How to Fish Lipless Crankbaits for Prespawn Bass

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Professional bass angler and lure designer Cliff Pace considers lipless crankbaits one of the best tools for finding and catching prespawn bass in grass lakes. This thorough video tutorial teaches how to select and fish lipless crankbaits around grass with an emphasis on fishing fast and making clean casts with the aid of your fish finder.  

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Traditional springtime baits like jerkbaits, crankbaits, ChatterBaits and Neko rigs are typically fished with a moderate to slow retrieve. Lipless crankbaits defy this…they’re the one bait you can fish fast during the spring, making them ideal tools for quickly finding bass in clean grass lakes. Cliff views a lipless bait as flat-sided crankbait without a bill. This attribute allows it to fish through grass very well, helping you find “magic” spots loaded with active prespawners.

Pace notes that it’s an easy bait to fish, and a good choice for beginners and experts alike. The skill comes in through boat positioning – clean casts along grasslines and to irregularities like points, pockets and even bare spots in the grass significantly increase your success rate. When it comes to bait selection, weight is the critical attribute as it relates to depth control. Pace explains why he prefers a lipless crankbait with a wider wobble in the 1/2- to 3/4-ounce weight range, and shares his top 2 colors for generating bites anywhere in the country.