What would you do?

[Jman5626]

I pull crankbaits two or three feet over the top of them...They will leave the shad and rise and hit the cranks...I do it all the time, look for the shad and then start pulling the cranks....works great when the shad are all along the edges of the old river runs. Works for me, been doing it for years.

Does that work even in colder water? I thought cranks were only effective in 70°+ water


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[CrappiePappy]

Does that work even in colder water? I thought cranks were only effective in 70°+ water


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It's "most effective" in warmer 70+deg waters, but still effective in 50deg water ... IF the fish are out in open water where cranks can be effectively used. I think I remember our West KY guys saying they start cranks in 50+deg water.

[Noodle rod]

I saw some very beautiful things one day involving that situation. It was bright sunny that day with a little chop on the water. Hadn't been able to catch a single adult crappie, but we were in the middle of a huge school of big shad, big as in 5". Try as we might we couldn't fool a big fish. I decided to move the boat around a little and see just how much bait was under us. Moving up wind a few yards, something very crome caught my eye, concentrating harder, I saw it again. looked like salmon slashing at bait in the waves. Still couldn't catch them, but huge crappie were coming and grabbing the bait that strayed from the tight schools of shad.

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