# Lipless Crankbaits and Flatheads



## Eatsleepfish (Aug 3, 2008)

I fish for flatheads in the unconventional way of using lures instead of live bait. I have been successful with catching them up to 40in with crankbaits and grubs on 1/4oz jig heads, but recently have had trouble with lipless cranks. In fact I have lost many good ones this week on lipless cranks. 8 to be exact. I am fishing a Cotton Cordell super spot which has been driving the flatties nuts the couple days leading up to today's front. This lure has been dynamite in a hole I have found so I would like to continue to use it, but why am I losing them? I'll set the hook hard and have a fish on for 1-3 minutes average and it just pops off everytime. I have strong tension and the line never goes loose. It just doesn't make sense. The grubs and normal cranks are fine it's just when I use a lipless. So is it possibly the shape? I had added a trailer hook for a bit and still lost 2 after that. When I examined the lure I noticed 90% of the bite marks were on the front half instead of the back where I had put the trailer hook so maybe that explains that one. After losing 5 yesterday I bought bigger hooks and swapped them out. This morning the flattie bite only lasted 25 minutes. I hooked a very heavy fish and he controlled the game for the few minutes we were together. It didn't do much running. It was more of a slow swim and sit sort of deal similar to the 40in I caught last week. Out of no where it just popped off. Apparently the bigger hooks didn't make a difference. 

I'm sure the majority of you use live bait to catch these monsters. I like the challenge of finding them with lures so any feedback on what might be happening would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!


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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

Could be a lot of things. One, larger/stronger hooks my still help. Maybe even a single rather than a treble. Another, flatheads aren&#8217;t going to expend the energy to run down a fast moving bait like a lot of other game fish. You&#8217;re most like hooking fish that are making a swipe as the lure goes by their head, and they just aren&#8217;t getting it in their mouth. Is there a chance you&#8217;re running the lipless cranks faster than other lures? Maybe try to slow it down.


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## Eatsleepfish (Aug 3, 2008)

M.Magis said:


> Could be a lot of things. One, larger/stronger hooks my still help. Maybe even a single rather than a treble. Another, flatheads aren&#8217;t going to expend the energy to run down a fast moving bait like a lot of other game fish. You&#8217;re most like hooking fish that are making a swipe as the lure goes by their head, and they just aren&#8217;t getting it in their mouth. Is there a chance you&#8217;re running the lipless cranks faster than other lures? Maybe try to slow it down.


Thanks for the reply. I'm not fishing too fast, but not super slow either. There are a lot of rocks and snags so I'm reeling in fast enough to keep it up. The water averages 3-4ft with some areas around 5ft and I'm probably keeping it 24-30in down. 
So maybe a singe large hook in the front with a treble in the back for smaller/other species might do the trick? Or would two large, single hooks be better? I think you might be right about the quick bite. The bite marks on my lure show they went for the head/stomach and only bit 1/2in into it. All of the flatheads I have caught have bitten in the same manner with them grabbing part of it, but not inhaling it with the exception of one small, 21in flattie I caught a while back which inhaled a Rebel craw. 
The flatties were quite aggressive earlier this week. Especially on Thursday morning. I hit an all out flathead feeding frenzy. I didn't go more than 10 casts without a hit in 1 1/2hrs. If they hit and missed I would simply stop and twitch it a few times. Fairly often this would induce a second, much larger hit. Their activity was mixed. The larger ones tended to grab it and sit or slowly swim around while the smaller ones seemed much more active with some good runs. I had switched over to a swimbait and a shad crankbait and they barely touched it, but when I tied the Cotton Cordell on again it was on! They were also exploding baitfish right at bank. I got a good view of some of the action and one made me jump when it hit something 6in from my feet! I could hear that one lol Probably a once in a lifetime occurrence that I blew due to not having the right hooks


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## joebertin (Mar 26, 2010)

Magis has some good thoughts. If you skin hook them, even in the mouth it won't take much pressure to tear the area that's hooked. Try less pressure, and taking a little more time to play them.

Earlier this year I hooked a 34" walleye at Erie while perching. When I landed the walleye I was amazed that it was hooked through the skin in the roof of it's mouth. I didn't know that they had skin there. Grabbed the hook with the pliers and gave a sharp pull, the hook ripped right out. Had I put more pressure on it, I would have never landed it.


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