When first starting out fishing, beginner anglers often find that they can throw a squarebill crankbait on most rods and reels that they already have, excluding panfish rods. And this is true. However, refining your squarebill strategy and technique can help you feel bites better and ultimately land more fish. Check out this video if you're looking to learn advanced tips on squarebill fishing, as well as learning what rod/reel setup works best for different squarebill fishing.

Do you like FREE stuff? Sign up to our VIP mailing list to get unpublished offers like FREE BAIT FRIDAY texted to your phone every week. Seriously! It's FREE TO JOIN, and we send you a code good for a different FREE BAIT every FRIDAY!

Video transcript:

Speaker 1:
This is right where I was.

Speaker 2:
Oh, that is a fish too. That is a fish. I thought it was a stick at first. That's not a stick. It's a nice fish. Two and a half?

Speaker 1:
Oh yeah.

Speaker 2:
Three? Four? Five?

Speaker 1:
That's a [inaudible 00:00:24]. And you just figure out where I was.

Speaker 2:
It's that silent? It's the silent. I'm telling you. I got it. Go back to fishing. Get you a fishy.

Speaker 2:
Hey, what's up guys, John, from Mongo Fishing. Today, I'm here on the MonsterBass channel to talk to you guys about a technique that I absolutely love to do this time of year. And it just happened to come in this month's box. And that is probably one of the most underrated lures for springtime the silent Squarebill. So let's get into it.

Speaker 2:
All right guys. So, like I said, my name is John from Mongo Fishing, and this is the MonsterBass channel. Now, if you want to learn tips, and techniques, and tricks, and how to become a better bass angler, go ahead and hit the subscribe button right down there, along with the bell notification button, so you get notified every single time MonsterBass puts out another video. My channel Mongo Fishing be linked down in the description below. I'd dig it if you came over and checked me out also.

Speaker 2:
I don't do too many tips and techniques. I'm primarily tournament footage. But whether I do well, or if I suck, I still put the video out. I think that failure along with success is important for people to learn and grow. This year I'm trying to do something a little bit different. I'm trying to put out the tournament footage, and then a second video with what I could have done different, or the thought processes I had, or whatever, kind of like a part two. So anyway, if you dig that, come check my channel out.

Speaker 2:
Let's get into this. I kind of want to talk about what I like to do for spring. My spring cranking setup. And a huge part of that... And, actually I started in winter, not going to lie. I live here in the south. I fish fast and fish shallow pretty much year round. But something that I do is I'm a huge fan of silent crankbaits. The couple saying that I just really think, I guess, translate over into the bass fishing world also, and that's, "Silence is golden. Never pass up the opportunity to shut up. And if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." There's this big push for loud, noisy, obnoxious crankbaits. And they do work. Let's not get that twisted. But silent crankbaits have such a huge, huge bass fishing catching ability. That's primarily what I like to throw in the winter.

Speaker 2:
So, I'll show you sort of like my three... I guess my starting lineup, if you will. What I like to do in late winter through spring, up until like the spawn. So, depending on where you live, you may already be getting there really, really soon. But the spawn doesn't all happen at one time. There's fish in pre-spawn for a while.

Speaker 2:
Anyway. So, here's sort of my thought process. And again, I like to have, if I think that there's going to be a crankbait bite, I'm going to have three crankbaits on most of the time. And there's a reason for that. I'm going to have a silent, a near silent, and a loud, noisy, obnoxious. So, for my near silent, I'm a huge fan of the flat side MD 50 made by SPRO. You may be able to hear this. You may not. You probably can't. It does have a very, very soft light thump to it. It dives a little deeper, whatever, right? I consider this a silent crankbait for the most part, but again, it is not 100% completely silent. So, like I said, a near silent, this is what I throw.

