With two Elite Series victories under his belt coming mainly on a crankbait, Arkansas’ Kevin Short is an authority on diving baits. As winter approaches, Short offers us a few of his close-kept secrets for modifying crankbaits to get more bites under tough, cold-water conditions.
Short offers three different options for modifying the buoyancy of a crankbait. The first involves changing the size of the hooks, the second uses metal wire and the third needs a hanging weight. Though they might not seem like they make a huge difference, even subtle changes can result in more bites.
This Norman Deep Little N still has stock hooks on it. Note the size for later reference. Short recommends doing this with any medium running crankbait, something that gets into the 10- to 11-foot range. “Traditionally, this is a late winter or prespawn deal or anytime I’m not getting a real good hook-up ratio.”
Pictured is a Norman Deep Little N that Short has modified. He replaces the stock #4 treble hooks with #2 hooks. “Sometimes I only change the back hooks, but if the bait can stand it without sinking, then I’ll change both,” Short said. “It doesn’t seem to change the action, but it does change the buoyancy and adds weight so you can cast further. The bait hangs right there in their face a little longer and stays in the strike zone longer when you stop the bait.”
The next type of modification Short does involves wrapping lead wire around the shank of one of the treble hooks. Here, Short uses a smaller medium diving crankbait that he would use around shallower grass.
First, get some lead wire and the crankbait you plan on modifying. Short prefers size .030, but there are a variety that can work for different baits. “They use it for weighting flies – there are 6 or 8 sizes, so if you want heavier, you can get it,” Short said. “You might want a smaller size for jerkbaits, but the .030 works pretty well on everything for me.”
Start by wrapping a portion of the wire around the hook shank near the eye.
Bend the tag end away from the eye and start wrapping over the tag end down the shank of the treble.
Make five or six wraps and then cut the wire.
The finished product looks like this, with the back hook wrapped with a thin lead wire. “It doesn’t get in the way of hooking fish, it just adds a little bit of weight,” Short said. “I’ll use it on diving baits and on wake baits, too, if I want it to get just a little bit deeper. Two or 3 inches can make a world of difference getting it down into the grass.”
Short carries around a tacklebox just for modifying crankbaits, complete with spare hooks, weights and lead wire. Having the ability to change the depth of a chankbait on the fly is important when fishing around different depths of grass or other structure. “I’ve seen where ripping it out of the grass is the difference between getting bit and just making casts,” Short said. “There is a fine line between burying the bait in the grass and ticking the top of the grass. I’ve found that by adding a little weight, you can get it to run just right.”
The final modification Short offers for winter-time fishing is adding a small weight to the split ring on the front treble. “When you want it to sure enough suspend, that will do it,” Short said. “Also, it adds weight to allow for longer casts.”
Short keeps a variety of hangable weights in his box to suspend a variety of bait sizes. Putting a bigger weight on a smaller bait can allow the bait to sink, which is a useful trick in some situations. “You can go overboard and put too much weight, so the bait starts to sink,” Short said. “That’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially in the winter, but it will get hung up more because it can’t float back up.”
For Short, modifying baits is a year-round affair. A crankbait is a tool that can be utilized in a variety of settings, especially when you can custom fit the bait to the conditions. “I’ll add wire to my baits a lot in the summertime, but it really is an all year thing,” Short said. “It helps cast the bait further and allows the bait to get a little deeper. As long as you are adding the weight to the hooks, you aren’t messing with the action as much as if you put it on the bait itself.”
As fall gives way to winter and then early spring, keep these simple crankbait modifications from Kevin Short in mind. They will help you put your bait in the strike zone more precisely and more frequently and turn into more fish catching opportunities.
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