Skeet's How To – Deep Crankbait in the Postspawn Auburn , Calif. – With his recent win in the Bassmaster Elite Series Southern Challenge on Lake Guntersville , 2009 Bassmaster Classic Champion Skeet Reese pushed deep crankbaits into the forefront of consciousness again. Crankbaits have been known to produce wins on tour, as evidenced by their playing a role in wins throughout the history of the sport. Reese has done his share of damage with diving plugs throughout the years, and like he has done for his whole career, he puts his own unique twist on tossing the big lipped diving plugs. Here is a synopsis of deep cranking – Skeet style! “There are a lot of good crankbaits on the market,” said the six time BASS winner. “They all have their place, and there is not one bait that will do everything. I caught the majority of my fish at Guntersville on a Lucky Craft RC 3.5DD, but there were others that were effective for the rest of the field as well.” Lucky Craft RC 3.5 For Reese, choosing a bait comes with consideration of how he likes to fish. “There are days when making a long cast with a slow reel, and grinding a bait back through an area will produce strikes,” he said. “That is when fish are really active, but most of the time fish are not running around chasing baits, so you need to trigger bites, and I do that with my retrieve.” Reese said the key to triggering bites is all about develop the right casting angle, and pace of the lure. “The first thing you have to do is get the line on your cast correct,” he said. “Most of the time, these postspawn fish are more structure related than they are chasing bait, so finding the spot to present the cast from is key; after that it's about the retrieve.” Reese always throws his lure at a 45-degree angle to the structure he is working, that gives him an angle to work multiple areas of the structure on each cast. “Whether it is a ledge in the south, a rockpile in the west or the end of a point anywhere, I want to make sure I cover the depth zones to find the sweet spot where they are located,” said the 2007 Bassmaster Angler of the Year. “Once I have a strike, I can then keep myself on that line and make repeated casts to try and fire up the school.” Reese has always been known for his “blow and go” style of fishing and his deep cranking approach is no different. “I trigger my strikes by moving the lure through the cover quickly on a 6.4:1 reel; it makes the fish respond,” he said. “Many anglers will try a slow steady retrieve with a 5.1 reel or even slower, but I think you get more bites by moving faster in the postspawn.” Once you get a bite or two, the school can often get excited, resulting in multiple strikes off of the one spot. “We call it getting the school fired up, and once you do it's important to keep making the same cast over and over again,” he said. “You do that by marking the spot where you were when you hooked up.” In the years gone by, anglers would use a floating marker buoy to kick over the side of the boat once they caught a fish, but Reese feels that the process of dropping and ultimately retrieving the buoy wastes time. “Our GPS systems are so efficient anymore that I can hit a waypoint when I catch a fish and save time,” he said when he does it varies on the conditions. “If it's calm, I'll do it after I land the fish, but if it's a windy day, I usually do it right after I hook up, that way I can find the angle after getting blown off during the fight.” By staying on that line, Reese said that he can maximize his fish catching. “I've sat in one spot and made the same cast for over an hour before,” he said. “In that amount of time I've caught as many as a hundred bass off of that one spot.” His Lowrance HDS fishing system saves him time in another way, “Lowrance's new Structure Scan helps me find structure faster,” he said. “In the past you needed to be right on top of something to see it, now I can find rocks, breaks and stumps up to 200 feet away from my boat, mark it and come back to it later; it has made me more efficient.” Making that many casts and high speed retrieves can become tiring, but the 12-year pro angler said he uses gear that makes it easier. “I designed my 7'10” Skeet Reese Tessera Magnum Crankbait rod with Wright & McGill Co. to help do this all day long,” he said. “Big plugs, like a Lucky Craft Flat CBD20 can put a lot of pressure on your arms, shoulders and wrists, but this rod takes a lot of the effort out of it.” He also uses line that allows for less resistance. “ Berkley 100% Fluorocarbon helps the bait get down quicker, and that can help remove some of the stress for the retrieve as well, but that's not all. “The diameter of the line allows the bait to achieve maximum depth and have great action too.” He pairs the whole setup with his Abu Garcia SKT Revo reel. Reese suggested anglers keep their color choices simple; “You need white, and chartreuse,” he said. “I always have those two colors in some form tied up, and they'll hit one or the other.” He said in the white shades, he likes Chartreuse Shad, Lavender Shad, White Flash and Gunmetal Shad. For chartreuse it's Chartreuse with Blue back, Chartreuse with Light Blue, Table Rock Shad or Crack.” One final tip that he leaves anglers with is to try and avoid lip landing crankbait hooked bass to reduce lost fish. “I tend either swing them into the boat or try to belly land them because they have the hooks in their mouth,” he said. “I work them up to the side of the boat, then scoop my arm underneath them and kind of cradle them into my body. They stop moving once you get your hand under their belly.” So take it from an angler who uses deep diving plugs to win on tour, “they are a way to do a lot of damage in a short amount of time.”