Crawlers

• Pay close attention to the weather conditions when you want to fish with a surface plug called a crawler. Wait for the wind to subside and the water to become calm. Cast a crawler out into shallow water where bass, pickerel and pike lurk, close to weed lines and lily pads. Reel it in with a steady, slow motion. The attachments on a crawler cause it to wobble in the water from side to side and create a wake, which will tempt the acute senses of a fish. As the lure gets closer to you, lower your rod tip so that the front of the crawler stays down in the water, making it seem more natural. Prepare for an attack on your lure at any time and from any direction. Set the hook hard when a fish swirls under it or from behind.
  
  

Chuggers and Stickbaits

• Use the slowest and most patient of retrieves when you are fishing a chugger or a stickbait. These are longer plugs that depend on your skill to give them the illusion of a swimming frog or an injured baitfish. Cast them out, again to shallow waters on calm days, and let them sit for as long as 20 to 30 seconds before initiating any attempt to reel them in. The chugger has an indented face in the front designed to catch the water and make a popping sound as you reel.
  
  Bring a chugger in with a series of jerking motions, snapping your wrists back to propel the lure forward as you reel in line each time. Use the same motion with a floating stickbait, but instead of a steady retrieve, give it a single jerk and then let it sit for a few seconds before giving it another. Always be ready for the one motion that triggers a bite.
  
  

Deep-Diving Crankbaits

• Notice that different crankbaits have "lips" made of plastic in front that come in different sizes and possess different angles. A deep-diving plug has an elongated lip in the front that forces the lure down when you reel. Employ a deep diver where the water is devoid of weeds and the depth is at least 10 feet. The technique for fishing this kind of lure is to bump it off such structures as stumps, boulders and logs that exist in the deeper parts of a pond or lake.
  
  Reel quickly after casting a deep-diving crankbait to bring the lure downward. You will feel it as it hits bottom. This will make it careen erratically after contact and vibrate, which will make it appealing to a fish like a bass. After it hits the bottom, wait a second before bringing it back up to you slowly. Then repeat this action, sending it down once more.