Crankbaits At Night?
Norm (Doc) Klayman introduced me to night fishing with worms and jigs and black lights on Bull Shoals Lake back in the 1980s. It is still my favorite way to beguile bass when the rest of the normal world is sleeping, but it isn"t the only way to fish at night.
In fact, just about every type of bait used during the day has its night time devotees-except crankbaits.
I"m not particularly fond of crankbait fishing in general, but I do love night fishing and experimenting with different baits and techniques, so a few years ago I got to wondering why not crankbaits?
Since bass have little trouble spotting a dark worm slithering through the ebony depths at night, surely they can see a crankbait wiggling and bumping about. If buzzbaits speeding across the surface bring bass up at night, surely the average crankbait doesn"t move too fast?
A lot of people use spinnerbaits at night too. Why do crankbaits seem to be about the only bait type allowed to rest? Why is it one can easily find black versions of every bait type, except crankbaits?
Maybe there was a practical reason for the crankbait"s exclusion from the dark hours. I started asking other night fishermen if they"d ever tried crankbaits at night. The common answers were: "I just never thought of it," or "I"ve just never tried it."
Not one fisherman gave me a practical reason, so off into the night I went with hard baits attached.
If you"ve just never thought of it, or you"ve just never tried it, maybe you should. Bass most definitely will hit crankbaits at night-big bass.
My favorite method is to fish big, deep-diving crankbaits in relatively shallow water. It is a method I learned from David Fritz one day on Kentucky Lake many years ago. I retrieve them very slowly with frequent, short pauses. I"m constantly bumping bottom with this retrieve, and I only pause a second or two, but it takes almost as long to complete a retrieve and make another cast as it does with a worm.
The strikes come during the short pauses, on a slack line, so you"ve got to pay attention. Sometimes all I feel is a tick or a bump similar to a worm bite. Sometimes the line just goes completely slack. Quite often, however, I get this slight wiggling sensation. It"s weird: unlike any other bite.
Now, I"ll admit this is my favorite way to fish crankbaits at night because I"m basically a finesse fisherman. I find simply casting something out and cranking it back a bit boring and far too much work for someone who fishes all the time. But it is far from the only crankbait method that will work at night.
After using big crankbaits at night for a few months, I mentioned it to Dave Stewart, who is probably the best bass guide on Kentucky Lake.
"Funny you should mention that," he said. "I haven"t used crankbaits at night since I moved here, but I used to win a lot of night tournament with crankbaits when I lived in Frankfort, KY. I didn"t throw big ones, though. Won every tournament throwing a #7, black/silver Shadrap on shallow points. But I had it digging bottom as much as possible."
Dave said most of his strikes were hard, but I assume that was because he was using a smaller bait that must be retrieved faster to dig bottom. Whether you"re fishing during the day or at night, all crankbaits work better if they"re digging bottom.
Recently I read a report of other Kentucky Lake fishermen catching big smallmouth on the pea gravel points and main lake banks at night with Magnum Wiggle Warts in crawfish patterns. Obviously, a few other fishermen have been asking themselves "why not crankbaits at night." No telling were it might lead or what it might produce.
The possibilities of crankbait choices and techniques for night fishing at this point are only limited by the imagination of fishermen. It is things like these that keep bass fishermen coming back with renewed enthusiasm, decade after decade. It is, above all else, a thinking man"s sport. Now I"m wondering if anyone has ever tried suspended jerkbaits at night?
Author: Ron Kruger
Ron Kruger has been an outdoor writer/photographer/editor for over 30 years.
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