Crankbait Starter Kit

[Zackbassmaster]

Throughout my bass fishing experience I have mainly used soft plastics but have suddenly gotten the urge to start fishing crankbaits/jerkbaits/lipless cranks.

I really need some ideas on what your favorite jerkbaits, crankbaits (preferably medium-shallow divers), and lipless cranks.

Thanks for any help in advance!

[Pepul]

Rapala x rap

bandit 200

Red eye shad

[gripnrip]

SK square bills

Fat Free Shads

Xcalibur lipless

[Crankenstein Crony]

SK square bills or Xcalibur square bills

 

SK red eyes

 

SK series 5 

 

Bomber Fat Free Shad or Bandit 200

[PondBoss]

Jerkbaits: RC STX by Luck E Strike

 

Shallow divers:  Bomber 4a and Square-a

 

Lip Less:  h2o Xpress, Red Eye, XR50 etc.

[Tuckahoe Joe]

Bandit 200 series, Rapala Shallow Shadrap, Strike King KVD 1.5, Bomber SquareA

[Shewillbemine]

Oh you opened up a can o' worms asking for brand/type recommendations.   

 

My suggestion for anyone looking at getting into a new type of lure: just pick one that's easily accessible to you (i.e. sold at a local store so easily replaced as needed) or purchase several of the same type if you must order online. 

 

Your head will explode switching from Brand X to Brand Y. Pick 1-2 and learn how to work them.

 

That said, I'm a big fan of Rapala, especially Shad Raps and Rattle Raps. 

[Tuckahoe Joe]

Oh you opened up a can o' worms asking for brand/type recommendations.  

 

My suggestion for anyone looking at getting into a new type of lure: just pick one that's easily accessible to you (i.e. sold at a local store so easily replaced as needed) or purchase several of the same type if you must order online. 

 

Your head will explode switching from Brand X to Brand Y. Pick 1-2 and learn how to work them.

 

That said, I'm a big fan of Rapala, especially Shad Raps and Rattle Raps. 

Thats good advice.  Just hit your local BPS, tackle shop, or Walmart fishing seciton and pick up a couple different kinds and see what you like.  The Walmarts around here carry Rapala and Strike King, your local tackle shop probably has a few different brands, and BPS should carry everything.

[tbone1993]

Entire dt series by rapala , yes they break but they also catch fish. Strike king xd series are great semi deep divers depending on the range. Strike king kvd 1.5s better be in your box. In cold water scenarios rapala sr7 shad raps.  lipless  would be a traditional rat-l-trap. top water would be zara spooks, pop r and such 

[Bankbeater]

Mann's 1 minus for shallow fishing.  Bill Lewis Rat-l-trap for lipless.

[jhoffman]

After the beating I took on buying baits other than LC here the other day Im surprised it doesnt look like LC's retail list in here.

 

Lipless - I tend to look for custom painted baits, Cordell Suspending Spots

Shallow - SK 1.5, Balsa crafted baits

Deep - DT Rapala Series, Wiggle Warts

Jerks - Rapala on the cheap or smithwick, LC if I have money to burn, I like clear ones, theyre harder to find

Top - LC Sammys, Scum Frogs, Rage Frogs, Ghostbaits Frogs, Spooks, Jitterbugs on the river

[ww2farmer]

Throughout my bass fishing experience I have mainly used soft plastics but have suddenly gotten the urge to start fishing crankbaits/jerkbaits/lipless cranks.

I really need some ideas on what your favorite jerkbaits, crankbaits (preferably medium-shallow divers), and lipless cranks.

Thanks for any help in advance!

Lipless: 1/2 oz Strike King Redeye Shad, change the stock hooks to #4 Mustad KVD 2x short, 1x strong triple grips. You really only need two colors, one for  water with some color to it (Orange craw, Chili craw, Chart belly craw, etc....pick one they all work), one for clear water(Bluegill, Sexy Ghost minnow, Jap. Shad, etc....)

 

Shallow diver: Stike King KVD 1.5, change the stock hooks to the same thing as I mentioned on the Redeye shad, a bluegill, shad, and/or craw color will get the job done.

 

Medium diver: Strike King 3xd, change the front stock hook to the same #4 as the 1.5 and RES, change the rear to a #6 of the same hook, again a bluegill, shad, and/or craw color will work

 

Jerkbait: Excailiber EE shad: Stock hooks are fine, I like a translucent color for clear days, and a flashy color like gold/black for cloudy.

