Crankbaits and the likes

[Little Green Fish]

HI Guys

Like the description indicates, I HAVE NEVER, I MEAN NEVER, NOT ONCE caught a LGF on any form of crankbait, not top water, nor deep divers, nor slashbaits.

I have Rapala's Skitter Walk, Skitter Prop, several DT's including the DT flat sure set series, Strike Pro's in three different sizes and in two different types.  I fish them all differently and according to the info that I get that describes how to, yet to no avail.

For instance, the Rapala Skitter Walk, designed for "Walk the Dog" action, I have casted it close to , past and then retrieve it back past structure, man-made, tree stumps, reeds in the water you name the type of cover/structure even open water.  Retrieved it with the "walk the dog" action for about 2m letting it rest suspended in the water for 5 to 10 secs then retrieving it for another 2-3 m and so forth.  The same applies to the retrievals of the other crankbaits I've got, all get retrived with their proposed technique but again NOTHING.

I've always read that it is best to try these lures early morning ar very late afternoon, this I've done, I've even tried it during the middle of the day as one article stated that it can work as long as you have confidence in your lure and technique.

Maybe it's my lure selection colours and type for various water conditions, I don't know anymore.

Perhaps someone can break this curse by executing some ancient tribal ceremonial dance around a huge fire.

Any advice (Yes Loams I know, READ READ READ and then READ some more and try try again and practise and persistence) but I was just wondering?

Happy Hunting those LGF's

LGF

 

[Loams]

Hmmmmmmm

You are indeed cursed if you cannot catch with a Rapala Skitter prop.....

I have not fished poppers that much, but I have this BWP 16.00 (About R20) cheapie popper) that I fished with the other afternoon and once a LGF tried to get hold of it. Stoopid fish missed unfortunately, but I got the fright of my life!!!

Here's what I know about poppers.
Early morning, late afternoon or overcast weather. Again, try outside those guidelines too, you'll never know. Rule of thumb that I have set for myself: If you see Bass surfacing, try your popper or other topwater lures.

Cast it out and let it sit for 30 secs to a minute(this is the tough part), sometimes less, experiment with it...

"pop" the lure with one short pull, sit for at least 10 seconds, pop it again, sit for a few seconds, maybe pop it twice, sometimes three timesand sit for a few seconds... and so you carry on. Do not become predictable, or fall into a rhtym with your retrieve. I think the trick is to slow it down most of the time.

I watched a video titled "How to fish Rapala Lures" and what struck me most was the short distance this guy pulled the lure every time. If that thing moved 10 centimetres I will be amazed, so keep it to very short (distance wise) bursts. The guy also advised that you can sometimes "burn it" in.

With deep divers and crankbaits:
Vary the speed of your retrieve, and (especially with suspending crankers) stop the retrieve now and then. Burn it in sometimes and sometimes bring it in real slow. Impart action to your lure with your rod by changing the angle up and down and side to side, even shaking your rod like after you had a pee. Try to bump underwater structure.

With topwaters I think the best time to learn how to use them is to fish them when you can see the fish and you can see how they react to which type of retrieve and action.

My brother swears by his popper, but he fished it at unpressured waters somewhere in the Knysna Forest.

 

[Little Green Fish]

Loams

All your advice is good and I've taken note, however I'm doing just about everthing or have done it before like you say.

I have one thought though, I've been fishing these lures every single time in waters where there is alot of pressure (angling pressure) purely because the other guys mainly cast soft baits, I had the thought of doing something different.  Alas, I think I must get to VIRGIN waters and re-release my hard baits with no soft baits in my tackle box for that venture.

Really, it's a ever eluding dream to bust into a LGF with a top water or any other hard crankbait for that matter.

Like the ABSA ad says "One Day", maybe "Today"

Happy Hunting those LGF's

LGF

 

 

[phr33dumb]

My "ou boet" Loams is right,

My fav lure is my popper, i have caught more of those fishies with my popper then all my other lures put together!! but as he said, i fished in a dam situated in the knysna forrest, and fishing there is very easy because of the little amount of people that fish there. I have personally seen my bosses 7year old daughter realing in a 2.5kg Bass in that sam dam!! Using a bit off sweetcorn as bait....

 I know the care-taker of the farm fairly well and I'll give him a call to find out if I could post the location and details of the farm on the site, with a contact no. So then i can see you fellow bass friendly people there in the dec. holliedays!

:blah My new Rig arrived at my bro's house, I'm only getting to use it on the easter weekend, for he is in bots and I'm in Durbs. Cant wait!!!!:woohoo


If you planning a holliday in Knysna, let me know, I know of the best Bass shop in the gardenroute and thay do help with lures and fisshing spots

 Phr33dumb

 

[Little Green Fish]

Hi Guys

I've asked the question, "what am I doing wrong?"

Well, went hunting yesterday and it being chilly and severely overcast, I thought, "Yip, Topwater it is"

Now, after yesterday, I know it's a "Curse" never having been able to land a LGF on a topwater or other crankbait for that matter.

Why a curse? Well, I have caught little fishes on topwaters, several times, so I must be doing something right, however they aren't LGF's

Happy Hunting those LGF's

LGF

 

[Little Green Fish]

Another pic of the same Kurper, sorry about the quality, taken with the cell-cam.

 

[Loams]

Look at it this way.... At least you got to go fishing

I am gonna try and take tomorrow afternoon off to go search for some Bream. We have in Botswana 3 species i.e. Three spot (most common) Nembwe (least common) and I think they call the last one Mozambiquen. The Mozambiquan you catch for some reason are always 2 kilo plus. You never catch small ones, why I don't know.

