Harbor, river, marina trolling ????

Why is it that when fishing for the " zombie " fish , spawning fish or everything else in the area people switch to crank baits . Most of the talk from past yrs and from this yr people use a lot of crank, stick baits . Is it a convinence to get to a target depth with less line ? Is it the action at this time of the year ? Does any one use crank ,stick baits on a regular basis open water trolling ?

Yup, they dive themselves to allow for shorter leads and if you have to slow or stop to let traffic clear they float to the surface instead of falling to the bottom. I use mostly Fastracs and plugs but do use some Husky Jerks and Reef Runners on boards as well. Husky Jerks in 10 and 12 have hooks that seem to hold up well, Reef Runner 800 hooks get beat up some but usually get the job done. Both have a fast dive curve to get them deep on short leads.

cranks work nice because they dive on their own. you can run 4 boards in a tight space that the harbor demands.

Cranks are a last resort for me. The previous post hit it on the head - you need to make a few modifications to cranks including stronger hooks. When conditions on the lake are tough, and you're forced to fish in the harbor, and then - you're forced to use cranks......then, i will. It's not my favorite. However, like many, I run the flicker shads and rapala tail dancers on occasion. I put a size 2 owner or VMC hook on the back. I often remove the front hook, because it can get expensive to put nice hooks on a bait i consider a tertiary approach at best. I will run cranks in the early spring for browns. You will get an occasional coho whack on a crank. For harbor fishing, my favorite baits are any double glow spoons that appear radioactive when charged. Others run cranks with a lot of success, for me it's not something i've spent a ton of time/energy on.

Most people that use crankbaits for Salmon find that the hooks and split rings are much too weak for these heavy fish. You have to change out the "factory" hooks to something with more backbone. Also, make sure that this does not affect the action of the bait once you alter them. Cranks with rattles work well in the marinas because of the dirty, low visibility waters in the rivers. I usually just use the same spoons that work out in the lake and have success.