Golden Techniques for using lipless crankbaits
My first memories of successfully fishing with lipless crankbaits goes back to the mid 1990s when I watched a good mate of mine absolutely clean up on the golden perch at Googong Dam on a lipless crankbait I had abandoned to the bottom tray of my tackle box.
Since that day I have always carried at least one of these lures in my arsenal. However, over the years they have been less favoured to bibbed lures and spinnerbaits.
Eager to reacquaint myself with the success of lipless crankbaits I pretty much exclusively use them at two very established yellowbelly impoundments; namely Lake Windamere and Googong Dam. At Windamere I focus my efforts around standing timber and rocky drop offs in deeper water to about 10 meters with the heavier 14 to 18 gram lures, whilst at Googong I pepper the abundant weed edges around shallow bays and points in water less than 3 meters with lighter 10 to 13 gram lures.
When fishing the vertical rock faces and standing timber at Windamere I simply cast my lipless crankbait to the base (at the waterline) of the structure, click the reel into gear and allow the lure to sink down beside the structure under tension. If there is a fish there it will usually hit the lure on the drop. However, there are some instances when the fish doesn’t hit the lure until I’ve started retrieving it away from the base (underwater) of the snag. In these instances I believe the fish follow the lure to the bottom and is simply waiting for the lure to make a get away attempt before hitting it.
During my morning and afternoon sessions I notice the fish prefer to hang out on the shaded side of the structure so this is where I concentrate my efforts at these times. During the middle of the day when the sun was high the fish seem to move into deeper water, particularly around underwater drop offs. I actually noticed this by accident whilst trolling a gently sloping bank at the dam wall end of the lake. Through the use of my sounder I discovered a stack of fish schooled up on the edge of an underwater gully that dropped from 4.5 meters to 8 meters. The gully runs parallel to the bank for about 500 meters, so using my sounder I simply follow the gully up and down, positioning my boat above one edge of the gully and casting my lipless crankbait across the gully and into the shallower water on the other side. On touchdown I pay out about 2 rod lengths of line and let the lure sink completely to the bottom. Once the lure has reached the bottom I engage in a slow and constant retrieve back to the boat, no jigging or twitching was required. My aim is to keep the lipless crankbait as close to the bottom as possible, especially as it approaches the drop off at the edge of the gully, so every 5 or so meters I stop the retrieve, let the lure sink back to the bottom and then continue the retrieve. The schooled fish seemed to be cruising up and down the gully edge, just as I am in my boat, so it’s usually only a matter time before my lure passes them and I’m hooked up.
Closer to home, my technique for fishing lipless crankbaits at Googong Dam differs considerably to that at Lake Windamere due to one main factor…water depth. Its common knowledge that Googong’s Golden Perch shelter, cruise and feed amongst it’s prolific weed edges. So instead of casting past the fish, letting the lure sink to the bottom and bringing it back into the strike zone, I now cast (from my boat) directly into the strike zone, commencing the retrieve immediately aiming to lure the fish out from the weed edges. Given I concentrate most of my efforts in water between one and three meters deep my first move is to downsize to a lighter lipless crankbait. This aids in my ability to keep the lure off the bottom and out of the weed, whilst maintaining an adequately paced retrieve that has the lure shimmying seductively.
I also incorporate a slow lifting and lowering of the rod tip which serves two purposes. The first is to help the lure follow the downward sloping contour of the weed edge and bottom, and the second is to give the lure a little more of an erratic action. A slowing of the lure decreases its movement and resonance, whilst an increase in speed kicks the lure back into gear and increases its presence – mimicking the sort of characteristics displayed by a wounded or distressed baitfish. Using this method, assisted by either the wind or my electric motor, I cast my way around some of Googong’s shoreline catching (and releasing) up to a handful of golden perch and the odd Murray Cod each visit.
Regardless of whether I’m fishing at Windamere or Googong, my line and leader set up doesn’t differ a lot. One baitcaster outfit is spooled with 15lb braid and a 15lb fluorocarbon leader and the other loaded with 20lb and a 20lb fluorocarbon leader. I tend to use the 15lb outfit in most situations, however I will upgrade to the heavier 20lb gear for added abrasion resistance when I’m fishing around hard structure like timber and rock. If the fish are a bit shy, following the lure but not committing, then I’ll usually downsize my fluorocarbon leader to as low as 8lb. If they are in an opposite mood, hitting everything and anything, then I will revert to the heavier outfit for the shallower water situations at Googong. The slightly thicker diameter of the 20lb creates extra drag and helps to keep the lipless crankbait up off the bottom and also allows me to slow my retrieve a little.
By Matthew Perdrau
