SHAPE/DESIGN/MOTION
by Chuck Bailey
The first crankbaits were undoubtedly whittled on a back porch with a pocket knife until the carver declared, “That looks good.” Even today, in many of the smaller hard-bait companies the hand-carved prototype still exists, with “testing” taking place out on the lake through trial and error. But some crankbaits owe their evolution to high-tech designers utilizing CAD/CAM systems (Computer Aided Design/Computer Aided Manufacturing) to quickly produce and modify prototypes. Testing is done in “water tunnel” observation tanks, utilizing video recording systems and special software that studies and analyzes the action of each new crankbait. From the back porch to million dollar research facilities, crankbait design has come along way.
And yet, regardless of how a crankbait is created, the final approval of its shape and action belongs to the fish. Of course that’s over simplifying the picture, because after all, fish don’t purchase crankbaits – anglers do. All the science, technology, and accumulated experience of the designers and manufacturers don’t mean a thing if we anglers don’t purchase the product. Retail marketing should cause anglers to pause and wonder; how much of the shape/design is really necessary for catching fish, and how much is aimed at catching fishermen? What should a practical angler know about crankbait design/shape before attempting to choose from among the countless variations adorning the tackle store or catalogs? Let’s take a look at the basics.
Already we have studied the Bill/Lip and its influence upon the design and shape of a crankbait in relationship to depth and action. (See ABC BASIC’s “BILLS/LIPS) But obviously the bill does not dictate action alone. A crankbait’s body shape and design is a major factor influencing the crankbait’s performance. There are basically four major categories of body styles:
1) Long-thin “minnow” baits
2) Short-fat “shad” baits
3) Flat sided “lipless” baits
4) “Specialty” shaped baits
MINNOW BAITS
The long-thin “minnow bait” is one of the most common shapes of crankbaits. Long ago, when live bait was the primary means of catching fish, the common minnow was observed to be a favorite meal for many species of sport fish and therefore it was caught in nets and kept alive in buckets until threaded on a hook. Clearly the advantages of possessing an imitation minnow inspired Lauri Rapala in 1930 to carve one of the first successful models out of cork. Its ability to imitate an injured minnow made it the precursor to the Original Floating Rapala. Since then, almost every crankbait manufacturer has a version of this body style in its line up.
Long and thin in shape, the minnow bait generally tends to have a tiny lip and a slower, wider wobble on a steady retrieve. They are extremely versatile and can be trolled, cranked, or jerked. They can float, sink, or suspend. Floating minnows can even be twitched as a highly effective top-water bait.
When retrieved, minnow baits come through the water horizontally, unlike many larger lipped crankbaits that run tail up. This makes minnow baits poor choices to run through brush or trees because the hooks hang straight down and tend to snag easily. But in open water, they excel. Walleye, smallmouth bass, pike, and muskie seem to prefer the longer and thinner profiles.
JOINTED MINNOW BAITS: The jointed minnow bait generally consists of two connected body segments, (although three or more segments can be found). These segments create a unique action because they react with opposite movements during a steady retrieve, creating an exaggerated wiggle. This means the crankbait can be retrieved slowly while still generating a lot of action, keeping the bait in the strike zone longer. It is a favorite of those who drift flats or troll in open water. In winter time, on lakes that don’t freeze, countless smallmouths have succumb to jointed minnow baits presented on three-way rigs in 30 to 60 foot depths.
SHAD BAITS
Short-fat “shad baits” make up the remaining majority of crankbaits. With few exceptions, they are lipped diving baits ranging from shallow runners with small bills to large lipped deep-divers. The shape resembles the shad found in many lakes around the country. These are baitfish whose head and belly tend to be rounder in terms of their side-profile. This makes them shorter and generally fatter looking than the thin and long minnow baits.
Naturally, shad baits come with cross-sections ranging from flat sides (both thin and thick) to completely round, oval, or endless combinations. Shad baits also come in floating, suspending, and sinking models – both in wood and plastic. The larger lip sizes and steeper angles tend to make the bodies run tail up when retrieved. Combine that retrieve angle with a thicker cross-section and you produce a bait that is fairly snag-free, because the hooks are hidden behind the body and lip.
Floating versions are the preferred baits for “deflecting” off underwater structure and cover. Should the lip hang up after making contact with the cover, (for example; a branch), the angler simply relaxes the line allowing the shad bait to float up - freeing the bait to run once again over the branch, rock, or man-made structure. Balsa baits excel as “floaters”, but some plastic baits also float up when paused.
