WHY DAVID FRITTS Fishes Crankbaits Better Than You
THE FIRST THINGS anyone notices when stepping into the boat with David Fritts are the crankbaits. The rods on the deck all have crankbaits tied on. The front storage compartment has one box devoted to worm hooks, jigheads and weights, but all the others, as well as all the boxes in the rear compartments, are filled with crankbaits. All told, Fritts easily has between 500 and 1,000 crankbaits with him on every trip on the water.
Of course, none of this is surprising, because Fritts has been studying, fishing or designing crankbaits for 50 years. He won the 1993 Bassmaster Classic with a crankbait, the 1994 Forrest Wood Cup with a crankbait and yes, the 1997 FLW Angler of the Year title with a crankbait. He has devoted his fishing life to the diving lures, and today he is considered one of the best, if not the best, crankbait fishermen in the world.
“What intrigues me about crankbaits is there really is no wrong way to fish them.”
“Believe it or not, I started out as a carp fisherman,” the Lexington, N.C., angler remembers. “I absolutely loved to catch carp, but one weekend my Sunday school teacher took our class to High Rock Lake and gave us each a lure to use. I got a crankbait, probably an old Heddon bait, that I had no idea how to use.
