Now that I have sonar that shows me arches in 16 to 23 foot of water what type of crank bait should I use. I am an old bank buster and would like to try for deep bass.

For fish that deep, I would throw a DD22 (Bill Norman) or a 5 or 6 XD (Strike King) or a DT 16 (Rapala) ONe or al of those should work I would pick a color that is natural, like Baby bass or something that is strange, chartreuse/blueback. They all work well at times. I hope this helps. Tight lines, keep safe and good luck.

Thad Rains

Are they suspended or on the bottom in that depth? If suspended, hard to beat a drop shot and an underspin. If on the bottom, 6,8,10xd or a crig

6-10xd or a Rapala DT16 or DT20. If you go with the XD stuff from StrikeKing, change the hooks for something better. Mustad Triple Grips EWG.

Change the line diameter on your reel to adjust depth.

Another option if the fish are suspended is to throw a slightly weighted magnum fluke and count it down to the fish and twitch it.

Thank's got some dd22 and strike king on order. Trying to teach an old man new tricks.

I would toss out to you to also go with a slower reel cranking deep. For us old guys.. those big baits are tough to crank all day, the slower reel gives you more mechanical advantage cranking. I use braid also with a leader.. feel is much better with braid.

BD

I agree with the slow reel. I used to run a 4.7;1 reel, but find the more common 5.1 to 5.3 reels are just as good without wearing yourself out. MOST of my reels are Curado B5s, so 4.1:1 gear ratio. works great for long casts, and cranking big baits and big fish. Hope this helps. Tight lines, keep safe and good luck.

Thad Rains

Thanks for the reel tip.
I spent a few hours today looking at arches and throwing a bomber fat free shad. I had a bait the said it would go to 25 feet but on the fourth cast it got hung up, spent 30 minutes trying to get it back but it broke off. I don't know if my bomber is getting down to the fish or they just not biting or it's because of the full moon. I going to kept trying and when my dd22 come in maybe I get lucky. If I can't get out tomorrow I will spend sometime on U2 watching crank videos.

You need to go to academy and get the cheap lure retriever if you are cranking around timber. It'll pay for itself in the first trip usually. No reason to be donating more crankbaits

If the fish are at 20', then you need to throw a crankbait that will go 15'. You want to have your bait above the depth of the fish. The fish will be looking up.

I have two types, is why I spent so much time on it. It was a dogger 25+

A good trick if yours doesn't already have it is to add small chains to the front of the retriever. 5-6 10" welded loops. Often the crankbait runs under a limb and hangs another. The retriever goes down and hits the first limb not reaching the bait. Often the chains will bang around and get hooked. The telescopic poles are great also but usually aren't as effective 15ft+

My pole was too short, I need to add some chains to my knocker

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