Father’s Day weekend has traditionally been the official start of the fishing season in Western New York. The regular bass and muskie season begins the third Saturday. Unlike any other opening day in New York State the third Saturday of June has stayed the same for decades.

Now I’m not saying that opening day of bass and muskie season is the same as it was back in the day, with the special seasons opening earlier in the year. All the same, Father’s Day weekend is special for many reasons for local anglers and opening of bass season is just one of them.

In the same vain of how some things change, while others stay the same. While plastic baits are overwhelming popular for bass anglers, there are baits that anglers are fine-tuning to catch big bass. Hard-body baits have been around for a long time, but any angler worth his weight in tackle, should know how to work a hard-body bait.

There’s a reason why so many top bass fishermen favor crankbaits. They’re known to catch big bass when other lures and techniques fail. The effectiveness of these lures largely boils down to their ability to prey on the reactionary instincts of a bass. Even if a bass isn’t on a major feed, they’ll often pounce on a crankbait without thinking twice.

If somebody tosses you a pencil, you will, by instinct, catch it. Fishing with crankbaits is pretty much the same thing. Bass don’t have time to think about it when it comes fishing across their face, they simply react and take a swipe at it.

When one starts tossing a crankbait, they just toss it out and reel it back. With this “technique” one may catch a bass on occasion, but it’s the angler who learns to fish a crankbait instead of tossing a crankbait will be more successful.

Like anything in life, fishing a hardbody/crankbait properly will change the creel limit with both size and numbers.

Crankbait fishing is all about making the fish react, which often means making your lure do something different or erratic. Pay close attention the next time you see a school of shallow baitfish, because they rarely swim in a straight line. They’re extremely fidgety and every few seconds they’ll dart or dash to the side.

We need to act like a fish when fishing crankbaits.

Instead of going into “tossin’ crankbaits” and simply casting and winding without much thought, make an effort to impart erratic actions into your retrieve. You can speed up your retrieve speed with the reel or incorporate sudden jerks and twitches with your rod tip; anything to draw extra attention to your lure.

There’s no easy recipe for a successful retrieve cadence because the bass’s preferences can change by the day or even by the hour. One thing is for certain, however: you’ll catch a lot more bass if you make your crankbait act erratic by taking matters into your own hands.

When most of us started fishing, we were taught to set the hook with an upward motion. It’s just the most natural feeling and for most bass fishing techniques, it works just fine. But when your crankbait fishing, you should never set the hook upward.

Proper hookset mechanics begin with the appropriate rod angle throughout your retrieve. Not only will it increase sensitivity, but you’ll also be in prime position when it comes time to set the hook. After a long cast, keep your rod tip low to the water and at a 45-degree angle to your crankbait. If you’re a right-handed angler, put the rod butt against your left side. If you’re a left-handed angler, put the rod butt against your right side. I call this “strong-side fishing.” When you get a bite, you can use your rib cage as a fulcrum to set the hook which gives you more leverage for prime hook penetration.

When you set the hook, do not set the hook upward. This drives the top of your crankbait, the part with no hooks, into the roof of the fish’s mouth and can pull the lure away.

Instead, let the rod load when you get a bite. With that rod tip low, keep reeling until your rod tip begins to bend. At this point, without incorporating any slack into the line, sweep to your side in order to drive the hooks home. Keep your rod tip low for the entirety of the fight and you’ll notice an immediate improvement in your hookup ratio.

The proper fishing rod is just as important when fishing a crankbait as with any other style. When fishing a crankbait, a soft rod is best. For shallow-running flat-sides up to 1.5-size crankbaits, I like to use a 7- to 7 ¢ -foot medium-action rod. It doesn’t have much backbone, but its tip is what I’m most concerned with.

When a bass bites your crankbait, it’s important to give them a split-second to really eat it. While switching to a higher-stretch monofilament line can help, I’ve found lighter-action rods to be the most effective way to facilitate a solid hookup.

If your rod is too stiff, you’ll pull the lure away from the fish. If the bass simply swats at your lure and is hooked outside of the mouth, you won’t have enough shock absorption to avoid pulling the hooks.

If you’re having issues turning your bites into catches, I’d suggest going one step down in rod actions. If you’re using a medium-heavy, a very common action for shallow cranking, try a medium-action. You’ll be able to feel more throughout your retrieve and you’ll find that a lot more of the bass will have both sets of your trebles in their mouths.

One of the keys to any fishing technique is finding the fish. Bass are a creature of habit and have the tendency to hang out in the same types of areas during the year. Their entire lives and behavior are predicated on some very basic instincts — to eat, mate, be safe and be comfortable. That’s pretty much it.

Most of these instincts are influenced by time of year and water temperature, so it’s absolutely imperative to pay attention to what the water temp is doing in the early spring. It’s fairly universal that largemouth spawn somewhere between 55-60 degrees.

Once water temps creep up, it’s time to start covering some serious water. Start out deep near the main lake points or common deep areas that bass like to hang out and work your way shallower. Crankbaits great for finding and catching bass, but the key is to keep moving until you find the fish. Once you do, it can be fast and furious.

On the upside, if you are missing or getting bit and not landing fish, it’s best to go soft. Make sure that you have some finesse baits rigged up to follow up if you get short strikes.

More than any time of the year, in the spring it is really important to pay attention to what’s going on under the water. When looking for fish make sure you have some decent electronics that will alert you to fish activity where you’re fishing.

If you don’t see bait and fish, move on. Invest in a decent pair of polarized sunglasses and spend some time looking in the shallows for bass moving up into their spawning flats. Keep in mind that if you see smaller males around, the big girls aren’t far away.

Pay attention to that area where you can barely see the bottom. Many times, you’ll spot a bigger fish cruising in and out of your visual area. Get away from the little fish, pull off the shallows a bit and target that slightly deeper area.

Nothing beats time on the water to really learn and pattern bass behavior, so make sure to get out and search out new areas. When looking for bass, look for bait fish and structure. Those two things will be the first step in catching big bass on a crankbait.