Alex Rudd (the self-proclaimed crankbait fiend) dispels common myths about crankbaits when bass fishing in the fall. The crankbait is one of the best baits for fall fishing, and these tips and tricks will help you get out there and catch some big fall bass! 

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Video transcript:

Alex Rudd:
What's up guys and welcome back to the Monster Bass channel. For you guys that don't know me, my name is Alex Rudd and I own and operate the Alex Rudd Fishing Channel. For you guys that do know me, you know I love to fish a crank bait and really a crank bait for me is a bait that in some form or another, I have tied on 24/7, 365, total confidence bait for me in all of its different forms. And today I want to talk about crank bait fishing. More specifically, I want to talk about fall crank bait fishing, and even more specifically than that, some myths around crank bait fishing that I think need to be dispelled that'll help you guys to catch more fish during the fall of transition on into the winter and even into the spring of the year when you're cranking a crank bait. And hopefully for you guys give you some tips, some tricks, some ideas, and some techniques to go out there and turn a crank bait into a bait that you've got tied on all the time just like I do and can catch fish on it.

Alex Rudd:
So the first myth is going to be that the crank bait always has to be touching the bottom or in contact when the bottom when you're using it. Now, is it optimum for it to be touching the bottom? Oftentimes, yes. I mean, that's why we design the seeker. The seeker is an awesome bait because we designed the seeker six, eight, and 12. And the reason we did that is we wanted to give you a small body, medium diving crank bait to hit three specific depth ranges so that you would have a bait that can hit those depth ranges effectively and obviously being contacted with the bottom. But with a bait lock the seeker, something that's going to hit that four to 12 foot range of water, it doesn't always have to be touching the bottom, especially during the fall. A lot of fish this time of year, as they either start to transition up from being deep during the summer, or transition back down from being shallow in the fall, going into those kinds of winter haunts that they go into, oftentimes they will suspend in those transitions.

Alex Rudd:
And as we go through these weather changes that we're going through right now, whether it be cold fronts, warm fronts, rain, drought, water going up, water going down, a lot of the Tom fish will suspend off the bank to kind of avoid and get away from the turbulence of all those different weather changes, the water flowing in, the water flowing out, all the things that happen this time of year. And so when they suspend one of the best tools to go in to hit those fish living in that suspended water is a crank bait because a lot of fish that suspend, you want to get them to react and one of the best reaction baits out there is going to be a crank bait. And I have found this time of year fishing those steeper banks, fishing those areas where fish transition in and out and fishing those areas where those fish can get off the bank and suspend a little bit that a crank bait is going to be a bait that just gets bit.

Alex Rudd:
One of my favorite scenarios to fish a small body crank bait like your seeker and is going to be bluff walls. And the reason that I focus on bluff walls specifically with a bait like the seeker and specifically in the fall is because a bluff wall allows a fish to transition up and down very easily without having to move a super long distance. And so what I mean by that is if a fish is on a more vertical piece of cover or structure, all they have to do is when the water goes up, they follow it up. When it goes down, they follow it down. They never essentially have to change their depth range, they just have to float up with the water and sink down with the water, that's it. Oftentimes in the fall, as we have the water coming up and down, as you have a lot of this turbulent weather like we were talking about, turbulent conditions, a fish doesn't want to have to swim horizontally.

Alex Rudd:
They don't want to have to swim three or 400 yards in one direction. They just want to be able to follow that water up and down. And so being able to really fish those bluff walls effectively can be huge. And one of my favorite tools again, is the crank bait. And oftentimes when I'm fishing those bluffs, kind of getting back to the original idea of this bait doesn't have to touch the bottom, I don't touch the bottom. I essentially am reeling that bait down through the column, I am hitting that depth range that those fish are living in, and I'm catching those suspended fish. And with the seeker, again being a tool, you get the seeker six, a seeker eight, and a seeker 12, you've got three very distinct tools, hit three different depth ranges to really help you to optimize those different depth ranges where those fish happen to be living.

Alex Rudd:
So the second myth that I want to bust is that you have to have a crank bait specific rod and reel to go out into fish a crank bait effectively. It's just simply not true. Now for me, I have a ton of crank bait specific rod and reel setups because I fish a crank bait a whole, whole lot. I mean, I spent tens of thousands of hours every single year with a crank bait in my hand. And so I have built rod and reel setups in a way that it optimizes my fish ability of this crank bait, my ability to put fish in a boat, to fight fish, to throw this bait, to crank this bait back. I know exactly what I'm looking for in the tools that I use for crank bait fishing, but I know a lot of you guys need to consolidate your tools and/or only have a few tools at your disposal for fishing a bunch of different baits.

Alex Rudd:
And so having a crank bait specific rod and reel isn't an absolute must. But I will say that one thing you can do to help you to make crank bait fishing more efficient is to change the type of line that you use. Now, one set up that a lot of you guys got is very similar to what I have here. This is a vendetta, this is a seven foot moderate action, but a lot of you guys have got a seven foot medium heavy, fast action. It's one of the most common rods out there. Well, it is fine to fish a crank bait on that as long as we're switching that line up just a little bit. And what I want to switch it up to is so mono because that mono is going to have a lot more stretch than your floor carbon or your braid and it's going to help to kind of give you some of those attributes that you find in a crank and rod in those more fast action rods.

