Entry 290-4

Denny Brauer - My Favorite Ways to Fish

Part 4: Denny Brauer Likes the 4S Crankbait

Question: Denny, what’s your fourth-favorite way to fish?

Brauer: I like to fish the square-bill crankbait that Strike King produces, and I really like the 4S. I also like the Series 1, but I have to say the 4S is my favorite. The 4S is a bigger and bulkier crankbait with bigger hooks than some of the other Strike King crankbaits. I like to fish it on 20-pound-test line, and I like to cast it toward laying-down logs on mudflats. The 4S is a tremendous summertime and fall lure. This bait will produce plenty of good bass on river systems and on lakes.

Question: Denny, what does a square bill make a crankbait do that a round bill doesn’t?

Brauer: The first advantage of a square bill is that it keeps the lure from running too deep. For instance, if you have bass suspended 3-foot deep on the side of a log, you can reel that square bill crankbait down to 3 feet and keep it swimming at that water depth all the way back to the boat. The square bill also is to a crankbait what a bumper is to a car. The square bill allows the crankbait to bump and deflect off limbs, which causes the lure to do two things. It prevents the lure from getting hung up, and it gives the lure an erratic action, which can trigger strikes. When a deep-diving round-bill crankbait hits a log, stump or limb, rather than bouncing off the wood, the round-bill crankbait generally turns sideways, causing the hooks to hang-up. Therefore with a square-bill crankbait, I have the same size lure as a deep-diving crankbait, but I can fish it in much-shallower water and fish it through much-thicker cover than I can with the round-bill crankbait.

Strike King’s No. 4 square-bill crankbait isn’t quite as weedless as a spinner bait, but it’s close. I can fish the lure in as many places as you’ll normally fish a spinner bait.If you practice fishing the square-bill crankbait, you’ll be surprised at how well it can work through cover. So this lure gives me a big-bass bait that most people use in the same places they’ll fish spinner baits. Not only does the square-bill crankbait have a different look from the spinner bait, it also has a different action than the deep-diving crankbaits that are about the same size.

Question: Denny, are you the kind of fisherman that as soon as he opens the package, starts tinkering with his crankbait?

Brauer: As soon as I open the package on a lure, I start checking the bait out to make sure the hooks are as sharp as they can be, the line tie is right, and the bait will run true. However, I don’t check out lures as much as I once did. Strike King’s quality control is so good that I often forget to check the lure as soon as I take it out of the package. That’s one thing I like about a Series 4 square-bill crankbait. They’re easier to keep tuned than a smaller-profile type of crankbait.

Before I put a crankbait into my tackle box, I like to tie it on my line and make 4 or 5 casts with it, just to see how it will track in the water. Most crankbaits made by any manufacturer will run true when they’re reeled at slow speeds, but the real test of any crankbait is how straight it will run when you reel it fast. So I’m going to make sure that every crankbait that goes into my tackle box gets tested.This habit is one I’ve developed over the years, and I’ve learned that it’s a good habit.

I will also check to make sure whoever put the split ring and the hook together had them set the way they’re supposed to be.I’m pretty picky about checking-out crankbaits before I put them in my tackle box. I want to know when I reach into that tackle box to pick up a crankbait to fish in a tournament, that the crankbait is the best it can be before I make the first cast, because that first cast could be where a tournament winning bass is holding. I know if the crankbait that I pick up is the best that it can be before I tie it on, I have every reason to believe that Series 4 crankbait can catch and hold any bass that may attack it.

Question: Denny, if a crankbait is running to the left, how do you tune it to make it run straight?

Brauer: You just turn the line tie a little to the right. The line tie is like the keel on a ship. It gives the crankbait its direction, because that’s where the force is applied to move the crankbait. To tune a crankbait properly, you just bend the line tie slightly in the opposite direction from the direction that the lure’s tracking. Now after you’ve bounced your crankbait off a few rocks, logs and stumps, that line tie may have gotten bent, or the lure may become unbalanced, so you’ll need to check the lure by reeling it fast and adjusting the line tie to make sure it runs straight. One of the biggest problems that most anglers have when it comes to tuning a crankbait is they tend to over-tune them. By that I mean they bend the line tie too much. Just the slightest pressure is needed on the line tie when you’re tuning it.

I know a lot of fishermen who never check their crankbaits and never tune them. I know for certain you won’t catch as many bass with a crankbait that’s not tuned, before you go fishing with it as you will with a crankbait that you tune. So when you’re fishing crankbaits, if you notice your lures tracking to the left or right, check-out the hooks first and make sure it hadn’t picked up some trash, then bend the line tie just a little and you can quickly and easily tune your crankbait and have it perform the way it was designed to perform.

Next: Something Different – The Sexy Spoon

Contents:

• Part 1: Denny Brauer - The Flipping King
• Part 2: Flipping with a Strike King Jig
• Part 3: Learn from Your Successes
• Part 4: Denny Brauer Likes the 4S Crankbait
• Part 5: Something Different - The Sexy Spoon