Crankbaits – Time to change?

How long do you give a crank bait to catch fish before trying another color/size, etc??

I’ve been reading posts here today of guys that tried and failed on several sizes/colors, jointed/regular, wow, I wish I had that kind of time, or do I?

My fishing trips are usually half day outings, more than that and it becomes unfair to ask my wife to watch the kids all day. So when I troll, I usually don’t get thru more than 3-4 lures in 2-3 hours.

Too long? How often do you switch it up! Love to hear some opinions on this.

Thanks,

Eric

I give two maybe three passes on each color until I find what’s hot. In Wisconsin… running three lines is a plus. I run all three rods different colors. Plus I mix it up by running one solid and two jointed or visa-versa.

I run three lines and one line is always designated the experimental line. This is the line I try new colors, sizes and body styles and a bait never stays on the line longer than 15-20 minutes.
My proven baits stay on my dedicated lines.

Depends on your confidence in the bite. What has the recent bite been, historical data in your mind, weather conditions, what you’re graphing, etc.

If you are running 4 lures as an example I always try to have 3 confidence baits to start in some different colors and actions plus maybe a wild card lure.

An example on the Missouri River system in May might be baits I know traditionally work well like a #4 Glass White Shad Rap, CD5 Wally Diver in Chart/Brown, a Perch #8 Shad Rap and something like a Deep Rogue, Thunderstick, Bomber 24, Mann’s -10, Jointed Rap, Hornet, etc. Baits that all have their days but maybe aren’t as consistent for me.

In a tough bite, I’ll go 25-30 minutes, in a good bite, 15-20 minutes tops.

Usually I’ll change colors and sizes on my preferred baits before giving up on them entirely.

Another thing to consider is what do you want to catch? Some lures produce more fish and some produce bigger fish but less of them.

I’ve certainly been with more and less aggressive anglers changing out lures than what I’ve outlined for myself.

T

Good post Courgar I was just thinking about this yesterday when I got home.

When trolling I will give each lure 3 passes. If it get’s a fish I go 3 more passes. When Casting each will get 15 cast in a spot. If it get’s a fish it’s the 1st lure used at the next spot. This weekend I was going through my lures left and right. I could be changing them too fast though. This weekend all my fish came on one lure. Just spread out over 5 hours, and about 25 lure changes.

Ryan

2 to 3 fish on one color and nothing on the next. Its time to change. The more lines out the quicker it can be to weed threw some un productive colors.

Great question Cougar.

It all depends, but it would be nice to have 3 rods per person.

For me it all depends on past performance of that color (confidence of that color in the condition), if I’m going over fish, if I think that lure is passing by fish, perhaps a certain color was the last to get a fish, I will leave it on and try new colors on another persons line or 2 if I have more than just me. I think it depends but if I think that a lure or color is going by fish and not producing and if I don’t have great confidence in that lure or color I will trade it out quickly, but again timing depends on factors mentioned above.

In that time frame I would say you are changing lures a little slow. 8 to 12 cranks per rod or giving a crank about 10 to 15 minutes to perform. If I am running 3 to 4 rods, I will get my tried and true favorite crank in the water first. After the third and or 4th lines are set, I will give it about 5 minutes and then switch out the number 2 line. I will then follow the same procedure to switch out the 3rd and 4th line. Hopefully after a couple of switches you will find one or two colors and patterns working. After one rotation, I then will change the number 1 line if that is not producing.
Even when I get the pattern and color establish, I will still keep switching one line to something completly different.

I totally agree with Lil Ripper on the confidence thing. A personal observation of mine over the years is that during the warm water months that color of cranks is not nearly as important as it is during the cold water months when the river water clarity is so much better. I’m convinced that fishing cranks in the sometimes murky Mississippi has more to do with the noise and action of the crank than the color of the crank. That and putting the crank where it needs to be which is in the strike zone of the fish. There are lots of good crankbaits out there to choose from. I personally like using the jointed shapd raps this time of the year because fo the extra motion and noise they create. I do have my favorite color combinations although i’m not convinced it makes a difference.

