Bass Fishing Tips US

Hunthouse KVD 2.5 Squarebill Crankbait

Where to fish it?

• Off rocks
• Shallow water
• Near stumps
• Hard bottom banks with laydowns

When to fish it?

• Weather: With the weather, cloudy or windy conditions is when these baits tend to shine the best. On flat calm, sunny days keep your crankbaits in the box unless it’s early morning or late evening. Low light conditions are often another good trigger for a good bite on crankbaits.
• Water Temperature: Crankbaits are at their best as water temperatures are warming in the spring or cooling in the fall. Crankbaits require more energy for bass to chase down and eat. This means in warmer water they are more likely to reach out for them, whereas in the wintertime when it is cold, they tend to not eat them as well. A bass’s cold-blooded nature with the water temperature either speeds up or slows down its metabolism. Thus, the water temperature can be a major player in fishing crankbaits.
• Fish Depth: When the bass is holding deeper than 20 feet, it is extremely difficult to get your crankbaits down to them banging off the bottom. You can do it, but it requires extremely long casts and big deep baits. The best depth for fishing crankbaits is 15 feet or less. This makes bumping and bouncing off the cover less difficult with the right bait. Thus, how deep you are fishing is a big indicator as to whether a crankbait would be a good choice.

How to fish it?

Taking the name from its dive lip, the sharp corners of the “square bill” are ideal for banging off covers like rocks, wood or docks without getting hung up. A disruption in the swimming action caused by crashing the bait into the cover is usually what triggers the bite. This crashing action and performance in the cover are what separates the square bill from typical round bill crankbaits.

Designed for shallow water (6 ft. or less) and meant to be fishing in and around cover, the square bill makes an excellent search bait. Look to fish in areas with lots of cover, stumps, rocks or docks, working to bounce the bait off of the cover.

While the square bill is a versatile bait that can catch fish year-round, Spring and Fall are the primary seasons of usage as fish tend to be more concentrated in the shallow