Basic crankbait tips for bass fishing will include the parts of the Lure, how deep each particular lure will dive, and the color schemes of the lure. Plus a couple of lure tips at the end of the bottom of the page.

When you look at your lure you will notice that there are several different parts that make it what it is. On the front there is what is called the bill, like that on a duck. The bills are set at different angles to make the lure dive to certain depths when it is being reeled in. Bills are mostly made of plastic these days but can be made of metal.

To attach the line to the lure you would use an eyelet or a ball bearing swivel. The eyelet is screwed into the bill if it is plastic and a swivel is used if the bill is metal. Using a swivel also helps in keeping the line from twisting while reeling in lures.

The body of the crankbait is made of wood or plastic. The majority of wood lures are made of balsa or other light weight woods. These lightweight woods are easy to carve and weight can be added to help them achieve a desired depth. Plastics will be molded to a desire size with the ability to add or remove weight to achieve its desired depth.

I have torn up my share of lures to see how they are made and how the hooks are attached. Hooks for a lure are attached in one of two ways form what I have discovered. One, the use of eyelets, one in the belly and one at tail of the lure. The second is a "hook harness" that runs the entire length of the lure. The hook harness is in the shape of a flatten T with all the eyelets attached within the body of the crankbait. They come out enough of the lure to attach line and hooks.

The lure will dive depending on the angle of the bill or lip. A 90 degree bill will pretty much stay close to the surface. A small degree from horizontal will make the lure dive deep. The larger the bill the deeper it tends to go plus weight will give the lure added depth.

These lures come classified in:

1. Shallow diving, 1 to 5 feet.

2. Medium diving, 5 to 10 feet.

3. Deep diving, 10 to however deep you can make it go.

4. Flat sided lure, with the eyelet set on the back of the lure. The flat sided lure can reach any of the above depths just by adjusting the speed of the lure. This lure is also know as a rattle trap.

The color schemes will go like this:

Clear Water - Use translucence, browns, greens, light blues, and chartreuse colors.

Stained Water - Use a combination of light and dark colors.

Muddy Water - Use a combination of colors from each end of the spectrum. Bright or dark colors will help the bass find these lures in this dense water color.

TIPS - Tuning a crankbait: Sometimes the front line tie will become bent from catching fish and running into objects. The straighter the line tie the truer it runs. If your lure runs left bend your line tie slightly to the right until you get a straight run. If your lure runs right bend your line tie to the left until you get a straight run.

Some fishermen bend the line ties on purpose to run them into things like docks, rocks, and trees or laydowns to get that reactionary strike from bass.