Eyehunter

I found out something about this very topic this past week. I fish out of my boat 99 % of the time and change when things get slow. This past week I was in a friends boat one morning pulling cranks. I found that when I am not the one running the boat I change a lot. I think I was changing lures if we were not getting a fish on it about every 10-15 min. We were marking a lot of fish and I felt that color was the problem. My friend thought I was going nuts without having to control the boat.

If I am confident that I am on fish I will change colors/lures pretty quickly to try to get more of my rods in on the action. I always run pretty much the same lures starting out and kind of have a bench rotation that I go through on a pretty regular basis. I would say that in a full day of trolling or casting crankbaits I may go through as many as 20 different colors and lure patterns.
One mistake I see made a lot is people who are having luck with a color then the bite shuts down. Some people tend to think that the fish turned off when the fish really are just looking for a different color. Don’t assume a color that is working will continue to work throughout the day.

One other thing that I am a firm believer in is that most crankbait fall into two categories….natural and bright. Naturals are shad, perch, craw, baby walleye, golden shiner, etc. Brights are firetiger, chartreuse, orange, clown, etc. It seems that if a color in one of these groups if taking fish then another color in the same group is likely to also work. If a couple different natural colors do not work then I will shift my spread over to bright colors and vice versa.

My two cents.

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I personally like using the jointed shapd raps this time of the year because fo the extra motion and noise they create. I do have my favorite color combinations although i’m not convinced it makes a difference.

Eyehunter

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Quit lying about those joined shad raps Eyehunter they just don’t work speaking of which time to place an order for more.

Before I change colors I want to make sure I have covered changing speeds and depths.Alot of times I have found my original choices were good and just needed to be fine tuned

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Before I change colors I want to make sure I have covered changing speeds and depths.Alot of times I have found my original choices were good and just needed to be fine tuned

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Good point Joe.

I’m the opposite of never home as that I fish out of my buddies boat 99% of the time and I noticed I was changing color,/size/style much quicker than he was and that’s why I implemented my 15 cast 3 pass rule, because I found when we are marking fish I’m going nuts if they aren’t hitting my lure.

Thanks for all the replies. Sounds like I should switch up more often. Switching to me is time consuming and I think I should be better organized with my baits to be able to access them quickly and make the switch quick.

I’m thinking of getting a tray together of the baits I want to use that day, rather than thumbing through the many trays I have along. That way I’ll have my go to baits and a series of others to try at my fingertips. If I’m better organized, I’ll be more apt to make a switch.

Eric

Before tourneys I’ll take a couple of 3700’s I have labeled “Pre Fish” with various things in them – cranks, jigs, lindy stuff, snaps, etc., I believe will be good choices beforehand.

In addition I’ll have a box labeled “Tourney Box”. As I go through the pre-fishing aspect certain lures prove themselves so I’ll remove them and put them in the “Tourney” box for use in the tournament. Many times even one lure of the same size and color as another is just better and I don’t want to lose a performer before the tourney.

It also tremendously reduces clutter on your decks and you’ve got the lures you need in front of you at all times plus of course your back-up stuff in your boat.

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Many times even one lure of the same size and color as another is just better

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I find this often in the Fall trolling. One Firetiger will hammer fish constantly & another one at the same time will catch fish, but not nealry as many.

Cougareye –

Lots of good info above, one thing I want to stress is to spend the extra time necessary to locate fish on your graph and then fish these fish. Get a precision trolling book and a line counter (either on the reel or external model) and go after and target the fish you see. Check the DNR webpage for the forage in the lake and run one line with a bait size, action and color that matches the forage and then run another one with a bright bait.

I am to the point that I don’t like to fish for open water eyes until I see hooks or lots of bait!

Good luck with your search!!!

ted