Ozark Angler, Japanese Crankbaits - Part I
When East and West Meet, the Possibility Emerges for a Modified Philosophy of Crankbait Fishing.
by Chuck Bailey
There are a number of stories and legends explaining why Missouri has been called the "Show-Me" state. Regardless of how the slogan originated, it has evolved to indicate that Missourian’s are not naive nor gullible, and if someone wants to proclaim anything as fact, "Well, I'm from Missouri - you'll have to show me."
So it makes many in the fishing community curious when a well known and highly respected bass tournament angler from Missouri is not only persuaded to try premium Japanese crankbaits, but is converted to become an enthusiastic spokesman for them.
Ozark Raised
Randy Blaukat, a seasoned veteran among professional bass fisherman, grew up fishing the Ozark Lakes in the Missouri-Oklahoma portion of the country: Tamarack, Lake of the Ozarks, Stockton Lake, Grand Lake, Truman, “…all over the Ozarks,” says Randy.
Reflecting on his earliest experiences with throwing crankbaits, he recalls “I grew up in Joplin, Missouri which is right in the very southwest part of the state, and Grand Lake in Oklahoma was just right across the border which was about 30 miles from my house. So I started crankbait fishing early on in Grand Lake. When I was in high school I had a little John boat that I used to pull down there, and initially that’s where I got all my crankbait experience. Later on I started applying that experience to the Missouri lakes as I got older.”
There were not a lot of crankbait choices when Randy was young, so it’s easy for him to remember what models he threw. “It was back in the late 70’s and early 80’s when I was in high school. Most of the crankbaits used back then were the Rebel Humpback, the Bomber Model “A’s”, the Rebel Deep Wee “R’s” – we used to throw them a lot. Those were state of the art crankbaits at that time, and that’s what I started out with.”
The Role Of Crankbaits In Tournament Situations
Best know for his flippin’ and pitchin’ expertise, Randy is also known for his versatility, and crankbaits have played a big part in his success on the tournament trail. “Oh definitely. With crankbaits there is such a variety and selection as far as profiles, sizes, wobbles, colors, and that type of stuff, but they’re just about a main-stay for myself and everybody on the tour.”
“There’s very few tournaments that you can’t catch a few fish on crankbaits. And in some tournaments that’s the primary pattern; as to whether it's shallow, mid-depth, or deep cranking - that just depends on where we’re at.”
How does Randy use crankbaits in a bass tournament? “Well, a lot of it depends on the time of the year. Some times of the year I will throw a crankbait all day long. At other times of the year it may be sparingly. But most of the time, if I’m on a crankbait pattern, I’m usually backing it up with some other technique at some point. Not always, but sometimes.”
“The prespawn time of the year is about the only time of the year I would exclusively throw a crankbait (if that’s the bite they’re on). Other than that, I’m sort of working an area and ‘milking it’ with both a crankbait and maybe a slow bait through the same area.”
The Megabass Connection
Randy’s connection to Japanese crankbaits is not a recent phenomenon. “Well, Megabass is one of my oldest sponsors. I’ve been with Megabass since 1992, and I’ve helped them develop a lot of the stuff they have right now. They’re primarily the crankbaits I use.”
“They didn’t used to have the selection they do now, but in the last five years they’ve developed a selection that almost meets every need an angler requires (as far as depth ranges, profiles, wobbles, and that type of stuff). So they’ve really got a lot of variety to choose from right now, so I use them almost extensively.”
Megabass may appear to many anglers in the USA to be a relatively new comer on the scene, but that’s not the case – and especially not in Japan. “They were the originators of a lot of the new technology that has been duplicated by other Japanese companies,” says Randy. “Megabass was one of the true pioneers in the Japanese market for years. And they are noted for their business model which is very different; they’re not really concerned about volume as much as the quality of the bait.”
