Crank baits are awesome. You can cast them in any kind of water and they’ll forgive you if you make a bad cast. You can reel them in fast or slow depending on how deep you think the fish are. You can fish them in lakes, stream, rivers, coves, bays, and estuaries. Best of all, in the spring you can fish the tributaries of the Great Lakes.
Yes, this form of fishing can be done using drifting methods making it one of the most diverse forms fishing. Because the crank bait has action you can sure that the clarity of the water means nothing to Steelhead, Salmon, Bass, and Walleye. The list goes on and on.
The best way to use a crank bait in rivers is to simply let the current do all the work. From a boat, cast out from transom and put the rod in a rod holder. What could be easier than that? Put the bait in deeper faster water if you want it to go deeper and the reverse if you want it closer to the surface.
Scent is really not an issue here. Most of the time scent is used it to replace action found in those baits that don’t have any; however, if you decide to use scent then it should be a gel to stick to the sides of the body.
Most of the time these baits come with a set of treble hooks that have six points or more. Check to see what the regulations in your area say can be used. Sometimes you have to take off the treble hooks and replace them with singles. Personally, I prefer to use single hooks because it makes fighting fish more of a challenge, and the hook sinks much deeper than trebles.
Don’t ever take a crank bait from the package and throw it in the water. “Tune” your bait by twisting the eye on the head or when you retrieve it it’ll have an unnatural look to it and fish will let you know it by avoiding it altogether.