The action of shad baits can vary greatly depending on the body cross-section, and the bill size and angle, (primary factors, though others exist). Shad baits will run the entire range from tight wiggles to wide wobbles. Any fisherman targeting largemouth bass will have a variety of wide wobbling shad baits in different sizes and covering all depth ranges. But their cousins, the smallmouth, also pounce on shad baits, especially when bounced across the lake bottom imitating the fleeing action of crayfish.
Note: Because shad baits tend to be shorter than most minnow baits, there is less tendency to produce them in jointed form. However jointed shad baits do exist, and several models are highly productive. They generally run just a little bit shallower than their one piece counterparts, but giving up a couple of inches in depth is a small price to pay to obtain the advantage of being able to run a bait slower while still producing tremendous action, (allowing the crankbait to stay in the strike zone longer).
LIPLESS CRANKBAITS
The third group, lipless crankbaits, is usually flat-sided and commonly called “rattlebaits”. Unlike minnow or shad baits, they have no protruding lips or bills and are usually pointed at both ends. The line tie comes out of the curved top of the bait, and the thin body cross-section causes an extremely tight wiggle. When small rattles are placed inside the hollow plastic body, it can be heard underwater for great distances.
All most all fish species can be caught on rattlebaits. So unique are these baits, a special ABC BASICS article will be dedicated to it. (RATTLEBAITS/LIPLESS CRANKBAITS) While most flat-sided lipless crankbaits are sinking “countdown” models (usually descending 1 foot per second) a rare few are floating models. Though many look identical from the outside, every manufacturer creates a unique rattling sound and vibration depending upon 1) the type and thickness of plastic used for the body shell, and 2) the number, size, material, and placement of the rattles inserted.
Lipless crankbaits are shallow runners that often cause reaction strikes as the angler burns the noisy bait past fish holding locations. With very little air or water resistance, lipless crankbaits are long casting, and function well at high retrieval speeds. Even in stained water, lipless cranks can be heard approaching from a long distance, allowing the fish to hone in on the rattlebait as it passes nearby. Lipless crankbaits lend themselves best to open water, (away from brush or trees), because the thin cross-section does little to shield the treble hooks from snagging cover.
SPECIALTY CRANKBAIT SHAPES
Any of the “odd ball” crankbait shapes that don’t fit into any of the three body styles already mentioned, fall under this group’s umbrella. These crankbaits usually consist of non-baitfish body designs, such as crawfish, grasshoppers, crickets, frogs, rodents, or a host of other creatures that resemble prey often consumed by fish. The majority of these baits run shallow, and many of the smaller ones are designed for panfish or trout.
LURE MOTIONS:
Most fishermen discuss the action of crankbaits using terms like tight “wiggle’ or wide “wobble.” But crankbait researchers and designers understand that there are actually six basic components to lure MOTIONS: yaw, roll, pitch, sway, surge, and heave. Any one familiar with airplanes will recognize the first three terms.
YAW: Imagine holding a model airplane by the tips of its wings as it points toward you. Move the right wing slightly forward, and the left wing backward, and return. Now move the right wing backward, and the left wing forward, and return. That’s yaw. Now mentally replace the model plane with a crankbait and you can see that yaw is basically rotation along its vertical axis.
ROLL: Again take the model airplane by the tips of its wings as it points toward you. Move the right wing slightly downward, and the left wing upward, return. Now move the right wing upward, and the left wing downward, and return. That’s roll. Mentally replace the plane with a crankbait and you can see that roll is basically rotation along its horizontal axis.
PITCH: Using the same model airplane image, keep the wings stationary and pivot the nose of the airplane slightly downward, and the tail upward, and return. Now move the nose of the airplane upward, and the tail downward, and return. That’s pitch. Replace the model plane image with a crankbait and you can see how pitch affects its action.
SWAY: Take the model airplane by the wing tips and slide the entire airplane to the right, return, now left and return. That is sway. When the entire crankbait moves right and left, that action is a result of sway.
SURGE: When the model airplane is moved towards you and then away from you – that is surge. Some crankbaits surge also.
HEAVE: Heave is simply raising and lowering the model airplane, or in our case – the crankbait.
As it moves through the water, it is theoretically possible that a crankbait could exhibit all 6 motions to some degree, but in reality, it rare does. Naturally, there certain combinations of motion that generate a higher degree of strikes from our finned targets. But even if researchers discover “the secret” of crankbait motion, getting a manufactured bait to actually duplicate those motions is quite another thing.