Playing Hard To Get
Few weekend anglers even know where to purchase Megabass crankbaits. Randy admits, “And the company makes it a little difficult to acquire them - on purpose. If you want to use a Megabass crankbait you have to put a little effort into it - because you can’t just go down to any tackle store and pick one up. And they do that for a reason, it’s a part of their business model. They’re sort of a ‘specialty bait’ found exclusively in the high-end tackle stores that are known for tournament type gear.”
Premium Japanese crankbaits are not inexpensive, and yet they are catching the attention of many tournament anglers. Naturally this makes them a target for many American companies who often call them “designer crankbaits”.
A common argument against the need for Japanese crankbaits is that bass and other gamefish have brains the size of peas, and are unable to distinguish the finer details (in terms of finish, pattern details, etc), of a fast moving crankbait. The conclusion drawn by this logic is that bass will hit the more economical baits made in the USA just as well as they will strike the more expensive baits from Japan.
Blaukat has addressed this issue many times. “Well, it’s understood that there are times when an active aggressive fish is going to bite anything. But a tournament angler not only wants those active aggressive fish, they also want to pick off the ones that are more passive too. And a lot of times those passive fish can be triggered into striking because of a unique difference in a profile, wobble, or color in the bait you’re throwing.”
Success Is In the Details
Randy belongs to that group of professional anglers that believes the key to success comes from focusing on the details. “And the best thing about the Megabass lures (aside from the internal balancing systems that they have) is the extreme attention to detail; the subtle details of the coloration of the bait. To me, that makes all the difference in the world when attempting to get a bite from highly pressured areas or in maximizing the area that you have, (that is, getting the most fish out of an area with your lure selection).”
Fish Conditioning
The emphasis on “attention to details” is fueled by the theory that fish get conditioned to baits that have been around for a long, long time. Does Randy agree? “Oh definitely so. Definitely! I think the bass have evolved tremendously in the past thirty years as far as their ability to make themselves aware to certain types of actions and noises in regard to lures and profiles. It’s an evolutionary ‘survival of the species’ thing that allows them to adapt at a rapid rate.”
“For example, back when I started tournament fishing in the early 80’s and up until the mid 80’s – I threw, (probably 90% of the time), a half-ounce black and blue jig with a #1 black pork frog. I could go anywhere around the country and do very well on it with 30 pound test line. And now I can count on one hand how many fish I have caught on that type of set up in the past ten years. Why? Because the fish have gotten so conditioned to that big, bulky, dark jig profile - that they just don’t bite it as well.”
“And the same with someone fishing a 7 A Bomber. You take a newer Japanese crankbait (whether it be a Megabass or Lucky Craft or whatever) and go fish side by side with someone throwing a 7 A Bomber and you will out fish them, sometimes ten to one. So the fish do get conditioned to traditional wobbles, profiles and colors. Believe that.”
The Basics
But Randy also understands that a crankbait beginner needs to first focus on the basics. Any novice that stands in a well stocked tackle store is often overwhelmed with the variety of options available, and so Blaukat has a few suggestions as to where to begin.
The Major Factors In Selecting Crankbaits
“The first thing a beginner has to do is determine the basic type of water that they are fishing in their part of the country. That’s going to give a really good starting point as far as what type of crankbait they’re going to need. So that being said, there are several things to consider.”
“Initially, an angler wants three types of crankbaits when it comes to color. That would include some kind of shad pattern, a crawfish pattern, and a bright chartreuse pattern. Those are the staples, and there are subtleties within each one of those colors, but you need to have all three of that spectrum to start out with.” The key to which color is selected (at what time of the year) is based upon “…water temperatures and water clarity.”
“And then you focus on depth and wobble. You’re going to have to have crankbaits that cover a range between 1 and 15 feet down. Most of the cranking I do, and most of the cranking other professionals do, is going to be between 1 to 6 or 7 feet. Once you get below 8 foot you’re starting to get more in to a niche summer time pattern. And obviously the deeper crankbait is going to play the key role then.”
