ben23 Posted March 8, 2007 Posted March 8, 2007 Hey guys, I am in the hunt for a good wooden crankbait company. I am starting to get interested in the custom handmade balsa cranks, I like the attention to detail in construction and paint jobs. I have heard great things about On the Line crankbaits and Mimic Lures, but I'm sure there are plenty of other optoins that fit into this category. Any suggestions? Also, I recently bought a few Lee Sisson cranks, does anybody use them? Is there anything that seperated them from the balsa bagley crankbaits?? Thanks fellas, Ben forgot to mention: Stringjam has already told me an amazing amount of info on this topic, but I wanted to get some other opinions and other experiences also...... if anyone needs any crankbait advice....talk to stringjam- he was a great help!!!!!!! God Bless Quote
Super User T-rig Posted March 8, 2007 Super User Posted March 8, 2007 Reaction Innovations Method Crank (top) and Tiemco Crank T are both very good wooden cranks. The Tiemco Crank T comes in two versions, wide or tight. Quote
Super User MALTESE FALCON Posted March 8, 2007 Super User Posted March 8, 2007 Hi Ben, You might want to check with Whittler. He does beautiful work. I can't remember the name of his site, but you could pm him. Falcon Quote
BIG M Posted March 8, 2007 Posted March 8, 2007 Ben, custom handmade balsa baits don't come from the big companies. those guys don't have time to sit down and hand carve and hand sand a bait, it is not cost effective. Those guys build some nice baits but they build alot of duds too. To make money they have to cut corners and that hurts the quality. Custom guys are building your baits 1 at a time and are in control of each step. They can adjust weight, line tie location, lip lenght, etc, to get you the exact bait and action your looking for. But this don't come cheap and most people aren't will to pay for the work. Here is an ex. (not trying to push my baits) this bait took me a week to build to get the exact finsihed weight and diving depth that the customer wanted. The colors on the bait are what he asked for painted in the pattern he wanted. Totally custom hand built balsa crankbait. Whittle builds some fine looking baits and he has a web site www.jm-woodcraft.com Quote
Brad_Coovert Posted March 8, 2007 Posted March 8, 2007 The Method Crankbaits are factory baits, but they are excellent crankbait. They have a tremendous amount of vibration. They have been very good crankbaits for me in shallow water. There are a few guys here that make hand made baits. I;m sure they can hook you up with some good baits. As for Sisson, I believe he worked for Bagley at one time, so I would assume that his designs would be similar. Brad Quote
senko_77 Posted March 8, 2007 Posted March 8, 2007 Whittler makes incredible handmade crankbaits. I just bought a few of his new 4x4's and I cant say enough about them. I would definately look into them. Quote
BIG M Posted March 8, 2007 Posted March 8, 2007 My intention was not to bad mouth the big companies, all build fine baits and I own baits from all of them. just trying to show the difference between the mass production baits and the custom handmade baits. Quote
ben23 Posted March 8, 2007 Author Posted March 8, 2007 thanks for the input guys! Big M- could you PM me prices and other information about your baits? thanks...the one above looks great! If anyone else makes custom cranks...PM me so we can talk!! Ben Quote
LakeAnnaBasser Posted March 8, 2007 Posted March 8, 2007 my favorite overall cranks are bagleys Quote
Super User Munkin Posted March 8, 2007 Super User Posted March 8, 2007 Have you tried a dbait? they are a small flat sided crank. Allen Quote
CJ Posted March 9, 2007 Posted March 9, 2007 Whittler makes some good cranks!You also might look at Wally G's sight. Quote
Guest avid Posted March 9, 2007 Posted March 9, 2007 I have a couple of whittler baits that I have used successfully. I would also take a serious look at Carolina chip.com His bass devil II is one bass catchn' crankbait. Quote
ben23 Posted March 9, 2007 Author Posted March 9, 2007 I'm definitley going to work with Whittler, as we have already talked through PM. There seems to be quite a bit of companies out there that have a good product. Does anyone know anything about Mimic Lures? I have a few of their cranks and I love them, anyone else try them at all? Looking at carolina chip, I was wondering why some of their cranks sport a 40$+ pricetag when most customs run about 15-25.........what seperates their product from the others. They do look great just checking out their site. This spring I think I will do alot of experimenting until I find a company who I really like, if it is a custom maker, than so be it.......if a little extra dough for a handmade gets me up a couple tournament spots.....then its all worth it in my book. Ben Quote
ben23 Posted March 10, 2007 Author Posted March 10, 2007 no one has any experience with mimic lures crankbaits? I like the look of their stuff, simple- yet an affective design...... Quote
bassin_man Posted March 10, 2007 Posted March 10, 2007 Not trying to hijack the post but is there a big difference between a regular crank and a custom balsa one? Thanks Quote
ben23 Posted March 11, 2007 Author Posted March 11, 2007 I personally feel there is a huge difference between the two. With mass-produced crankbaits, companies are "cranking" out a lot of lures every second, with minimal quality control per lure. Also, mass produced crankbaits usually come with standard finished and normal paint jobs. Custom balsa cranks are made with flat-out better wood and materials. Not to mention almost all custom crankbait manufacturers will custom paint a lure to your standards. With guys like Whittler, you get a hand-made crankbait....assembled by one man from start to finish with the highest amount of quality control anyone could ever ask for. The best components, paint, and quality control, means one heck of a lure....one that you will not find from big manufacturers. i think I just about covered it Ben Quote
Blue Streak Posted March 11, 2007 Posted March 11, 2007 Chip just thinks his lures are worth more. Try Terry Clark, the guy does great work and his prices are fair. tclarkcustomlures.com Quote
The_Natural Posted March 12, 2007 Posted March 12, 2007 I think the Brian's Bee's and WEC baits are the benchmark of balsa baits. Quote
ben23 Posted March 12, 2007 Author Posted March 12, 2007 Another Crankbait maker that I found was Catching Concepts.... go to ebay and search catching concepts.......he has some AWESOME crankbaits! Great prices too......he is really a magician with that airbrush.....has a good variety of baits too Quote
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