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Shallow Cranking the Docks - Part 2
Throw the Fish a Curve
Jim Pope
Dateline 11/2/98
After landing the fish, Brent dug in his tacklebox and pulled out a pair of needle nose pliers."What are you doing?", I asked."Gonna fix my bait.", he responded."Why?" That was the only question I could think of at the time."Didn't you see how it was running?" "Yes, and I also saw you catch that fish about three feet back under the dock!
I know that he had thought of that, but Brent was always a stickler with true running baits, and I guess that was a reflex thought. I hope it was. I was still throwing my straight running plug and catching no fish.
I backed the boat up so that Brent could get another throw along the front of the dock. It was neat how the bait would come around the posts then head right back in under the dock. Two casts later, he hooked another fish. It was not a keeper, but it was a great sign.
I immediately got my pliers and bent the eye of my bait so that it would run to the right. I tied another crankbait on another rig and bent the eye so that it would run to the left. That way I could fish all sides of the docks.
It would be nice to end this story by telling the reader that we loaded the boat with big fish using that method, but I cannot honestly do that. We did catch several good keepers in the one to two pound range. Brent lost a better fish, because he had not retied his line in a while. Using this technique, it is necessary to retie often, because the abrasion factor is about 9.6 on a 10 point scale. Pulling the crankbait around the posts, whether wooden or metal, really scratches up the line.
This is now nothing new, but it was new back in the seventies. Oftentimes a new bait, or a new presentation of an old bait will trigger strikes. It did so then, and it will still do the same thing. Don't be afraid to try something a little crazy. Different baits, or different presentations can often put a few extra fish in the boat.
