Pulling Crankbaits

[perchy]

One effective way I've found fishing the local lakes here is to drag a lucky craft bevy shad behind my Kayak as I'm rowing parallel to the weedline. The crankbait dives to about 8 ft according to the label and the fish will be right on the edge where the weeds stop growing. I recently bought a crankbait that drives 20 ft (the LC CBD20)... I was wondering how I could get it down all the way to the actual desired depth... I'm pretty much a n00b at kayak fishing and I don't think my kayak is very fast (emotion spitfire)... is it safe to assume that it is diving 20 ft down? I use a portable fishfinder to help me locate depths and weed lines.

[ictalurus]

One way to do it is to find a place where the desired depth is pretty constant and let out line until it hits the bottom. Using braid will help it get down.

In my experience, it takes a lot of line to get down. I was using a deep diving Crystal Minnow that is supposed to hit 12-14ft. I let out 2 or 3 casts' worth of line, and that barely got it down to 8ft while going 3-4mph, which surprised me. However, a shallow running Bomber minnow easily hits 5ft with between 1 and 2 casts' worth of line. Go figure. So the smart thing for me to do (which I haven't yet) would be to get so that it hits the bottom at the desired depth, then mark the line on my reel so I know how much to let out.

[perchy]

I really wonder how far they dive down when I cast as well... I can feel the crankbaits with the long bills sometimes pulling my boat towards them, so some of the diving force must be dampened by my boat drifting towards it lol

[DOGFISH]

One way to tell, is to set the crankbait the way that you usually do and go from deep water to shallow water until the crankbait bumps bottom. You will then know how deep it is running. I troll some deep diving crankbaits rated for 7' to 15' and at 3.3 mph they troll at 12'. I also troll some lipless crankbaits and they dive at 5' at the same 3.3 mph. Bill has given you good advice about the use of thin braid. Line resistance will keep the lures running more shallow. The thinner the better. I have also used a Lucky Craft deep diving minnow with some success. I mostly use Rapla X-Raps and Yozuri crankbaits for stripers.