by Bruce Middleton, May 27, 2007

These little wonders are the best search bait in the world…




A lot of major tournaments have been won using lipless crank baits over the last 20 years. Professional bass anglers love them because they work and they work well. They are a perfect power fisherman’s tools and the pros are all under the clock to get the most and largest bass possible and they do this with search lures most of the time. I use the old chunk and reel approach where it is a straightforward cast and a steady retrieve back to the boat most of the time. They are shad shaped lures and come in a variety of sizes and colors. They are truly fish magnets as they draw fish out when all other lures fail too. It truly does draw bass to it for many reasons. Some anglers say they catch many more, smaller male bass with a lipless crank bait than they do big female bass but since you can’t tell the sex of a large mouth bass by just looking at it, I have my doubts about this certain claim.

Bass fishing is a very dynamic sport, it changes all the time. The weather changes, the water conditions change, the light levels constantly change, the sun moves in the sky moving the shade lines, the mood of the bass are always changing, it’s all very dynamic. In order to be the very best fisherman you can be you have to concentrate on what you are doing right at that moment not what you might be doing in ten minutes or what lure or bait you might change to next. You have to zero in on what is at hand and fish with all the concentration you have in order to be successful. If you get tied up in ‘what if’ or loose your concentration you’re presentation will suffer and you will not catch as many bass. It’s as simple as that.
Bass are the perfect freshwater predator. They have large eyes to see with, they have a great sense of smell and taste and two separate senses for hearing. An inner ear for hearing things close to them in the higher frequency range and the lateral lines that runs from just behind the gill plates to the tail. These lateral lines detect lower frequencies. While the inner ear is more sensitive, it isn’t directional, that is to say the bass can’t tell where the sound is coming from, so they have to search for it. The lateral lines can let the bass hear about twice as far as the inner ear and they are directional but they are for low frequencies. With the two sound senses a bass can zoom in on a sound in very short order with only a minimum of searching, but they do have to search. Sound is a strong sense for triggering a reaction strike. These are important facts to remember.

Lipless crank baits are the prefect search lure. Next to the Rapala Original Floating Minnow™ a Rat-L-trap™ Lipless crank bait is the number one selling crank bait in the country today with chartreuse, shad, silver/black, fire-tiger and crawfish orange being the most popular colors. They are small and heavy so you can cast them a country mile and the wind doesn’t grab them and take them where you didn’t aim. Lipless cranks are also a perfect search lure because they are heavy and they can be left to sink much like a Rapala Count Down lure so it enables you to fish many different depths with one lure. Add to this the fact that it is very hard not to catch a bass on a lipless crank bait and you’ll begin to understand just how important it is to have a few of these precious lures in your tackle box.

Now for the most part lipless crank baits are heavy small little diamond shaped lures but there are models that are light weight and some that are shallow running and that float. These however, are the exception and not the rule. Most lipless crank baits sink because they are small and dense. This is a good thing though and I’ll tell you more in just a bit.

Lipless crank baits like a Rattle-L-Trap™ is a great lure to use in the early spring as a search bait. Some people refer to it as the ‘idiot bait’ because anyone can cast it out and reel in back and catch bass on it. It works and it works really well especially in early pre spawn spring. The key to this lure is fishing it deep enough. After casting it out you start reeling it in, if you stop reeling and it hits the bottom within four seconds, you’re at the right depth. If it takes longer than that, slow down the retrieve. If it takes less than that, speed it up. Remember too, the water is still cold at this time of year and you don’t want too fast a retrieve anyway.

Now the anatomy of a lipless crank bait is far different from that of a normal crank bait. Of course for one it has no lip in front to protect the hooks and they are always diamond shaped. They are always flat sided and they are always tied to an eye located near the top of the lure and not the front of it. Most lipless crank baits have a sonic sound chamber with rattles in it but a few don’t. Most have a larger hook up in front and some have a smaller hook in the rear. And lipless crank baits have an inherent very tight wiggle to them when they are retrieved. They have a distinctive profile that is easy to pick out.