Study the Water You Are Going to Fish
Having presented a general 'skeleton' of selection priorities, Randy begins to add some ‘flesh’ by explaining “The first thing you’ve got to do is ask yourself ‘What’s the water clarity in the type of lake I’m fishing. Is it a natural lake, a manmade lake, is it a rocky impoundment, is it sandy, or pea-gravelly, or a lot of mud flats on it?’”
“Those are all indicators about what kind of crankbaits you are going to need. Because geographically there are certain colors, wobbles, and profiles that out produce other crankbaits based upon where you are at. So the best advice I could give is beginners is to do a little research into what type of crankbaits have a history in that area you are fishing.”
Modifications: Give Them Something Similar But a Little Different
“Here’s an example,” Randy shares. “In the Ozark’s part of the country, the Wiggle Wart crankbait is a staple here. It’s a well known crawfish imitator that has that big wide wobble, and is a standby lure for all the Ozark Missouri type lakes. It is a crankbait that runs between 5 to 8 feet deep based upon your line test. So knowing that - it’s the primary crankbait an angler can make modifications to. That is, instead of the Wiggle Warts, you can go to the Megabass Deep X 100 or a Megabass Cyclone that gives the bass a little different profile, a little bit different wobble, but still keeps it in that same depth zone.”
“Another example, if you’re Tennessee, the guys in Tennessee like the flat sided wooden crankbaits, the more shad imitators. We like the crawfish imitators in Missouri, the Tennessee guys like the shad imitators more, so that’s when I would go to the Megabass Flap-Slap in that type of situation.”
“And as you move further east a lot of those guys are into fishing the mid to deep cranking range. Therefore they throw a lot of the DD22’s and the DD16’s and the Poe’s 400 and so forth.”
“You can also get into the rattling baits, (the vibrating lures), as you get further south towards Texas and around the submerged grass fields, and so forth. So it’s really important to identify the characteristic of the water you are fishing and what’s produced in the past. Then you can make modifications on that with the new crankbait technology and get the most out of it.”
The Affects of Water Clarity, Temperature, and Sunlight on Color Selection
When it comes to selecting crankbait colors, Randy emphasizes that “Water clarity itself is not enough. You have to combine water clarity with water temperature. Water temperature, water clarity, and even sunlight conditions dictate the color I want to use.”
“For example; a lot of people believe that in the prespawn, when the fish are feeding on crawfish, you need to use a reddish crawfish crankbait – that’s just a common accepted fact. But it’s not an accurate conclusion. I have had some excellent days on lakes (that are considered to be a crawfish pattern lake) with shad pattern crankbaits based on the water clarity I encounter.”
“If I start out fishing clear water that is cold and I have a fairly dark sky, then I’ll start out with a darker crawfish pattern. If, on the next day, it turns partly cloudy and the wind dies down, I may want to go to a lighter hue of crawfish color, perhaps more or a translucent color, or something a little bit lighter green or lighter brown - not quite as dark. And then, if the wind slicks off completely and I encounter bluebird skies, I might want to go to a shad pattern crankbait in the same water.”
“So what I like to do is to adjust to the conditions, and a lot of times that’s just a matter of experimentation. I can’t give you a perfect rule for color selection – you just have to experiment until you find out what the fish want - but these generalities have worked for me:
Really Cold Water
"In really cold water when the water temperature is below 50 degrees, the shad and crawfish patterns are my two primary colors. And I actually like the shad patterns in really cold water better than crawfish. For some reason I just get more bites with the shad patterns – regardless of the water clarity. Still, I’ll mix it up with the crawfish pattern to some extent during those same conditions too.”
“But what I try to do - is stay away from what everybody else is doing. For example, if I go to Table Rock in March, I know that everyone in the tournament is going to have a crawfish Wiggle Wart tied on. And so I do whatever I can not to throw a crawfish Wiggle Wart. I’ll try something else. So I’ll experiment with that."
"But generally, shad and crawfish are my two key colors right up until the water temperature gets up to 50 degrees.”