Speaker 2:
Now, if you look on the bill, I have 79 written on there, and that's because I want to be able to look down in my red crankbait box, and based on the conditions I have, and the water depth, and clarity, look down and pick out the right crankbait that I want to throw based on everything I have. And I don't have to memorize all the depths, and et cetera. I can just look down and go, "That's a seven to nine. It's the color that I want based on what I'm dealing with." And then either silent, or same exact crankbait. Same exact crankbait. Seven to nine written on the belly. And then, the rattling version, I have seven to nine with an R on the bill. Same exact crankbait on both. That's sort of my little thing. Look at my tackle box and see which one I want to grab. The R or the silent version.

Speaker 2:
Now, for a completely silent, I am a huge fan, and I've been throwning it even in tournaments, not just on fun days, of the rudd red MonsterBass hammerhead from last year's boxes. And then this year, Rick came out a couple more new colors. Those went right back in the box also. So, yeah, I typically like to have the rudd red, or the little pink one that was in last year's. Also, another little craw pattern. And then, the new creamsicle, which is going in there also. Same thing, I have an S written on the bill of this one. I have two to four feet written on the belly, so I can, again, glance down, look at my box, know exactly what I'm picking up, and not have to fumble through a bunch of crankbaits to figure out what I got going on, and what I'm actually looking for. And then, like I said, I like to have three different crankbaits.

Speaker 2:
The third one that I'm going to have on is one that has rattles. This one just happened to be a Castaic, happened to be the same thing, two to four, see it on the belly. I grabbed it out of the box because the conditions I was fishing the other day, this was what I wanted to throw.

Speaker 2:
So there it is. I have a silent, a near silent, and one that has some rattles. If I wanted one that's got a hard knock, again, it's going to be written on the bill in there, so I know. This one doesn't have the rattle written on the bill, because I know this model only comes in the rattley version. So, I can just glance down. I recognize it. I've thrown it so many times that I just know. But I still have the depths written on the belly, just in case if that's... as a refresher, if you will. As for rod, reel, stuff like that...

Speaker 2:
Okay. Crankbaits are one of the few exceptions where... I'm not a big proponent of people having to go out and buy a special rod for a technique. Okay. I think you can get by with some things. You don't need special rods, special reels, whatever, for certain techniques. Crankbaits are kind of the exception to that. And the reason for that, crankbait rods are just built different. They're built so they give further down here in the blank instead of just up at the tip. So, when you're learning about rods and stuff, if you hear them talking about, say, a medium fast, what that means is a medium power rod and fast is the action of when it bends. So, it bends at the tip, and it loads at the tip very, very easy, but it doesn't load in the blank very well for a medium fast, for example, right? Fast does not load down here.

Speaker 2:
Crankbait rods are moderates. And so, instead of a medium fast, it's a medium moderate. And so this will load further down in the blank. And what that does is it gives you a little better power for the fish. When they're trying to shake your treble hook bait, it's a little harder because you have more give in the meat of the rod itself. It makes it harder for the fish to throw that hook. Now, this is not a crankbait rod. These two that I have tied on are both Denali Kovert series, medium moderates. Different models, but they're both medium moderates. This one's a medium heavy moderate. I also use that for throwing traps. But this right here is a Denali AttaX series, which is a lower end price point.

Speaker 2:
This being a soft or all purpose. Even though it's a fast action, it still bends down here, a little deeper in the blank, because it's a little softer rod. So, this being, like I said, it's a lower price point rod. Instead of having three crankbait rods tied on the deck, I will typically use this AttaX as my backup jerkbait rod, and my backup crankbait rod. So, the crankbait that I'm not going to be throwing very much, if I'm running three crankbaits, or if I'm running two jerkbaits, the jerkbait that I'm not wanting to be throwing very much, or that... like my backup color, or whatever, that's going on this AttaX. Absolutely love this thing. I also use this for throwing senkos too. I can just bomb this thing, but, whatever. Different subject, but anyway. So, that's sort of that, right? So, crankbaits, that's sort of the exception to when you actually do want, for the most part, a technique-specific rod.

