Does Paint Condition Really Matter When Fishing Cranks?

[airborne_angler]

Crankbaits are reaction baits...right? Was wondering if a highly detailed paint job on a crank really makes a difference to a fish. To a human naked eye, we see a bait sitting still. It looks realistic in all its detail. Underwater during the retrieve, that detail gets blurred. So what are the fish actually keying in on?

Is it vibration or sound, I know there's gotta be a visual aspect that plays a part too,the fish must see the object, shape and the action. I find it hard to believe that a Bass can distinguish a craw pattern crank from a Shad pattern crank.Maybe the hue of the bait, like a brown vs a silver or a chartreuse vs Red.

So this leaves me to ask the question. I have some cranks that have some worn out finishes on them. Does anyone have experience with success on cranks that the paint is flaking of vs the same crank fresh out of the package.

[rockchalk06]

Sometimes. However Mike Iaconelli said he used to take cranks and put them on the dash of his truck or window seal to let the finish get sun beat. Said it improved his hook up. He helped design the new DT series like that.

I have one top water PopR that looks like hell. It catches more fish than any other top water I have. It's all scratched up.

It can't all be sound though as several compaines make cranks that are silent.

[LWD]

I have a red eye shad lipless crank that is silver and all worn out, I haven't given it a try yet since a friend gave it to me.  I feel like detail does matter or else why would manufacturers go through the trouble of painting those patterns on there unless it is simply to appeal to the human eye.  

[ColdSVT]

I have a red eye shad lipless crank that is silver and all worn out, I haven't given it a try yet since a friend gave it to me.  I feel like detail does matter or else why would manufacturers go through the trouble of painting those patterns on there unless it is simply to appeal to the human eye.  

thats is exactly why companies do it ..to catch you first

I had an xrap lose most of its paint and I took a black sharpie to it...it slays better than it did when it was black and cjrome

[J Francho]

The only issue I could see if there was a chip in a balsa bait, exposing raw wood. I'd seal that up.  eOtherwise, when you're on, you're on.

 

Here's two of my favorite "swimmers"

 

[Raul]

It doesn´t matter at all. 

 

Pretty paint jobs are made for catching you.

[keith71]

I think its more about confidence than anything else,however there are days when it gets tough that something a little more detailed or different makes a difference. If everyone is throwing "sexy-shad" on the lake its a pretty good indicator there chewing shad but maybe something different about your version whether its color,shape or sound can be key.When I paint or build a lure its to my satisfaction,I look at references and try to be a little more detailed.Look at all the lures people have built on this website and others and I think you'll agree that if you had some of those tied on the end of your line you might have a little more confidence,I do. 

[jhoffman]

I think color does matter. Maybe at not the speed of a crank coming by at blazing speed but fish can and definitely do focus on one thing and not another.

 

Go out with a fly rod sometime when there is a hatch, take a perfect match of that fly and take one thats an off color. Lets say olives are hatching and you choose a sulphur pattern same size, same wing colors, same tails but the body is a different color. You might catch one or two on that sulphur but you will absolutely hammer them on the correct pattern. You can even test this theory with a nymph. If you were a fish you would wanna eat a big juicy stone fly if they live in your creek so why would you ignore that to take a size 26 midge.

[airborne_angler]

So basically its a mind game. I get what you are saying about confidence in a certain color. If I caught my PB on a shad patterned crank, I'd be likely to want to go out and purchase more of the same color and model.The detail is what gets me.Someone paints a bait and just goes all out on realism its really not likely gonna matter to the fish. The bait (crankbait) is gonna be wiggling through the water at a pace that the fish arent gonna be able to make out.

On that note, its a reaction bait, the fish isn't gonna analyze it. They are just gonna see an object wiggling by putting off vibrations and maybe puttingboff noise, maybe not.The fish see it trying to flee so they just "react" without knowing what exactly it is.

