Carolina Crankin’ Kings

Tar Heel luremakers and bass pros popularized the sport’s most effective deep-water lures and techniques to use them.

In the North Carolina county of Davidson, the welcoming signs rightfully could say “Welcome to Crankbait Country.”

Along with Tar Heel, Blue Devil, Wolfpack and Demon Deacon fans, central N.C. is crankbait territory, a watery landscape where kids cut their bass teeth on deep-divers and adults earn fishing PhDs with a steady retrieve.

Fred Young may be credited with inventing the first deep-diving, fat-bodied plug, and pros such as Rick Clunn, Paul Elias and Stanley Mitchell are responsible for raising the fishing world’s awareness after Bassmaster Classic victories earned with crankbaits.

But it was David Fritts, a quiet country boy from the rolling hills (and deep lakes) of piedmont North Carolina, who elevated this class of lures to the lofty status they hold today with his remarkable string of successes through the 1990s.

More than any angler before him, Fritts captured the imagination of the average fisherman with his ability to work magic with a single type of bait. His success not only secured his position as the country’s undisputed best cranker; it also lifted a segment of the fishing-tackle industry to an unprecedented level.

A product of Carolina Crankbait Country, Fritts was born in Lexington and raised at High Rock Lake. The future Classic champion and BASS Angler of the Year learned at the “Rock” the fundamentals and finer points of crankbait fishing that eventually would pay off so handsomely.

But Fritts is just the most notable of the Carolina crankbaiters, a category of angler consumed with offshore structure fishing with lipped-diving baits.

“I think it’s safe to say that the fishermen in the High Rock area know more about crankbaits and crankbait fishing than anyone in the country,” Fritts said. “And I’m not talking about myself; there’s a world of good crankbait fishermen and people who mess with crankbaits in my home area.”

Fritts may be the state’s high-profile angling son, but several other crankers and all-around crankbait aficionados also deserve recognition.

Life Inside a Shadow

Gerald Beck may be the best cranker you never have heard of.

During the three years when the Classic was slated for High Rock Lake, Beck loomed in the background as an enormous threat to Fritts and other top pros. Unfortunately for Beck, neither of the two Classics for which he qualified were held at High Rock.

“I really wish I could have made the High Rock Classics,” he said. “That would have been interesting.”

Beck’s start as a fisherman closely paralleled that of Fritts, beneath whose shadow he languishes today. The 59-year-old angler was born and raised in the Lexington area where he was introduced to fishing at High Rock. He went on to become a local legend by winning an estimated 35 to 40 local tournaments (individual and team events with David Wright).

That success, coupled with his uncanny ability to fish a crankbait, convinced him to forsake his career in construction and jump on the Bassmaster Tournament Trail.

“A lot of us got our (tournament) starts with the High Rock Bassmasters club years ago, and just about everybody in the club got to where they would fish a crankbait just about all of the time,” Beck said. “With people like myself, David Fritts and David Wright in the club, we had several of the best crankbait fishermen around.

“As a club, we held our own pretty well everywhere we went to compete.”

Beck’s introduction to cranking occurred in the mid-1970s when his second-cousin, Jerry Lohr, showed him the allure a new Bagley crankbait had on High Rock largemouths.

“I fished a Rebel Super-R for quite a few years before I started throwing a Bagley like everybody else,” Beck said. “I swore I would never pay $2.50 for a crankbait like that Bagley, but since then I’ve paid $25 for some.”

Those $25 crankbaits, which have been Beck’s secret weapons through the years and enabled him to win a national tournament last year, are what he calls the Tap plug. The flat-sided medium divers were hand-made by Tennessee’s Steve Blazer, who has since gone out of the lure business. It was one of the Tap plugs that helped Fritts win the 1993 Classic at Lake Logan Martin.

“I’ve fished crankbaits for over 30 years, and I think I’ve become a lot better at it,” Beck said. “It takes a lot of practice, and you’ve got to develop a lot of confidence because fishing offshore structure takes a lot of time and dedication.

“It’s not the easiest way to fish. People think that color of the crankbait and other things are so important. But what’s most important is being able to hit the object you’re fishing with your bait. Ninety-nine times out of 100 that’s the key.

“And being able to pinpoint fish with crankbaits is the reason Fritts and other guys around here are so successful.”

Crankin’s Big Daddy

“Jerry Lohr started it all,” Fritts said.

“He’s the one who started all of us fishing crankbaits, and he is without a doubt that best I have ever fished with.”

High praise, indeed, but well deserved when you consider the impact the 67-year-old Lexington man has had on an entire generation of bass enthusiasts.

“I wouldn’t say I started it, but I’m probably one of the oldest ones that ever fished crankbaits around here,” Lohr said. “I remember starting with a L&S broken-back minnow 45 years ago or so.

“Since then, I’ve been hooked on crankbaits. Crankbaits are hard to beat when it comes to the size of the fish that they catch. That’s the reason we use crankbaits so much around here.

“They’re the best crankbait fishermen in the world right here in this county. A lot of people might not know that, but there are.”

Lohr and Fritts hooked up more than 30 years ago, fishing tournaments together and modifying the original Poe’s crankbaits to get 3 or 4 extra feet of depth out of them. Fritts credited his mentor with providing his earliest crankbait lessons.

