Early spring lipless cranks?

[Bassboss]

I plan on trying this technique, as soon as the season starts. Water temp I guess will probably be in the 40's and low 50's.

I'm kinda clueless on were to start. I'm sure it'll nothing like fishing them fast in the summer. I suspect it'll be slow... well slow for a lipless crankbait that is. I'm pretty much wondering how my retrieve should be and what I should be looking for when I throw 'em.

Thanks for any pointers!

[soua0363]

The time of day, body of water, water temp, and the mood of the bass will dictate what is going to work so there is no one go to method. Sometime a fast retrieve is the ticket and other times a slow hopping retrieve will do the trick. I usually start with a faster retrieve and see if I can get the them to chase and if that fails, I would let the bait flutter down and then slowly hop or "pop" the bait up real quick and then let it flutter down again. I have also had luck just reeling the lipless straight in but with a slower reel...5:1 gear ratio.

The sizes I used this time of year is 1/2 ounce and then go up from there to 1 ounce as the weather and the water temp warm up.

[ecu daniel 14]

ive had a tremendous amount of luck on lipless cranks already this year. In fact 95% of all bass and stripers Ive caught were on these. I use 1/2 oz and I slow roll them on my 7.3:1 zillion so I guess its essentially 6.4:1???...sometimes I yo-yo them or jerk the rod around to give it even more erratic action.

[damian_megabass]

The time of day, body of water, water temp, and the mood of the bass will dictate what is going to work so there is no one go to method. Sometime a fast retrieve is the ticket and other times a slow hopping retrieve will do the trick..

X2

I've had more luck with jerkbaits, jigs, and spinner baites during this season than lipless cranks. Or maybe it's because my selection of lipless is too small to care and use this bait.