Crank and Fall, could this replace the Long Fall technique?

Slow Jigging has been the talk of the town thanks to its effectiveness for catching a plethora of demersal fish species. One of the repertoires introduced to Slow Jigging is the Long Fall (LF) technique. It is basically using a long jigging rod (7’6” or so) to lift the jig up, around 2m off the bottom, and drop it down to create a fall reaction bite. Naturally this technique work well for bottom feeding fish, however the downside is that it requires additional investment of a LF setup.

Introduce the Crank and Fall

This Goldie hit the jig when I was cranking it up at a constant pace.

 
The good news is we can replicate similar LF action with our regular (6’ to 6’6”) jigging rods, here is the technique :

1. Hold your rod in a relax position around 4-6 o’clock position, as low as possible (see photo).

2. Next disengage the spool (baitreel preferred) to let the jig drop to the bottom.

3. Without changing rod position throughout the whole process, reengage the reel and begin cranking at a steady and constant speed to lift the jig off the bottom. This is to simulate the lift via the LF rod. I usually play between 2 to 5 round of the handle turn.

4. Once you have cranked in enough line, release the jig back to the bottom while maintaining the rod position. This is to simulate the lowering of the LF rod. 

Whenever possible keep the line and the rod in a straight line.

More tips when using Crank & Fall technique

While the above mentioned is the basic technique, the beauty of Crank & Fall is that it allows us to build in more variations :

- You may speed up or slow down your cranking speed, or having short pauses in-between the ascend and/or descend according to the fish mode and situations. The key point here is to experiment with variations.

- Preferably, pause briefly for about a second (depends on situation and jig used) before releasing the line back to the bottom.

- Do experiment different fall pattern by lightly thumbing the spool to switch between free, semi-free or tension fall.

- One final tip, whenever possible ensure that the rod and the line is at the same angle, you will gain more sensitivity to detect cranking & falling bites. 

Enjoy the Crank and Fall!

Crank and Fall victim

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