need crankbait, rattletrap help !

[bustout]

it is mentioned to tick the top of weeds and it is what draws the strikes.....my problem, like in franks track is that once i tick the weeds which can be sumberged a few feet, is that weeds stick to my lure...

will fish hit it when my lure is buried with weeds?

what am i doing wrong? i use a curado 200 and either m or mh 6.5ft rod


thanks for any suggestions!

[mac (Doyle McEwen)]

You aren't ticking the weeds, you are thunking them..If done correctly you will just barely and I mean just barely touch the weeds/grass..Sometimes you will come back with vegetation, but when done right most often, you will come back with fish..

mac

[Mark_Chaussee]

First of all, your fishing in the right spots if your dragging vegetation. Unfortunately you will have to live with the fact that you will spend a lot of time cleaning gunk off your trebles. Some lures can be ripped through the weeds successfully such as lipless cranks while most will drive you to flip plastics all day! Yes, you will still get bit with gunk on your lure but obviously the action is greatly diminished. I get a lot of bites upon discovering I just ran the thing into a clump of weeds. I then rip as hard as I can to free the lure and they slam it as its exiting the clump. I have rarely been bit retrieving a lure with weeds on it through open water however. Thats what you were hoping to discover huh? Me too! Important features to look for when selecting baits is floaters with a very tight wobble. You need a Graphite rod sensitive enough to detect the "ticking" or a fiberglass rod with braided line. Stop your retrieve and let the lure float above the weeds and continue the retrieve repeating this pattern. Use the rod tip instead of the reel to move the lure along. If the lure doesn't have a tight wobble, you won't get much action from such small movements of the rod tip. On the Delta or Clear Lake, I generally use 20# mono except for lipless cranks which I always use 30-50# braid.

[Mark Langner]

Speed traps seem to come through the weeds a bit cleaner and easier than a rattle trap....just my opinion.

[jeff bradshaw]

You need to fish the right type of weeds, sounds like your fishing to shallow and finding the slimy light green hair like weeds that are growing all over the place in the shallow areas within the tract as well as big break and you can't tick that type of weed very well, it just sticks to the hooks. Fish a little deeper and you should be able to find the denser weeds that you can tick with a crank bait. And no you wont get many bites with weeds all over your bait. Just a thought.....

[Hitman]

I like to use a stiffer rod and line with no or little stretch which helps ripping the bait out of the weeds. Try a MH or H with a fast to moderate action. I prefer braid in but will use 17lb flouro.

Hope this helps

Hitman

[Riplip]

I agree with most of the above advice. Rattletraps will come through weeds pretty well, but I personally prefer Speedtraps. The important element is rod position and lure speed. I find if I crank it down to the inside edge (or opposite edge) and stop as soon as I contact the weeds, then keep contact by slow but erratic cranking while keeping the rod pointed at the lure with the tip slightly elevated, then cranking down hard as the lure reaches the outside or closest edge seems to work best. Most quality bites occur when the lure "breaks free" at the outside edge. I use a 6' med action rod and a high speed reel loaded with 15lb McCoy copolymer line for crankin' the grass. Good Luck!