Speaker 2:
Reel speed... Okay. So you're going to hear a bunch of people tell you to go with a five to one or six to one gear ratio. And that's, probably, what you're supposed to do. I run almost everything on seven to one gear ratios, and that's just because I've taught myself to reel slower with a seven to one gear ratio. I just like that speed of being able to get something out of brush quick, if I have to. Get it away from covered quick, if I have to. So, that's why I like to run seven... I think these are seven three to ones on a lot of these. But, seven to one gear ratio. That's just what I run. Again, most pros will tell you to run a five or six to one just so you can not burn your crankbait too fast. I just don't do that because I've just taught myself to reel slower.

Speaker 2:
Let's see. So, rod and reel... Line size! Okay. Here's where line really, really matters. If you have the financial abilities, the luxury of having crankbait rods, then you can use fluoro. Fluoro doesn't give very much. It doesn't stretch very much compared to mono. It sinks versus floating. Mono floats. And it's higher abrasion resistance. You can look that up with any line company. Fluoro has better abrasion resistance than mono. So, crankbait rod, run fluoro since there's less stretch, because your rod has that give ability. So, you don't need the stretch of mono. You'll get a little deeper crank because of fluoro with it not wanting to float the way mono does. And the lighter line you run, the deeper you can typically get it. I mean, I do most of my cranking with 10 to 12 pound Fluoro. I will, occasionally, go heavier depending on the cover that I may have to deal with, whatever lake, if I have a tournament that's really stumpy, or whatever, I'm going to be stuck a lot, whatever, I might go to a heavier fluoro.

Speaker 2:
But, if I can get away with running light stuff, I will run light stuff, because it allows me to get a little deeper. If you don't have the luxury of having crankbait rods, and you have to go with an all-purpose, then run mono. Mono gives you a little more stretch. So, that kind of allows for that lack of bend in the middle of the rod blank. Mono gives you that extra stretch, when a fish tries to pull harder. The downside is, it's not as abrasion resistant as fluoro. It's not as clear as Fluoro. You probably won't get your crankbait as deep as you will with fluoro. But, again, it does have that little bit of stretch for a good hard impact. When a fish just crushes it, you have a chance for a little bit of stretch, if you don't have that bendability that's inside a cranking rod.

Speaker 2:
That should be about it guys. Again, I love to go silent, man. I can go behind someone. Who's throwing a loud, obnoxious crankbait, or a chatterbait, or whatever, and pick up fish behind them, because I'm throwing something silent. And I think it just catches fish that aren't super aggressive. High pressure fish, whether it's high pressure conditions or high pressure fishing pressure, silent crankbait, in my opinion, outperforms.

Speaker 2:
Guys, that's it! Thank you guys very much for watching. Again, if you're new to the MonsterBass channel, hit the subscribe button right down there, along with the bell notification button, so you get notified every single time MonsterBass puts out another video. My channel, Mongo Fishing, be linked in the description below. I dig it, if you came over and check me out, also. Feel free to drop any questions down below. Myself or one of the MonsterBass staff will gladly answer it. If you want an answer from me specifically, try to tag me in it. Otherwise, I may not [inaudible 00:14:08] get the notification. As always guys, get out on the water, be safe, and go catch a MonsterBass.

Speaker 3:
(Silence) [inaudible 00:14:47] All right. Time to call it guys.

Speaker 2:
Here we go.

Speaker 4:
Oh, you got one?

Speaker 2:
Yep.

Speaker 4:
There you go. Proved me wrong. Is he a good one?

Speaker 2:
No, he's little. He's a keeper, but he's little.

Speaker 4:
I don't even think he's keeper.

Speaker 2:
Yeah, he is. He's 12. Stop it. That's how we both get poked, and the rules right now is just you. Let's measure him. Make sure. But I'm pretty sure he's fish number four. 13, sir. We're on the bigs. Fish number four.