Alex Rudd:
And what really makes a crank and rod a crank and rod is a couple things. Number one is the materials that the rods are actually made out of. The material is a composite oftentimes between graphite and fiberglass. And that fiberglass is a material that has a lot of bend in it, it's got a lot of parabolic band and it makes that rod a lot slower action, helps it to load a lot further down into the blank, it helps it really absorb a lot of the shock of those fish pulling and running. It also helps to really drop hooks in rather than ripping them out. And when it comes to treble hook baits like this, it helps to keep those fish pinned a lot better.

Alex Rudd:
And so that's really what makes that rod a crank bait fishing rod is the materials that it's made out of, and then the action that it has. Well with your more fast action rods, what you have is a faster rod. You have a rod that doesn't load as far down into the blank, it's not going to have as much of a parabolic bend, and it's more made to drive those big single hook baits into those fishes mouths, things like jigs and Texas rigs and frogs and stuff like that. But when you fish a mono on a fast action rod, it gives that line a little more stretch and it starts to give that rod the attributes of a crank and rod. And so one of my biggest tips that I can give you guys is if you don't have a ton of rods and reels, so you got a couple medium, heavy, fast action rods, throw mono on one of those rods and fisher crank baits on it because it's going to give it the attributes of that crank and rod.

Alex Rudd:
It's going to have a little bit more stretch, it's going to allow you to kind of absorb some of the shock of that fish shaking his head up next to the boat, coming up and tail walk and surging next to the boat. It's really going to help to drive those treble hooks in and keep those fish in. And you don't have to go out and drop three, $400 on a crank bait specific setup. You can use the tools that you have and just simply do something as simple as switching out your line to a different top of line. And oftentimes mono was very affordable compared to your fluorocarbons and your braid. Then the third myth that I want to bust is that you always have to match the hatch with the crank bait that you are throwing, that is just simply not true.

Alex Rudd:
Oftentimes with the crank bait and many moving baits and reactionary style baits, it's all about contrasting the water that those fish are living in. Now matching the hatch can be very important. I mean, one of my favorite sayings is find the food, you find the fish, and that is very true. But sometimes when you find the food and you find the fish, you have to throw a bait that contrast that water really well to get them to react. It's like when you look at this seeker here in this broad [mithalaid 00:08:38] orange color, that doesn't really look like anything that is actually living in the lake with those fish. But what it does a really good job of is contracting the water that they're living in, whether it be muddy water or even clear water, it's going to contrast the water, it's going contrast the bottom, it's going to stand out and it's going to give those fish a profile and a sound that they can really key in on and react to.

Alex Rudd:
Great example of this was this past event with the MLF guys. A lot of those dudes were fishing really, really clear water, they're fishing Lake St. Claire, 25, 30 foot visibility water and they're fishing bright chartreuse and perch style crank baits. And the reason they were doing that is because it contracted the skyline that those fish were looking up at, it contrasts with the water that they were living in and it was a bright chartreuse profile that contrasts the entire environment around them and allowed those fish to really key in on it and to attack it. And then oftentimes, even though it didn't look exactly like what those fish were eating, it was the profile of what those fish were eating. So when you look at a bait like this little seeker here, it's in this natural shag cut, those does a really good job of looking just like a shad.

Alex Rudd:
But the most important thing is, is the profile of a shad. It's the same length as most of the shad that you're going to find this time of year. Most of the thrift fins, your alewives and all the other different kinds of shad and blue gill in the lake around you are about that size. And that's really what those fish start to key in on is the profile of baits more than the color of those baits and those kinds of more specific details that we often get caught up in. Contracting the water really, really well with the bait that you're using can be huge. And in the fall, it is no different. As we start to get this muddy water, mixing water, clean water, all these different conditions, whether it's cloudy, it's rainy, it's sun shining. All of those things kind of play into how the fish interpret their surroundings.

Alex Rudd:
But year in, year out, day in, day out fishing experience over years and years and years of throwing a crank bait and spending thousands of hours with a crank bait in my hand, contrasting the water, contrasting the bottom and giving those fish something that they can react to oftentimes is more important than looking exactly like what those fish were eating. And I can't tell you how many times I've been throwing a crank bait, this color right here and they've been spitting shad up in the bottom of the boat and/or fishing a shad profile and it'd be spitting crawdads up in the bottom of the boat.

Alex Rudd:
So yeah, those are my three myths about crank bait fishing that I think needed to be dispelled and I think will help a lot of you guys to gain a lot more confidence in little crank bites like our little seeker six here and to go out and to have this bait tied on all throughout the fall, transition into the winter and on into the spring, and hopefully turn into a crank bait fishing weirdo like I am and be up there like a squirrel on crack just cranking away on a crank bait all the time like I do.

Alex Rudd:
But as always guys, thank you for watching. Questions or comments, please go leave them in the comments section down below, I'll be down there answering questions that you guys have. I'll try to answer as many as I possibly can. Make sure to come on over to my channel, Alex Rudd Fishing, subscribe to my channel. I do bass fishing stuff over there and obviously you guys like bass fishing stuff that's why you're watching this video so go check that out. Also go down in the description, I'll link some rods, some reels, some different line and things that I like to use that helped me to catch crank bait fish, you guys can check it out. But as always, you guys are sweet. Thanks for watching Monster Bass.