Usually clear water calls for less visible lures, colors that blend more. White, grey, silver and the like are better skirt colors for clear water, and more chartreuse for muddier water.

Crankbaits can be used for a lot of different applications and they are designed to fish specific depths so more of them are needed, but you can still keep it simple as possible.

Generally speaking, the colder water is the more subtle the action, and the warmer the water is the more erratic the action.

The tried and true old school Shad Rap by Rapala is a good cold water bait. Just about everyone has at least one in his or her tackle box. It has a tight swimming action, but the downside is they don’t dive very deep. Some very good colors are: black/silver, crawdad, chartreuse/white, and perch. I like a No. 7- No. 9. The smaller baits catch fish, but are very hard to throw.

My old school theme continues with Norman crankbaits. These baits can dive a lot deeper than the Shad Rap, but they have a little more wiggle. I really like a suspending Deep Little N. Chartreuse/blue is my favorite color, this color seems to work in clear or muddy water. Lavender shad, Tennessee shad or chartreuse are good choices too.

The Norman DD22 is a very good crankbait when fish are deep. Deep water crankin’ isn’t my specialty, but it works for lots of folks.

We will continue this breakdown of lure selection in upcoming columns. Hope you check back then.

Rob McComas is a licensed North Carolina fishing guide on Lake Lure and Lake Jocassee in S.C. He has been a guide for 11 years and fishing for more than 30. McComas lives with his wife, Amanda, in Sunny View and runs Robs Guide Service. He can be reached at robsguideservice@gmail.com.