Warming Up
“Once it gets to be in the low to mid 50’s, it seems the bass really prefer a straight crawfish pattern more – whether it be orange, green, brown or red, whatever. That’s just something you have to figure out on your own. And that lasts until up until the water temperatures gets into the mid 50’s.”
“Once the water temperature get to the mid 50’s, we get into what I think that is the most unproductive time for crankbaits, (right up until it gets to about 70 to 75 degrees). That’s probably the time I throw crankbaits the least; from about late March until mid to late May. For some reason the bass just don’t bite a crankbait that well that time of year. Seems they are keyed more to striking soft plastics, bottom bouncing lures, and that type of stuff.”
“Now once that water temperature gets over 70 degrees, (and up until it starts to get to its maximum, which sometimes goes up to 90 degrees - from late May until late September), that’s the time of year I put the crawfish away and I go to more of the chartreuses and shad. Probably I go more to the chartreuses because it resembles the blue gill and that’s what a lot of the bass feed on in the summer. So that’s my primary selection at that time of the year.”
“And once that water temperature starts to descend back into the low 80’s and the 70’s and into the 60’s, that is when I go back to the shad patterns. And the shad patterns will take me all the way through the first of the year until I get back into using crawfish the following spring. So in terms of color selection, these water temperature and clarity generalizations have been a good starting place for me – they have been developed over many years.”
Shad, Crawfish, and Chartreuse – With Subtle Differences!
It’s important to remember that Randy’s color selection is still based on the understanding that fish get conditioned to certain profiles, patterns, and colors over time. He explains, “I keep it simple, but when I am talking about a shad pattern or a crawfish pattern or a chartreuse pattern, it’s a little bit different than most people think it is, because the patterns in the Megabass lures (and a lot of different Japanese lures out there), are not like the traditional Tennessee Shad or Brown Crawfish – there are a lot of subtle differences within those colors. I also have a lot of my crankbaits custom painted, with different splashes of certain colors on it.”
“So chartreuse, shad, and crawfish are ‘categories’, but I’m really trying to do something different and unique within each one of those categories. And that’s why I like the Japanese crankbaits so much.”
“Take for instance the shad pattern on a Megabass crankbait – it may have a little splash of chartreuse on the tail on the lure, or some other color blended in. That’s the good thing about the new technologies in crankbaits - you can take advantage of those primary colors and the subtleties within them.”
Japanese Crankbait Colors: Too Extreme or Desirable/Subtle Differences?
Randy’s attraction to Japanese baits exposes a gap between the weekend angler’s traditional color "comfort-zone" and the professional tournament angler’s insatiable hunger to presenting something “just a little bit different.” Sometimes the Japanese color choices and patterns are deemed as ‘too far removed’ from what American anglers are used to, and therefore many anglers tend to shy away from purchasing them. As far as Randy is concerned, this is a big mistake.
“I think what a lot of average anglers don’t realize is that in the rod lockers of the pros, you will find very few stock colors. We’re all using modifications of those traditional color patterns. Most pros use a lot a Japanese crankbaits because they offer those subtle color differences in them.”
“For example; take a real common, high-selling crankbait such as the Lucky Craft 1.5 crankbait – it’s been very popular these last couple of years. If I am throwing a real popular bait utilizing traditional colors, then I’ll do something different to it. I may take red fingernail polish and draw gills on it, or put black scales on it with a magic marker, or I’ll put a little bit of orange or chartreuse on the tail.”
“I don’t want to ever throw anything that is stock. I don’t want to throw what everyone else throws because… while those stock baits will work to an extent, you cannot maximize an area with stock lures.”
Adjusting to Fishing Pressure
“You have to make adjustments - that’s just a part of my fishing the FLW tour; we fish these heavily fished lakes that get pounded by good fishermen every weekend, and there’s a lot of people in our tournaments. So that’s why I and other pros always strive to do something a little different.”
It appears that Randy Blaukat and a number of other professionals who make their living in the challenging world of tournament fishing, are firmly dedicated to the concept that subtle differences are the key to gaining “the edge” over the rest of the competitive field.