The Excalibur Real craw XR50 baits are a prime example.If they are biting on one of those, put on a regular XR50 in a similar color and fish it in a similar retrieve speed and I'm bettin you'll get bit.

Topwaters are no different. The fish only see the underside of the lure at rest, and when the bait is moved, there's a disturbance in the water so the fish may not even be able to see what they are striking at. The exact reason some topwaters are clear.

So I'm thinking fish see colors in reaction baits as light vs dark, bright vs dull/subdued...detail really doesn't make a difference to the fish when it comes to reaction bites.

Dogs are no different. I have a Chocolate Lab and hes picked up on catching dog kibble in midair when its tossed.I can take ANYTHING and toss it in the air and hell catch it.Regardless of what it is. Potato Chips, Pretzels, Bread, and even non edible items...scraps of paper balled up, pea gravel, scraps of foam...he goes for everything. Only AFTER he has it in his mouth does he realize its not food and spits it out.I think fish are the same way. Only after they have a crank in thier mouth do they realize its not edible, but by then, if the fisherman is paying attention, its too late.Detail is not part of the equation.

[Marty]

It hasn't mattered to me. I regularly use cranks that have a lot of paint scraped off. Fish don't see things the same way we do and the missing paint doesn't seem to affect the action.

[Teal]

I accidently got some water in my squarebill box and collected some rust. The bellys of half a dozen on my squarebills now have a light rust orange belly. One particular crank, a Spro Fat Jon in nasty shad with "rust belly" is still catchng fish...maybe better than before.

[Bluebasser86]

I love it when a bait gets chewed up, seems like they catch fish better when they get like that. Sometimes the realistic finishes do make a difference though. 

[ww2farmer]

I am firmly in the camp that the super realistic baits, while very nice, are not needed. Do they hurt, no, but I personally don't think they help all that much for me to fork out the extra $$ they cost. Besides, just because a bait looks like a real bluegill to us, who says it looks like that to a bass. The dumb things bite hunks of flopping plastic being cast about attached to a rig festooned with wires and snaps, but if  you think a bait with the exact scale count, and tiny painted on fins that look like an photo copy of a 4" shad is really a difference maker, have at it.

[Raul]

I have a bunch of cranks that have been clear coated so many times that I cant remember how many coats each bait has and the real only reason why I have clear coated them is because they are wood baits, don´t know exactly how deep the scratches are but better safe than sorry, a coat of clear coat is going to do a lot less damage than water soaking the wood and getting trapped under the paint. Plastic baits don´t have so many coats of clear coat, I have recoated them ocassionally, some have lost good chunks of paint ( those shads Francho shows in the pic look spankin´ new when compared to some of my cranks ) and they still catch fish.

 

If they are all chewed it means they work, if they look like crap because they have been bit ad nauseum who cares ? fish don´t seem to bother, as a matter of fact, the worse they look is a statement on how good that particular baiit is. With cranks there´s something very important that many miss, several baits may look identical but that doesn´t mean they are all fish magnets, some catch a lot more fish than others and those will look worse.

[Scorcher214]

Ya, I got several baits that are beat up by the local pike population and still work as well as they did when they were new. Color matters to some extent but like others have said, they mostly catch fisherman.

[BassThumb]

I don't think it makes any difference at all. The hooks will wear out long before the crankbait does.

[Arv]

It doesn´t matter at all. 

 

Pretty paint jobs are made for catching you.

Yup!

[jhoffman]

So if paint and color doesnt matter you would buy a crank at half price if it came unfinished?

[airborne_angler]

I'd give an unfinished crank a try.

[cdaggett]

I have read that a bass' eye is able to detect at a much higher rate of speed, the detail in a bait for example how the blades of a spinner bait turn and how a crank wobbles. It was in a bassmaster or In-fisherman magazine, not some jo-shmo redneck website. It was back by scientific research and studies. It also said that a bass can see further to the left and right while its looking forward than one might think. I was relatively convinced by this article, so I firmly believe that having a semi-realistic paint job will help produce more fish.