Cracked!! Slammed!! Ripped!!  These are the only words that can describe a giant pre-spawn smallmouth attacking a lipless crankbait.  Bass will hit lipless crankbaits so hard that the rod could possibly get ripped from your hands.  Lipless crankin’ is a very easy technique to master.  The lipless crankbait can be one of the most effective ways to get reaction strikes from pre-spawn bass.

              The key to having success with a lipless crankbait is finding staging areas.  A staging area is a ledge, drop-off, hump or point adjacent to spawning bays. Look for rock piles, logs, or scattered weeds in these spots to hold schools of bass.  Staging areas are easy to find if you know where the bass will be spawning.  The bass will stack up in these areas and feed while they wait to complete their spawning ritual.  Pre-spawn bass are usually eating baitfish but would die for the opportunity to eat a crayfish. 

            Color means everything when you’re fishing with lipless crankbaits.  My favorite colors for catching smallmouth are red, lime/chartreuse, and white. My favorite color to use in the spring is red.  Looking at the photo of the 4 lb 11 oz smallie you can see why I love red.  Smallies like the color red best because when spring crayfish emerge from their winter slumber their red.  My partner Rich Charleston prefers lime/chartreuse because he believes in creating reaction strikes.  The fact of the matter is that the best color will very from day to day.  Experiment to find the color that produces the best for you.

            If you don’t have the correct equipment when your fishing with lipless crankbaits then you will have a lot of fish come off.  A nice rod with a soft tip to absorb the shock of vicious strikes is a must.  I use a 7 ft Medium action G-Loomis Crankbait Rod.  This rod allows me to throw a lipless crankbait a country mile.  I spool up with 12 lb Gamma Co-Polymer because of the castability and strength it offers.  Excalibur’s new lines of lipless crankbaits are my favorite because of their glossy hard finish and sharp hooks.  Save yourself the heartache of losing a lunker bass! Use the right equipment. 

           Presentation of the lipless crankbait is extremely simple.  This is the only lure when it’s fine to just cast and reel.  The key is reeling it across the bottom or the top of weeds.  Strikes will occur after the lure bounces off a rock or gets ripped from a weed.  Keep it moving and cover a lot of water.  There is no mistaking when you get cracked, slammed, or ripped by a giant smallmouth.

            Don’t limit yourself by only using lipless crankbaits for pre-spawn smallmouth.  They also work well for post-spawn monster largemouth in the spring, as you will see during the 2006 B.A.S.S. Elite Series tournament on Guntersville.  I bet lipless crankbaits will play a huge role.