Lohr recalled his young protégé was strictly a shallow-water bank fisherman when they first met. For a period of about 8 years, Fritts and Lohr fished team tournaments together, winning an estimated 55 local contests.

“They used to hate to see us coming,” Lohr said, laughing. “We won at High Rock, Buggs Island, Falls, Shearon Harris and Wylie. It didn’t matter to us back in those days.”

After that, Lohr mostly concentrated on his business. Lohr’s Lures are uniquely shaped hand-tuned baits made from a buoyant wood that have developed quite a following in the Carolinas and Virginia.

From the small shop behind his home, Lohr sales once averaged about 5,000 crankbaits a year with a retail price of $10 to $13.

“These are baits for the serious fisherman,” Beck said. “They have a good wobble, a good rattle in them, a good paint job that won’t crack, and they run good right out of the package. Some are weighted perfectly to suspend.

“And (Lohr) has the only flat-sided, deep-diving crankbait on the market today.”

Interestingly, Lohr also down plays the importance of color. He is a “big believer“ in chartreuse, but little else when it comes to crankbait color.

“I don’t fish as much as I used to, but I get a lot of satisfaction from making lures that catch fish for other people,” he said.

Carolina Crankin’ King

David Wright, 55 and an unassuming, recently-retired high school computer science teacher, is another legendary crankin’ man in this part of the Carolinas.

Since 1973 the Lexington angler has fished 30 to 50 local and state tournaments per year, averaging eight to 10 victories annually.

At the Red Man circuit, Wright has won 10 one-day tournaments, one regional contest and qualified for its championship event five times. Most impressively, he has qualified for more than 35 regional tournaments.

Working in tandem with Manson, N.C., cranker Jeff Coble, the pair has won $1 million since 1996 in tournaments of all sizes. Almost all of his heroics can be credited to his ability to manipulate a crankbait. In N.C. bass-tournament circles, Wright’s name is mentioned about as much as Fritts’.

“I don’t know about that,” said the man whose nickname is Smilie. “I’ve done nothing on the level David Fritts has.”

“But there have been a lot of people around here who have helped the crankbait industry but really didn’t get any attention. Obviously, David Fritts has been able to use crankbaits to maximize the dollars he’s won in tournaments or earned promoting crankbaits. But some others around here have contributed to the development and popularity of crankbait fishing, but they haven’t got much publicity.”

As evidence of Wright’s contention, consider that parts of the crankbait language developed by High Rock regulars has caught on nationally. For example, the Carolinas crankbaiters gave names to certain color patterns that have become standard fare with lure manufacturers across the country.

“It’s hard for people to remember color 6824, so what we did as a group was come up with nicknames for colors,” Wright said. “Probably the oldest one we have is one we call ‘Homer,’ which is a chartreuse bait with a green back.

“That was named for a guy who taught me to bass fish. He always used a bait that color and nobody could remember the number of it. So it became known as the ‘Homer’ color.

“We came up with the ‘dolphin’ color, which is a chartreuse with blue back. And there’s the carp color — brown back and white sides. Another one is chartreuse with green stripes on the sides that we call ‘Clark Gable’ because it’s so pretty.

“Some of those names have really caught on, and you’ll see them printed in a lot of catalogs all over the nation.”

Like Fritts and Beck, Wright shares another common characteristic of the Carolina cranking crowd.

He prefers to sit while cranking.

The Idea Man

It’s safe to say Spence Brunson never met a “factory“ crankbait he liked.

The 42-year-old high school wood-working teacher from Salisbury is a excellent crankbait fisherman who has long been caught up by the regional cranking hysteria.

He understands the dynamics of diving plugs as well as almost any angler.

“For about the last 15 years, we’ve modified every production bait that can be bought,” he said. “We’ve built new designs and reproduced old designs. I’ve worked literally 10 years perfecting crankbaits.”

Brunson’s first hand-carved crankbaits were produced by locally-owned Lebow Baits, later bought by Lohr. Then he designed an original set of baits for Hawg Caller Bait Company.

Brunson later consulted with Stanford Lures about their crankbait colors and designs.

“I haven’t made any money with this, but there’s a lot of satisfaction in producing baits that catch fish,” Brunson said. “I’ve reproduced Pop-Rs, jerkbaits and prop baits, but my predominant interest is crankbaits.

“I’ve probably made 15 or 20 designs; it’s just a lot of fun.

“I’ve numbered most of the baits that I’ve made by hand and probably have 96 percent of (the original models) at home.

“I give them away. I’ve given them to Gerald Beck and David Wright. A lot of times, people will borrow them. That might sound funny, but I don’t mind letting them use them for a weekend.

And I’ve had some guys tell me that they broke a borrowed bait off when they really didn’t. But that’s all right. It makes me feel good to know that they’ve got a ‘go-to’ bait they have a lot of confidence in.”

This guy certainly knows what he wants in a crankbait.

“Probably the most important element is castability,” said Brunson, who has won his share of local tournaments and qualified for the Red Man All American in 1997.

“When the wind is blowing 10 to 15 mph, I want a crankbait that’ll throw a lot like a football. The further you throw a crankbait, the deeper it’ll run. Castability, depth and how a bait vibrates are the most important elements with crankbaits.”

And that’s a chorus you’ll hear throughout this corner of the Carolinas.