Cranky Crank-baits

Tuning your crank-baits

By Sheldon Hatch

With all the action on the Bay of Quinte it is a good time to offer a trolling tip. I have watched many anglers set-up beside me during a trolling run and not catch a single fish while my boat landed a few on every pass.

When trolling deep diving cranks with the wind in big waves, the in-line planer boards add a tantalizing racing away and pause action to crank-baits. This action can make walleye strike on days when nothing else will work. The problem is if your crank-baits are not tuned, they will kick-out or roll on the quick increase in speed. If the bait does not run straight you will not catch fish.

Tuning is very simple. Once you have the boat at trolling speed run your cranks at the side of the boat to see if they are in tune. Grab your needle nose pliers to slightly bend the eyelet of the crank in the opposite direction in which the crank-bait runs out of tune. If the bait runs or rolls out to the left, bend the eyelet to the right. If the bait runs or rolls out to the right, bend the eyelet to the left.

Now the next step is tuning the bait for faster speeds. While giving the rod a quick sweep forward as the bait is running boat side, observe if the bait kicks out. During the forward sweep the bait should track and dive straight while following the rod tip. To increase your hook-up results and maximum diving depth, get into the habit of tuning your crank-baits at boat side.

Now go catch some fish with those cranky crank-baits.

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