No two wooden baits are identical because of the density inconsistencies in the wood. And while plastic baits come from the same molds, the individual pieces are affected by 1) the way the heated plastic is injected, ejected, cools, and flexes, 2) the assembly process (ex: the amount of glue used to adhere the two sides), 3) the thickness of paint applied, and… a host of other miniscule variations that cannot be perfectly controlled in the manufacturing processes.
It’s important to know that every once in a while a crankbait comes off the manufacturing line that has a “special” erratic action in which the bait inexplicitly and regularly jumps to the side during retrieval, breaking with its typical steady rhythm and path. Fish are not geniuses by any means, but their instinct tells them that frightened prey act erratically in their frenzied attempt to get away. And when it does, (real or manufactured), they nail it!
Suddenly, the bait that tracts erratically (darting back and forth across the bottom) becomes a treasured possession to an angler – with a catching ratio that exceeds all the rest. Don’t even think about borrowing your partner’s; it’s worth its weight in gold.
Even though several manufacturers hint that they are producing baits that can all erratically and randomly walk the bottom, that has yet to be proven, and is highly improbable. Pros often acquire dozens of the same make and model hoping to find one that stands out in terms of erratic motion. Obviously the weekend angler, (who has no financial sponsorship), cannot afford this luxury, but we present this knowledge as proof of these basic premises:
1) Despite their outwards appearances, no two baits run exactly the same.
2) The six crankbait actions can combine to produce a tremendous variety of
motion combinations; some far more productive than others.
3) Minute differences in mass produced crankbaits make one out of a hundred very special.
4) The following factors have an impact on the motion of a crankbait:
a) The Lip or Bill shape, size, material and angle.
b) The style and location of the Line Tie.
c) The number, size, weight, and location of the Treble Hooks
d) Body Material: wood, (type and density etc), plastic, (type, side
thickness, etc)
e) Body Size and Shape.
f) Body Buoyancy, and Weight.
g) Attached Hardware – split rings, spinners, etc…
h) Internal Weights and Rattles.
i) Finish/Paint (Smoothness, weight, etc)
SOME “GENERAL” RULES FOR MOTION:
* Baits with a wider body will have more of a wider WOBBLE whereas thinner baits will have more of a tighter WIGGLE.
* Gently curved body surfaces tend to generate a soft smooth movement in the lure, while sharp angles produce harsher, more amplified movements.
* The rounder the body’s sides are, the more wobble the bait will have, but less roll and flash will be created. Conversely, the flatter and thinner the sides of the bait, the tighter the wobble, generating more noticeable roll and flash.
* Generally, those baits with a wide wobble can be fished slower, whereas baits that generate a tight vibration or wiggle must be fished faster.
* If the line tie is located out toward the tip of the bill, that crankbait will run shallower and generate a wider wobble. If the line tie is further up the bill, (closer to the nose of the bait), the bait will tend to have a tighter wiggle depending on the body shape.
* Anglers generally agree that in cold water, (when fish and their natural prey are less active), the baits with decreased or tighter action are far more realistic and effective. As the water temperature warms up, fish (especially largemouth bass) tend to prefer the wider more exaggerated wobbling baits.
* Water clarity also impacts the angler’s choice of crankbait actions:
- In summer, muddy or stained water calls for larger wide wobbling baits with rattles. The slower speeds utilized, the extra water displacement, and the increased sound and vibration help the fish to hone in on the bait.
- In clear open water, (when fish use sight as the primary way to locate prey), it is often necessary to retrieve the bait quickly so as not to give active fish too much time to visually investigate the offering. Many agree that a speeding crankbait can illicit an impulsive “reaction bite” in clear open water – and therefore smaller narrow wobbling baits work better.
- In clear open water, baits without rattles are often preferred so as not to blatantly bombard the visually-focused fish with “excessive stimulation”, spooking it. However, when the surrounding cover handicaps the fish visually, (such as when largemouth are holed up in grass fields), a tight wiggling rattlebait enables the bass to hear it coming, locate it, and pounce on it when it arrives.
Understanding the factors that influence crankbait design/shape/motion will allow an angler to look at any crankbait in a store or catalog and know how it will react in the water. Suddenly selecting the right crankbait is not as intimidating as it once was.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Would you like to be notified when a new "Feature Article" is added?
It's as simple as filling out your name and email...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*************************************************************** ***************************************************************
(Note: Article Reprint Permission info is found on CONTACT US page.)