This has some interesting implications which fly in the face of another popular theory that points out that bass and other gamefish have survived throughout history by knowing what is “real” and what is not when it comes to food. Proponents of this concept insist that lure makers, (in order to fool fish), must create a crankbait that imitates and looks as close to the real forage as possible.
Subtle Differences Trigger Strikes
But, Randy insists that crankbaits that are slightly different from the normal forage increases it’s chance of triggering a strike. Why would a bass be attracted to something it has never seen before?
“I think a lot of it is curiosity,” suggests Blaukat. “I think fish are opportunistic. I don’t think the fish always strike as a result of being hungry. I believe most of the feeding that goes on is at night. In fact, I think that the majority of feeding (all year long) goes on in the dark hours. Most of the strikes that occur during daylight hours I believe to be the result of a reaction strike, or out of some type of curiosity or anger. And that reflex and curiosity can be triggered at times by things like minor color differences.”
One or Two More Fish
“And when I am talking about the subtleties of crankbait fishing, I am talking about catching one or two more fish per day than somebody else. In my world of tournament fishing, that makes a huge difference. If you are a weekend angler and one or two additional fish is not that big of a deal, you may not want to put that much effort into it. But ultimately, I think most fishermen go out and want to get bit. We want to catch fish, and that’s why people pay 20 to 30 dollars for a crankbait …because they want to get bit.”
“And as to the reason a fish hits a lure,” says Randy, “there’s no absolute to that. No bass pro can give you absolute answers to anything - it is all based upon their personal experience on the water. But from my personal experience, those subtle color differences can add up to more fish at the end of the day. It’s been proven to me year in and year out. And I take it as fact now.”
“A lot of fishing success is generated through experimentation - because you won’t figure it out until you try different things. And so much of it has to do with situational things that come up. Water clarity, light intensity, wind, and water temperature – they all change the game as far as the colors and the type of crankbaits you want to use. And because those conditions can change from hour to hour, it’s making fine adjustments on the water during those times that pays off.”
Other Adjustments
Besides color adjustments, what other kinds of adjustments can be made in fine tuning the proper crankbait selection? “Profiles (body shapes), sizes, that type of stuff,” Randy explains. “For instance, there are so many different profiles. And although we talk about wobbles (tight, medium, and wide wobbles) - the wobbles are not really gigantic in difference.”
“What I am saying is that it’s more of a combination of the profile of the bait, whether the bait is silent or has rattles in it, the type of line you’re using on a bait, and so forth. (The line size has a tremendous difference on the action to some extent but even more impact on the crankbait’s depth). So it’s a combination of all those factors together.”
Randy is realistic about crankbait selection, “When you’re talking about getting the most out of your crankbait fishing, you don’t really know what that is - because sometimes it can be your line size, sometimes it can be your retrieve ratio (you know, the action you impart on the crankbait), the length of your cast, the angle of your cast, color, the sound of it, the list goes on and on. And ultimately you don’t know until you catch that first fish, and that’s why that first fish is so important – to give you that clue as to whether you are on the right track or not.”
<To Be Continued>
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In Part II - Randy Blaukat discusses crankbait size, sounds, profiles, and finishes. He then suggests a hand full of "gotta-have" crankbaits and tells us why. After telling us his line and rod preferences, he explores the proper way to fight fish, when to modify hooks, and the necessary adjustments to make when losing fish. What he does to modify the finish of his lures may shock you. And finally he give us advice on improving our crankbait skills, and he makes his case for fishing Japanese crankbaits.
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Randy Blaukat has been a professional tournament fisherman since 1986, and has 33 top-ten finishes to his name. He has participated in 8 Bassmaster Classics and 8 FLW Championships. His hometown is in Jasper, Missouri, and Randy has a very strong passion for conservation and is dedicated to creating sustainability and education regarding the environmental obstacles facing the sport of fishing. Randy's website can be found at http://www.randyblaukatoutdoors.com and Megabass USA can found at http://www.megabassusa.com/index.htm
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