Anyway, what I wanted to tell you LGF is that perhaps you should try getting a proper "popper" and try that. I reckon your best best is a Rapala Skitter Pop, note, not pRop, but pop. It is the one with a open mouth. Also perhaps try getting a bigger popper instead of the smaller ones? Remember Big lures catch big fish

Good luck!!

 

[Little Green Fish]

Loams

Well said, and point taken.

I've had the Skitter Pop's in my hands but bought the Walk and the Prop instead, will be visiting my dealer in about twenty minutes for the Pop.

The one's I've had success with are the Zara Spooks,  Junior Spooks and the Suspending Strike Pro's, in various colours, most the natuarl colours, however, all the LF's I've landed were well, Lf's and not L G F's

But the weekend is fast approaching and like I said before I WILL NEVER GIVE UP NOR WILL I SURENDER, NEVER.

Oh yeah, we've got what they call sport afternoons, so guess who I work for? Yip, the G-man.

Happy Hunting those LGF's

LGF

 

[Loams]

Meant to ask you before LGF.

What or who is the G-Man??

 

[Little Green Fish]

Loams

The G-Man is someone who is employed by the Government, the only institution that still has things like Wednesday sport afternoon.

Viva for the G-man, Viva.

Oh and Rietvlei dam in Centurion deffinitly NO greenies, there was some chem spill a few years ago and all them greenies got the bell.  What a shame, really, people like that should be tortured as we are tortured by not being able to do what we love best.

Anyway, enough with the raising my voice part, just now I'll be sent for Anger-Management, hey maybe that's not such a bad Idea, then I can be booked off and go Hunting for them LGF's.

LGF

 

[leonard williams]

hey im gona try that colour for tilapia,iv always tried to catch them on artificial,but no luck i guess you guys nail them in transvaal.

 

[Little Green Fish]

Leonard

That colour is called "Baby Bass" and the lure is the "Zara Junior spook", mind you I've also hooked into Kurpers before on other "Topwaters" the silver and black Strike Pro suspending lures (twice already and both were 1kg +)

But like I said that's my Curse, topwater and crank-baits does not equal LGF's but thus far always Kurper, Eish!

However, I'm goning to break it sooner rather than later! Try, try again.....and so forth.

Happy Hunting those LGF's

LGF

 

[Loams]

I hooked my only LGF on Sunday with a Rapala Fat Rap (crawdad colour). you get two sizes, I used the smaller one

What I noticed with it was that it took the bait when I was fishing it real slow, and I mean
S    L    O    W


Oh, and it was bumping on some structure while I was doing it. people think you need to crank them fast to get them to dive to their optimum depth, but this is wrong, this thing goes to where it belongs without you cranking it fast.

I read somewhere, "Fish slowly, and when you think you are fishing slowly, slow down some more"

My Brother caught his on a Rapala X-Rap.... Again, he was fishing it slowly too...

I don't believe in bright coloured lures yet. For me it seems natural colours are the way to go with all your lures, plastics included.

 

[Little Green Fish]

Loams

I'm going to Struben this afternoon, won't be trying to put an end to my topwater/crankbait curse, however, I'll just try and figure out that piece of water.

Will submit some feedback tomorrow, have posted or will directly after this post info on the venue.

Happy Hunting those LGF's

LGF

 

[heresjonni]

Hey LGF,

Hope you have broken your crankbait curse! I have had some of the best fishing of my life in the past few years on cranks. The key is to hit structure. If you are not bumping into something, then your odds are much lower of catching the LGF. You loose some cranks, but there are some retreivers (like the one posted) that will help with that. The key is contact!

 

[basslover]

Dude, i must say this...im a big fan of bass but i always wanted to catch a kurper on artificial lures!!hehehehe

And i must say...if you dont have confidence in your bait your not going to catch them!!FOR REAL!!!

 

[Ryan]

IF you wanna catch Kurper on cranks this is the time to be doing it - this is when Kurper will most readlily take cranks.

Down in your neck of the woods tomorrow - V-Town. Comming to fish the vaal river

 

[rofflign]

very interesting topic, i've also tried various lures for black bass and by far the best in my opinion is the old abu killer,I bought a cheap imitation of it back when I was in my teens and have caught hundreds of bass with it(still have it to this day),have even repainted it a few times due to wear and tear and gone diving for it when it got snagged,will try post a pic soon....it is deadly!!!

 

[robfisher]

I too am not a big fan of crankbaits and the like… but if you are fishing Inanda at the moment then you simply have to throw a crank… yesterday was a crankbait bite or nothing… I far prefer plastics and after my fishing buddy had caught 4 bass over a kg and I hadn’t had a bite I realised that at this time of the year one has to pack the cranks into the boat… I put on a rattletrap and gave that a go and christened it with my fist bass on a rattletrap… but fighting a crank fish is different and I ended up losing 4 fish with a long line release because I always lift my rod…. I’m going to have to spend a little more time fishing cranks.

 

[rofflign]

[color=#006600]rofflign[/color] wrote:

very interesting topic, i've also tried various lures for black bass and by far the best in my opinion is the old abu killer,I bought a cheap imitation of it back when I was in my teens and have caught hundreds of bass with it(still have it to this day),have even repainted it a few times due to wear and tear and gone diving for it when it got snagged,will try post a pic soon....it is deadly!!!

the top one is the el cheapo which works like a bomb and at bottom the genuine abu killer.