The brand new Monsterbass Hammerhead Square Bill was featured in the October Monsterbass box. @Fishing the LoneStar is here to share some awesome crankbait tips for fall. Enjoy these fishing tips and more on the Monsterbass channel.

Click here to check out Jeremy's channel for more awesome content.

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Video Transcript:

Jeremy Francis:
There's another one. That's like two in a row now.

Jeremy Francis:
What's happening guys, and welcome back to the MONSTERBASS channel. My name is Jeremy Francis with Fishing the LoneStar, and we're breaking down crankbait fishing because this box was loaded with some awesome baits. In particular, the hammerhead by MONSTERBASS. Let's talk about this particular square bill and what makes it so great. We're going to dive into not only this particular product, there's a couple of colors, when to choose which color, the rod you should use, the line you should use, the reel you should use in terms of gear speed. We'll also talk about when and where to throw a crankbait, and a couple of tips on retrieval that'll help you hook up with more fish. Let's dive in.

Jeremy Francis:
All right, so a couple of specifics about the hammerhead by MONSTERBASS, a great new crankbait presentation that's being offered. First it's a third ounce, so it gives you a good bit of weight for casting distance and what you see here in my hand is the chartreuse black back and the summer shad. Both of these are two out of six great colors that MONSTERBASS is presenting in the lineup and both of them come with that red front hook that MONSTERBASS is known for. That helps fish kind of have something to key in and target on. They're not always going to bite that front hook, but it just gives them again, something to aim for.

Jeremy Francis:
These hooks, as I'm kind of talking, are getting stuck in my fingers, because they're also made by Japanese katana hooks and are super sharp, super sticky, and are great hooks that are put on these square billed cranks. So let's talk a minute about really the tackle, meaning I guess, let me rephrase that. Let's talk about the gear that you should be using to throw crankbaits.

Jeremy Francis:
First of all, the rod that I'm using is a crankbait rod specifically designed for crankbaits made by TFO. It's a seven foot cranking rod. It's a moderate action, and moderate refers to the tip, and you'll notice about right here is where the rod begins to bend. And then if I continue to show you, there's a really good parabolic bend to the rod. That is so that when you're throwing a crankbait with these treble hooks, when you go to set the hook, two things are going to happen. One, you're leaning into the hook set and this rod and the bend is going to help keep the fish from coming off, so you're not going to rip those hooks out of the fish's mouth. And the second thing is as you're then retrieving or reeling that bass into your boat or onto the bank, this hook and this bend, when the fish gives the... The rod's going to bend and give with the fish, allowing it to stay hooked up.

Jeremy Francis:
So you're not going to lose as many fish as if you were throwing a stiffer rod with a faster tip. It's not to give as much. You need that parabolic bend, and a rod to help you hook up fish, which is why I'd use this particular one. The reel is important because the speed for a crankbait is normally going to be slower than what you're probably used to throwing. So I may normally throw a 7.5 to 1 gear ratio or an 8.3 to 1 gear ratio reel. Instead, when I'm cranking, I'm going to go with a 6.8 to 1 or 6.5 to 1 or even slower if you can find one slower. So the reel speed... You want a slower reel speed, just because it's a slow, steady reel when you're cranking... Literally cranking the reel for crankbaits. We'll get into retrieval and just a few minutes.

Jeremy Francis:
The line. Okay, the line is super important and I want to explain this for just a minute because with crankbaits, the line diameter will determine how far this bait dives. So traditionally it's going to dive around three to four feet. However, if you have a thicker line diameter, it's going to prevent this bait from diving deeper, whereas a thinner line diameter is going to help this bait dive more. So let me break that down and explain a little bit more. I right now have 14 pound fluorocarbon on this reel. It's going to allow this to dive probably around the two to two and a half, to 3 foot range, okay? If I was to change from 14 pound to 10 pound fluorocarbon, a thinner diameter, it's going to allow the crankbait to dive deeper. Now you would think that heavier line means it's going to sink more. It does the opposite, because the density of water with a thicker line allows that bait to stay up higher.

Jeremy Francis:
So if I went from 14 to 17 pound fluorocarbon, then this crankbait would dive probably only a foot and a half to two foot, and it would stay up higher in the water calm, whereas if I downsize my line to 10 to 12, it's going to dive deeper. Hope that makes sense. Just want to break down line and what that means. You want to throw fluorocarbon instead of mono, and you also want to throw a fluorocarbon instead of braid. Braid has no stretch, fluorocarbon has very little as well, monofilament though is going to float. This bait is already going to float on retrieval. If you stop it, it's going to float back up. It's going to do that on its own with fluorocarbon, you do not need monofilament as long as you're also throwing the right rod with the right bend. You want the give to come from your rod, not necessarily your line.

Jeremy Francis:
All right, let's talk about retrieval, because it's super important with the crankbait on how you're retrieving the bait and the lure. Now, if you're throwing a crankbait, you're throwing it up shallow, likely because again, it's between a three to four foot diving crankbait. You want that square bill, and the way this is designed is to deflect off of cover, to deflect off of rocks, to dig in a little bit into the ground. That nose, and these hooks... So first of all, the hooks are going to swim behind it, okay? So don't really worry so much about those getting hung up, but the nose is going to dig in. When you hit something, it's a good idea to then pause your retrieve. If you hit it, let it float back up and then retrieve again.

Jeremy Francis:
You're going to pass over a lay down or rocks, et cetera, but you want this deflecting off of timber, deflecting off of rocks. Sometimes if it's not thick grass, you can also get it into tips of grass and rip it back out and it will draw a lot of strikes that way. A steady retrieve is usually what's best with the crankbait. However, you can also slow down your retrieve or even stop it sometimes, and is a very effective way. So, you're retrieving, just pause and stop. Then retrieve it again, pause and stop. And what will happen when you pause, is fish are likely swimming behind the crankbait. When you pause it, it allows that fish to almost catch up and almost as if the crankbait kind of hits the fish right in the face, and you'll draw a lot of strikes that way.

Jeremy Francis:
A couple more things I want to call out about color. The color of, for example, the chartreuse black back is going to be really good in your darker waters where clarity is not so good. So probably less than two foot visibility, I would throw the chartreuse black back or even on cloudier days. Whereas in clear water, I would throw this summer shad. It's got an awesome paint design to it, actually, both of them do, but especially with the scales that are on the side of this, it's going to come across really well in clear water, and it is going to reflect sunlight really well and a perfect thing for bass to key in on in the fall, which right now the fall transition and the fall moving into winter is a great time to throw a crankbait of either color or variety or one or the other six colors are... Sorry, two out of six. So there are four colors that are available in the hammerhead.

Jeremy Francis:
All right, guys, feel free to comment on this video. If you had any other questions, drop them below. Be happy to answer them for you about crankbaits, any type of gear application, colors, sizes, et cetera. But in general, I will tell you that the hammerhead by MONSTERBASS is a great looking lure. I've already caught a lot of fish on the summer shad color, and can't wait to throw the chartreuse blank back even more. MONSTERBASS Regional Pro Box. This month's box for October was loaded with a ton of great baits. Make sure you subscribe right here to the MONSTERBASS channel for more great tips, tricks videos to come. Also hop over to Fishing the LoneStar. Give me a subscribe over there as well, and would love to see you follow on Instagram. MONSTERBASS. Go catch one.