Breaking Down Crappie Cranks

Crappies are becoming a fish that anglers all over are chasing after. Whether it’s to spend time teaching a kid how to fish, filling a limit for a fish fry, or chasing after a new personal best, this is a great species of fish. While many anglers might stick to the tried and true method of a crappie jig with some bait, you shouldn’t overlook using a crappie crankbait. 

One of the main reasons a crankbait is going to work for crappies is to take advantage of reaction strikes. When you’re fishing with a jig, a crappie will stumble upon it and inspect it to see if it feels like eating it.

On the other hand, a crankbait is going to do a great job of getting them to do a reaction strike instead. A crankbait is going to mimic an injured baitfish better than a stationary jig will. This type of action will make it so when your crankbait swims by a crappie, there’s a good chance it will react quickly and strike.

Now there’s definitely a time and place for using a jig and some bait for crappies. However, there is also a time and place when a crankbait is going to be the better option.

Beginning in the post-spawn and into the summer, crappies are going to be much more active. This is the time of year when they’re looking to feed more aggressively and build their energy back up after the spawn. These fish will oftentimes move to deeper structure, which can be a good place to toss a crankbait.

If you notice the crappies are out in the open water, suspending in deeper areas, that can be another prime location for a crankbait. Covering a ton of water for suspended crappies is touch to do with a vertical presentation, so tossing out a crankbait, letting it sink to the strike zone, and working it back is a solid method to try.

Early in the morning and evening bites work well for crankbaits too. These are times of day when there’s less light, and these fish might push up shallower to feed on baitfish. Casting out a crankbait in these areas can work well, as it’s going to mimic these baitfish.

There are a few factors you want to keep in mind when figuring out which crankbait you should use for crappies. 

Picking the right size crankbait is probably the most important thing to think about. When you think of crankbaits, most anglers are going to think of the ones they’d toss for walleye and bass. This is the right concept, but not the right size.

Crappie crankbaits need to be much smaller, usually somewhere in the 1 to 3-inch range. These crankbaits also have smaller hooks, which make it much easier to get a hookset on these smaller fish you’re going to be chasing after.

Lipped crankbaits have a bill on the front of them that will help pull the crankbait down in the water column. These lures are going to keep a pretty consistent depth and have a tighter movement pattern as they move through the water.

Lipless crankbaits don’t have the bill, and instead are weighted to sink in the water column to your desired depth. They also tend to have a much more erratic movement pattern as they are retrieved, leading to some better reaction strikes when fish are especially aggressive.

Color plays a big role in picking the right crankbait as well. If you’re fishing for crappies in clear water, you may want to look for a lure that has more natural color profiles, as these will most closely mimic baitfish in the area. If instead you’re fishing in stained water, it’s better to choose something bright and flashy. These colors help fish to identify your crankbait and bite it. 

When choosing how to fish a crankbait for crappies, there are two ways that make the most sense. 

The first (and most common) way to go after crappies with a crankbait is to cast it out around structure. You’ll want to find areas with submerged brush piles, rock piles, or other crappie hotspots. Creek channels and transition zones can also work really well. As for depth, try looking for places in the 6 to 12-foot depth range.

Once you’ve found the spot you want to fish, you’ll want to cast past the structure and work your crankbait around or over it. You can mix up your retrieval speed and cadence. Especially with a lipless crankbait, mix in some pauses and jerks to try to trigger reaction strikes from fish in the area.

Another effective but less common method for crappies is trolling. This method works great when crappies are out suspending in those open water areas, or when you know they’re constantly moving around the body of water you’re fishing in.

If you decide to troll for crappies, it’s probably best to do it with a lipped crankbait. These lures will be pulled down into the water column consistently because of the bill on the front. The size of the bill and the speed of your boat will determine how deep your crankbait goes down, so pay attention to those variables as you start marking suspended fish.