[bass1980]

From my experience when starting out just buy some cheaper cranks, you'll be sure to lose a few from snags unless you get a lure retriever. Cheap cranks works too, just don't last as long or have cheaper hooks. My suggestion;

Lipless - red eye shad or rippin rap both in 1/2 oz

Shallow crank - KVD square bill 1/2 oz

Jerk bait - lucky E Strike Rick clunn knock off.

With these it won't break the bank, you learn how to fish it, and you won't dive into the lake searching for that $15-25 JDM lure.

[Hanover_Yakker]

Keep it simple.....

1. A lipless crankbait like a SPRO Aruku Shad, Rat-L-Trap or Red Eye Shad will allow you to cover a variety of depths without buying specific baits by depth.

2. Suspending - hard to beat the original floating Rapalas in Gold/Black and Silver/Black as well as the original Husky Jerks or Smithwick Rogues

3. If you were dead set on getting some lipped cranks, then the Manns -1s are hard to beat.

[Smallieslayer2234]

Jerkbait- rapala husky jerk

Crank- strike king kvd 1.5

Lipless- either red eye shad or bill Lewis rattle trap

[Felix77]

Oh you opened up a can o' worms asking for brand/type recommendations.

My suggestion for anyone looking at getting into a new type of lure: just pick one that's easily accessible to you (i.e. sold at a local store so easily replaced as needed) or purchase several of the same type if you must order online.

Your head will explode switching from Brand X to Brand Y. Pick 1-2 and learn how to work them.

That said, I'm a big fan of Rapala, especially Shad Raps and Rattle Raps.

I was given this advice a long time ago and it helps. You need a baseline before you can judge one lure vs another. Its such a personal preference. Do your research and pick a lure from one brand and work it for a while. Once you try another lure you will be surprised how much easier it is to compare.

For me...

SK Red Eye Shads

SK KVD 1.5's

Jerkbait- still undecided.

[J Francho]

Spro carries good baits in every category listed, and strikes a nice balance between quality and value. I'm especially fond of the Aruku Shads. I have a few of the deep divers, and they're pretty good too.

[slowpoke274]

rapala x-rap xr10 silver/black

cordell super spot in green firetiger

old school pre-rapala wiggle warts if you can find em cheap i got lucky last summer and found a dozen at a garage sale for 2.50 a piece including 2 phantom brown craws... score!!!

[Tuckahoe Joe]

From my experience when starting out just buy some cheaper cranks, you'll be sure to lose a few from snags unless you get a lure retriever. Cheap cranks works too, just don't last as long or have cheaper hooks. My suggestion;

Lipless - red eye shad or rippin rap both in 1/2 oz

Shallow crank - KVD square bill 1/2 oz

Jerk bait - lucky E Strike Rick clunn knock off.

With these it won't break the bank, you learn how to fish it, and you won't dive into the lake searching for that $15-25 JDM lure.

Thats true.  My first crankbait fish was caught on a generic squarebill that came with my Shakespeare 'Catch More Bass' combo

[jhoffman]

old school pre-rapala wiggle warts if you can find em cheap i got lucky last summer and found a dozen at a garage sale for 2.50 a piece including 2 phantom brown craws... score!!!

I hate you

[Jig Meister]

To me crankbaits are somewhat of a labor of love, normally you have to swap out hooks and tune them, which is why I sort of keep it simple with what I will fish.

 

I usually fish only lipless cranks (SK/Rapala), I guess I just do not have a good skill base with cranks and am always too busy tossing jigs, spinners, and topwaters.

 

I like the lipless cranks because they can go to many different depths and mostly always produce for me, I have some jerk baits inmy tackle, however I do not know how to use them effectively because I never try and use them, just have them because I feel i should haha.

 

sorry for grammer/spelling etc, sitting in a parking lot ninja stealinf some WIFI on campus 

[Sherlock 60]

I presume you want to stay with less expensive cranks since this is a starter kit:

 

Bomber Shallow A

Bomber Square A

Bomber 4A and 6A

SK KVD 1.5 and 2.5 Square Bills

SK Series 5, 6 and 6XD

1/2 oz lipless cranks

[guitarkid]

I'm surprised nobody has said the bandit 100s, by far one of my most producing cranks.

-gk

[LgMouthGambler]

I like the Bomber square A's and shallow A's. You missed the boat on them, but Dicks had a sale on them for $3 a piece and they were also buy 3 get 1 free on top of it. They might still be available, I havent been back since unloading the shelf of my local one.

[Big Bassman]

Love balsa crank baits of misc. makers. I agree with whoever said get a few and try them. Once you get comfortable you can expand on what you like and try something different once and awhile. With our buddy the "Bait Monkey" around, you will be addicted in no time! There are many good baits available now at reasonable prices.