|
5/10/2001
-
Article/Press
Release
Getting
Cranky
By Turk Gierke
The
Northland’s crankbait craze all started with the invention of the
Shad Rap. Sure anglers
have been trolling lures such as Worden’s flatfish, various
Heddon’s, and Rapala countdown and floating minnows for years.
The Shad raps differed from the rest.
Flatfish - half moon shaped lures with a unibody bill, that
when trolled through the water are presented as a down turned smile.
Countdowns and floating minnows - straight lures with a small
circular bill and small rectangular bill with rounded edges
respectively, both bills are attached to the lures body in the
manufacturing process.
 Other
lures have been vaguely similar to the shad rap such as a currently
rare Heddon Tadpolly Spook, the shad rap was truly unique because of
the lures slim shad profile and elongated bill.
Upon it’s entrance into the market the lure was so hot in
places such as Lake Mille Lacs that the lures sold for up to twenty
dollars on the then four dollar price tag.
The
shad raps key feature was the elongated bill and the placement of
the o-ring behind the tip of the lure.
The o ring placement allowed the shad rap to tilt down when
trolled and the tip of the bill contacts bottom first, thus allowing
the lure to more easily skip off of rocks and other bottom substrate
with out becoming snagged as say a countdown would.
In
the countdowns defense, countdowns excel at running through edges of
sunken wood without becoming snagged when presented on the troll.
The reason is countdowns and floating minnows are tied
directly to the nose of the lure and the length of the lure runs
parallel with the line, the lure then bullets through cover with a
slimmer profile than a tilted crankbait.
An
important ingredient to making today’s crankbaits catch fish is
bottom contact. Whether
trolling lures 80 feet directly behind the boat or on a Wolf River
rig, when the crankbait pops a small rock or becomes momentarily
stuck in the bottom, the consequent erratic movement drives nearby
walleye to pounce the lure like a cat on a mouse.
Proven
high water river walleye catching tactics include trolling
crankbaits. Often
during high water fish scatter in search of food, and fish are
further displaced by rising or lowering waters.
Longline trolling where line is played back behind the boat
until the lure makes bottom contact is good at finding scattered
fish. One note on
crankbaits; these floating lures dive to a finite depth regardless
of how much line is released off of the spool.
The depth reached is essentially based on bill size and the
diameter of the attaching line.
Crankbaits
catch walleye from Great Lake Eire and east to the Northwest’s
Columbia River. In fact
all gamefish slam cranks - either cast or trolled - largemouth bass
from Florida to the midwest, big northern pike can’t resist
turning these lures into a jumble of cracked wood, straightened
hooks, and bent wired, naturally flathead catfish are no less
twisted on their intent. Crankbaits are not the end all but; this
twenty year craze continues and surely is no fad.
Keep
catchin’
Turk
Gierke operates Croixsippi Fishing Guide Service and can be reached
at fish@croixsippi.com or 1
715-377-0006.
|
