Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2020 - 37

4. Any time you are fishing
a lake with Smallmouth Bass,
White Bass, Striped Bass,
or hybrid Striped Bass plus
Gizzard Shad as a major
baitfish, it is a good idea
to have a 1/2- or 3/4-ounce
lipless rattle bait tied on an
extra rod. As soon as you see
gulls circling and diving or
observe fish busting baitfish
on the surface, move quickly
into casting range and fire
the fast-sinking rattle bait.
When the bait touches down,
burn the rattle bait for several
yards. Then, pause, and let
it sink for about 10 seconds.
Hold onto the rod tightly.
5. Dan Dannenmueller,
Lipless crankbaits are available from many different manufacturers in a range of sizes and wide
one of my southern crappiearray of color patterns. Pictured are (left to right): Column 1: Ultralight lipless crankbaits suitable
fishing buddies who travels
for Bluegills and other small sunfish; Column 2: A selection of 3/16- and 1/4-ounce models, especially
to Pennsylvania to fish, likes
suitable for crappies; Column 3: A selection of the standard 1/2-ounce models; Column 4: The odd
to pull crankbaits during the
lot including a floating model and suspending model, particularly useful for fishing submerged grass
summer. One of his most
that is almost to the surface. The bottom two are "heavyweights"-fast sinking models, especially
productive baits is a 2-inch,
useful for vertical jigging in deep water.
1/4-ounce lipless rattle bait.
He rigs the crankbait on a
3. During the summer, a 1/2-ounce lipless rattle bait can
4-foot leader off a 3-way swivel with up to 1-ounce
be retrieved quickly over submerged grass beds to
drop weight on the third arm of the 3-way. Then,
draw strikes from Largemouth Bass, Northern Pike,
Dannenmueller cruises large mid-lake flats to locate
and the occasional Muskellunge. This presentation,
schools of Gizzard Shad. Next, crankbaits are deployed
called burning the bait, helps cover a lot of territory to
off small planer boards and trolled at 1.1 to 1.2 miles
find fish.
per hour through the baitfish schools. According to
Dannenmueller, it is one of the best ways to catch big
crappies in mid- to late-summer.
6. As water temperature declines during autumn from
the mid-60s to mid-50s on lakes and rivers, lipless
crankbaits in bold color patterns will produce a variety
of gamefish with a reel-pause retrieve in the shallows.
7. With water temperature hitting 50 degrees F on large
reservoirs during the later stages of fall, baitfish and
most gamefish relocate to deeper water. Last fall, Rick
Como invited me to join him on the Shenango River
during this deep water bite. Using his fish finding
sonar, he located schools of shad suspended along the
submerged river channel and pointed to various size
arcs below the bait at 18- to 22-feet. With reel bails
open and our eyes on the sonar screen, we let our 1/4and 1/2-ounce lipless crankbaits descend to the level of
the larger fish. A brief pump of the rod tip followed by
a pause was the presentation that yielded a cornucopia
of fish species including White Bass, Black Crappies,
White Crappies, Largemouth Bass, hybrid Striped
Bass, and a Channel Catfish.
Rick Como with a Shenango River Black Crappie taken by vertical
That is the way to end an open water season with lipless
jigging of a lipless rattle bait.
crankbait.
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Pennsylvania Angler & Boater * March/April 2020

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Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2020

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