Now why are these differences so important and what makes this lure so attractive to bass and other fish? Well, the answers are simple and complicated at the same time. Lets take a Rat-L-Trap™ as an example. This lure revolutionized lipless crank baits when it was first was introduced to the fishing world because of its now famous design. Instead of having a perfectly flat back, this model had a fin on it to stabilize itself as it was retrieved, even at high speeds. It also had a sonic sound chamber build into the front end of the lure with rattles added. Under water this sounded like you were listening in on a jam session of a rock and roll band because of all the vibration and noise it produced.

This made the Rat-L-Trap a perfect search lure in dingy water and in low light conditions. A bass could find it with great ease. The Rat-L-Trap comes in 50 + colors but if your just starting out you should stick with just the basics. Stay with crawfish colors, bone, chrome, silver, silver/blue, fire-tiger and crawfish orange for starters. The next great colors are shad, glue gill, silver/black, silver/orange and chartreuse with other colors that look like local fish in your area.


Now the larger front hook and smaller back hook were some trouble when the model was first introduced. A bass could easily shake the crank bait loose and many fishermen complained that while they could catch bass with it they had a very hard time landing the bass. A larger hook was added to later models and that did two things; one it helped the lure sink faster and two it lost less bass.

The ability of this crank bait to rapidly sink is very important. It helps to get the lure down to the desired depth very quickly and then all you have to do is vary your retrieve so you keep it at that depth or let it slowly sink even farther as you bring it in to the boat. I personally like a size 3 or 4 hook on the back of my lipless crank baits and change most of them out if need be. This doesn’t effect the action of the lure and it has enough length and barb to make a great hook set on any bass. I also never give a hooked bass the slightest bit of slack in the line if I can help it when using a lipless crank bait. It’s just an insurance policy against loosing a good bass. I also use quite heavy line with this lure, 17 to 25 pound test line. This enables me get the bass to the boat in a hurry and net him before he has a chance to throw the hook. Heavy lines also let you feel the lure better so you can feel when you run into vegetation and when you need to add a quick jerk to the rod to clean the lure off. Heavy, no stretch lines are also important because of the distance you can cast this lure. Setting the hook just after a long cast requires a no stretch line in order to get a proper and secure hook into the hard mouth of a bass. I also use a medium/heavy strength rod with this lure as I need the backbone of the rod to be stiff enough to jerk hard enough to clean the lure of any weeds it accumulates as it runs through the grass and weed beds and for hook setting at long distances. This quick jerk also has the added advantage of causing reaction strikes. And as for the reel I recommend a 6.3-1 or faster so you have the speed to vary the retrieve from slow to blazing fast.
This ultra search bait can cast farther than most crank baits can. It can be run at various depths with just an adjustment to the retrieve speed. This in turn slightly alters the sound and vibration pattern sent out by the lure. Very few lures on the market today can make these claims.

I myself like small lipless crank baits because I have the best luck with them but it is a compromise sometimes between catching and landing a bass. Therefore I’ve found that a ½ ounce size and sometimes a ¾ ounce size are just about the perfect size for fishing in the lakes around my home. Running one just over the tops of weed beds just ticking the tops of the weeds is one of my favorite presentations. I use a no stretch line so if any hang ups occur all I have to do is give the rod a quick jerk to clean the lure of any vegetation that might have attached itself to the lure. Without this heavy rod and no stretch line combo, you are just collecting junk on the lure that no self-respecting bass is ever going to bite. You need to have it clean.

Some lipless crank baits have rattles and some don’t. One day you may need all the noise you can get in order to attract bass to your lure. Other days too much of a good thing can scare bass away and therefore one without rattle is preferred. Remember every day is a case of trial and error until you find out what the bass want. In most cases it is best to start out with rattles and work up to without rattles unless the water is Gin clear. In this case always start without rattles.

