fish.

That's where winner David Fritts distinguished himself. He threw a lipped (not lipless) crank and lost very few fish. But note that even when the master cranker throws a lipless crank, he loses comparatively few fish.

What are his secrets? How does he decide which style of bait to throw? What's his advice on pre-spawn location?

The answers to those questions, and more, can be found below.

Which Bait When?

According to Fritts, one reason he threw Rapala DT06 and Rapala DT10 lipped crankbaits at Guntersville was water depth.

One of the hottest lipless baits on the market is Rapala's new Clackin' Rap, and Fritts has been throwing it a lot. But it wasn't the best option for his Guntersville pattern.

"The Clackin' Rap we have out right now is 7/8-ounce, and that's a pretty heavy bait," Fritts said. "It's made for fishing just a little bit deeper, and it's pretty hard to fish it over super-shallow grass. It's for grass that tops out at about 4 feet (below the surface), and you can fish it down to 25 feet. A lot of my fish at Guntersville were in only a couple of feet of water."

His DT cranks gave him better control in the shallow water. But why didn't he opt for a Rattlin' Rap, which comes in sizes much smaller than the current Clackin' Rap?

"I caught fish from probably 5 to 11 feet (of water), but it took a lot to trigger those fish to bite," he said. "Lipless baits are generally for more aggressive fish, and it's all a matter of how aggressive the fish are. If they're not real aggressive, it's harder to catch them on a lipless crank, whereas you can ricochet a (lipped) crankbait off stuff and actually create a bite."

So in a nutshell, while most of the field at Guntersville threw lipless cranks to target the most aggressive fish in a given area, Fritts threw a lipped crank to coax the non-aggressive fish into biting. And more often than not, the non-aggressive fish in pre-spawn are winning-quality fish.

Add one more factor to that decision process, though. "Everybody was throwing a lipless bait, so I decided to do something different.

"A crankbait's my thing – cranks and lipless cranks," he added. "But a lipless crank's almost like a spinnerbait – you chunk and wind it. To catch them with a crank like I caught them takes some skill, a lot of persistence and a little bit of luck – that's pretty much the combo for it."

The good news for lipless-crank fans who fish shallow is that Rapala will soon come out with several lighter models in the Clackin' Rap line.

Where To Look

Of course, Fritts isn't about to give up the GPS coordinates to his winning Guntersville spot, but he did offer BassFans a look at his pre-spawn methodology.

When he gets to a lake and wants to find a pre-spawn crank bite, he first identifies where "the really big spawning areas are."

"Then I get out in front," he said. "If it's a big pocket, I'll get out there, look at the corners, look at both banks going in, and I'll try to find where a creek channel or real deep water swings into that structure. It could have any multitude of cover – grass, rocks, stumps, standing timber – and those fish are set up there waiting to go into the pocket."

If the fish aren't toward the "outside," he'll next try to determine how far back into the pocket the pre-spawn fish have moved, and whether they're still clinging to deep water or if they've moved up onto the flats.

Water temperature is important there, and he noted that the water can cool down just as quickly as it can warm up in spring. So be prepared to move further in or back out of a pocket depending on the weather.

Hook 'Em, Land 'Em

Anytime cranks come into play – whether lipless or not – lost fish soon follow. Guntersville was rife with horror stories, where some pros literally lost dozens of fish over the course of several days.

Fritts admitted that yes, fish can often throw cranks – especially lipless ones, since they're flat, and that allows the fish to put tremendous force on them. Still, he gets more bites and loses significantly less fish than do other crankers.

Here are a few of his tips on how to trigger bites, and how to get them into the boat.

Fish High
"A hardbait's probably the best bait in the tacklebox for pre-spawn fish because a lot of times the fish aren't on bottom – most of the time they're looking up," he said. "You want to fish something over the top of them, and a crank really fits that criteria well. It's like a pendulum – it goes down then comes back up, and even if it hits bottom, it doesn't stay on bottom."

That's why a floating crank, or a yo-yo action with a lipless bait, can be so deadly. It's worth noting, though, that Fritts doesn't fish a true "floater."

"The Rapala DTs are slow-floaters, so they don't float up real fast." That can be especially key in colder water.

Take a Look at Hooks
Fritts designed the SureSet hooks for VMC, which come on SureSet models of Rapala crankbaits. The treble hooks feature an oversized, elongated hook shank on one of the three hooks.

"If you're not using a SureSet, you're not going to catch the numbers of fish you would catch if you were using them," Fritts noted. "If a fish bites a bait with that hook you will not lose it, as long as you have a good drag and the right rod. It hooks the fish much further back in the mouth."

He also downsizes his hooks – from the No. 4 SureSets that come stock to No. 6s. The exception comes if he's around a huge number of big fish.

"With a smaller hook, if a fish knocks it but doesn't really bite, he's hooked. The reason is, a small hook penetrates much more easily. And with the SureSet, you still have that one big hook. You'll see it when the Guntersville show airs. If I hooked a fish, I wasn't worried about losing it. I only lost one, but once I changed colors, I didn't lose another."

Color Matters
It's a little curious that Fritts equated lure color to a lost fish, but according to him, it makes a huge difference. If you're on the right color – if they really want it – you'll lose fewer fish.

"If they're just knocking at it and you're losing fish, change color," he noted. "Color has a big effect on how many fish you lose."

Go With Glass
The final tips Fritts offers for increasing your hook-to-land ratio deal with reels and rods.

For reels, make sure you have a good drag, and you don't tighten it down all the way, he said.

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