Fish-Hawk.Net

With good sunny weather upon us all weekend, what are your " go to" crank baits & spinner baits this season?

Got a early Father's Day gift of a black & white spinner bait, ( normally use a chartruse) and before using wondering if it would be effective for pike/bass ?

Thinking of going to Dows Lake/Mooney Bay to give it a try with my son or I just might take a box of crank baits, just want to catch fish bigger than sunfish this time...

Does heat ever play a factor into using either crank baits vs. spinner baits?

Look forward to learning & reading your thoughts & suggestions .....

Azabache & Junior.

I was just fishing mooneys bay with a chartreuse spinner bait for Pike. No pike and the bass in shallow were just followers. I was running my spinnetbait pretty shallow however to target mostly Pike. I have caught a lot of pike on white spinner baits. I would suggest that if you just get follows on the spinnerbait or you want to get a bit deeper (the fish were just basking in the shallow water because of the sun) that you switch to a crank.

You can't dissapoint the kids however.... You have to start with the spinnerbait!!!

Rod

Nice collection of cranks. I would ad a BIG O to your collection. For me it is my go to crank bait. Actually it's my go to lure period.

Spinnerbaits are great when you want to cover a lot of water. As previously said, they can be a good starting point especially for pike.
I have several in the ole red & white colour and have been doing quite well with them so far this season.
A thought, though, about the fish which are just following. If you see this a few times, it might be worth switching from whatever you are using to a suspending crankbait which can entice a few hits if nothing else does. If you see the follow, you can stop your retrieve, let it hover, and even twitch it a bit. Occasionally they'll move up and smack it just for spite....
Tight lines.

I use both a lot but having been using spinnerbaits for a lot longer.

I'll use spinner baits in weedy areas where cranks wont go through as easily. I'll use crank in rocky or sparse weed cover. In both scenarios, I will use them when the weather is stable. If the fish shut down because of a cold front or something, I will rarely throw either and go back to a worm or craw.

All really good info and good for the brain...

I concur with Adam on where I utilize each one.

I will also echo Don's comment and really want to emphasize the pause on retrieve!

It is a crucial step often overlooked with crank and jerkbaits. Reel, reel, pause 1,2,3, jerk, pause,1,2,3 reel. Try variations and watch the magic happen. Especially in pressured areas where they get lots of lures presented to them.

Also, regarding your spinner bait, great eye on your young lad, and I would suggest a stained water day for that bad boy, as it has a Colorado blade and a willow blade ( the long narrow one) and they will make a lot of noise, which is very useful for muddy or stained water to attract those big toothy predators!

Tight lines!

Thank you to all , Peron, Kerazzy, donw , Lape0019, jule0612,

Great tips & advise from all to put into practice.
Monday this past week was a bust, no fish , quite warm day, 1 follower but still all good as spent time with Junior exploring the area. Noted the water levels were quite low at the bottom of the Hog's back falls..Did see some LARGE carp ( Peron mentioned to look out for this...) but not takers.

However we moved on to the Rideau Canal in the early evening & very different outcome.
7 fish later Junior gets to hook up with a dandy fish on a Rapala shad rap deep in Olive .

http://www.rapala.com/rapala/shadow-rap ... a&start=36

Did not measure or scale it , but I can assure you , it was over 5 lbs! You can see it has quite the belly. Noted that all week the cotton cordell white Big O ( 077 model number ) has been quite the fancy of the local bass in that Area, here is one healthy fish from earlier today on my way to work..
Will be trying out more of your tips, spinners, cranks on Sunday at dusk..

Thanks to all who contribute & please keep sending your ideas & tips for all to share. i will try to ad on more info as we get more & include the type of bait/lure used .

Azabache & Junior.

Nice fish! Keep it up!

Rod

Congrats on some nice fish and the Big O has always been a great plug to put in the water for all species of fish.