Lipless crank baits are a lot like top water lures in a way. Some days you need all the movement, sound, flash and vibration you can muster to catch fish like with a buzz bait and other days your using a Zara Spook instead of a buzz bait because you’re looking for a nice quiet approach. The great thing about a lipless crank bait is they are easy to change.

Now some of the newer models have more than one eye to tie your main line to. One that is more on top of the lure, one in the center and one that is more out towards the front of the lure. Where you tie the line changes the depth, vibration levels and action of the lure thus giving three lures in one. These lipless crank baits are well worth looking into as they offer a whole different look as well a vibration pattern. They also give off an entirely different flash pattern. The different angles of attack also change how deep the lure dives and how fast you have to reel to keep it at a certain depth. It changes everything about how you use the lure and how the bass persevere it. But remember to tie this lure using a split ring and not tie directly to the lure itself.

The best presentations include a regular old straight retrieve and burning it across the tops of weed beds. This works on bass and trout and I’ve done a lot of both just tossing it out and dragging it back quickly. Stop and go retrieves are good around points and other structure where you want the lure to sink for a few seconds and then take off again. This is a reaction strike retrieve. Fast slow, twitch is another reaction strike retrieve. The idea here is to vary the retrieve so it looks like a frightened and wounded prey fish. But no matter what retrieve you use, always vary the cadence until you find out what the bass want and then use that retrieve to catch as many as possible. Due to the nature of the lipless crank bait it is not a tiring lure to throw and retrieve for long periods at a time where as large lipped crank baits can tire you out in a hurry.

The Lucky Craft LV™ series (lipless vibrator) is another great series of lipless crank baits to own. They work well from early spring when you use smaller ones to late fall when you use larger ones. Right out of the box these crank baits are fully tuned and ready to go. They come with a split ring you tie on to also. Never tie directly to a lipless crank bait as this will retard the action severely, always tie to a split ring. The term lipless vibrator is a real understatement. It should be called a Mac truck driving over a train track at 70 M.P.H. vibrator crank bait. It is that loud. And boy does it draw strikes.

Retrieve speed is critical too. A good spinning reel is important to use with this lure, as it is so small and lightweight. The reel itself should also be a 6.3:1 speed and no slower. You need this type of speed to burn the lure across vegetation or it will sink and hang up on the bottom. Remember too that any up and down action imparted to the lure increased your chances of a strike so a quick stop and go retrieve is a good way to go. Left and right movement can be added by moving the rod tip to the left and right as far as you can reach. With a good 6-½ foot rod you should be able to move the lure a good 10 feet with no problem.

The tightness of a lipless crank baits wiggle is undoubtedly one of the most important attributes of this lure. I know of no other crank bait that has so tight a wiggle. This is the key feature to this lures success. Because it runs so fast on the retrieve the wiggle must be tight in order to look natural and this lipless wonder looks just that, natural. The amount of flash it produces is astronomical and the vibration pattern is hugely wicked. One last thing that must be said about lipless crank baits is that no matter how slow or how fast you retrieve them, they always seem to stay in an upright position and never lays over on their sides. I wish all my regular crank baits had that particular characteristic. Add to all this, the sound chamber and you have the perfect crank bait. It is also a multi species lure that catches trout and other fish just as well as it does bass and it will even catch pike in larger sizes. It searches huge amounts of water at all depths and in a very short time. Essentially, it is a lure you need to know very well and how and where to use it.

Remember too that water is about 760 times denser than air, a bass will normally glide along at 2 to 4 MPH but can make short fast burst of speed of up to 20 MPH. This is about twice as fast as you can reel in a lure, so if a bass wants that lipless lure, he has more than enough speed and the strength to catch it. So don’t be afraid of burning it across the top of the water every now and then just to see if there are any takers.

A lipless crank bait is a marvelous lure that way too many angles don’t have or don’t use near enough. It’s one of the better search lures out there and it covers more water than just about any other lure sold today. So give it a fair try and see what you think about this outstanding lure. I do believe that you will pleasantly pleased by the outstanding results you get.


bpmiddleton@peoplepc.com