3 tips for summer crankbait fishing

As hot as the summer sun can be, the crankbait bite can be even hotter given the right conditions! In today’s blog we will go over three tips for summer crankbait fishing to help you find fish, pick out the right plug, and stay on a school of fish for as long as possible.

• Identifying crankbait hotspots

This is the most difficult part of crankbait fishing. We all think that picking out a deep diving plug off a rack at a store automatically can equate to catching bass easily, but that is certainly not the case. It really takes some education on the body of water you are fishing to properly identify where that crankbait needs to be cast.

Looking at a map of the lake or river you’re fishing can be excellent first step in identifying spots. Good topographical maps show humps and river channel outlines that are the top spots for bass to spend their summers chasing balls of shad as a school.

Once you have found some spots on a map, the next step is to do some graphing. Any graph with sonar capability in a kayak or boat can do just fine for this application. Take the spots you found on a map and scan over them to check for structure changes or lines that identify fish below. Bass will typically be in dots along the bottom in groups or suspended a few feet above the bottom. When you find a promising spot, start chunking and winding!

• Staying on the school

So, you’re on the school with the right plug and catch a bass. Now you need to stay on the school without drifting away to ensure you catch plenty. To ensure you do this you need a good marker buoy and a keen sense of vision for your surroundings. I recommend a Lindy Marker Buoy in a bright color, and you employ this as soon as you first catch a bass. I like to keep one near the trolling motor and kick it out on that first bite, so I’m lined up perfectly. The other step in this equation is to identify that proper cast that runs your crankbait directly through the sweet spot where the bass are laying. This could be a certain tree on the bank, a stick up in the water, or maybe just a differing rock on the bank. Always find something to aim at and you can routinely make the same cast over and over.

These tips can be the ticket to getting on some top-notch summertime crankbait fishing!

Thank you for reading along, and please visit Lurenet for any crankbait needs.