Crankbait Questions

[Curtis B.]

I need some help deciding what crankbaits to purchase. I currently don't have hardly any in my arsenal and am looking to get better at fishing them as I am considering being a co-angler in some tournaments this year. I am basically looking for some basic styles, colors, sizes and brands to get me started... there are just so many choices!

Thanks!

[Arv]

Depends on how much you are willing to spend. A solid choice would be the Strike King crankbaits. Not too expensive and they produce well. 1.5 and 2.5 sizes are pretty versatile IMO. As far as colors go, I would just keep it simple. Shad, bluegill and craw colors are a good place to start.

[ww2farmer]

If I were to make up a basic "starter" kit of crankbaits it would have this:

 

1/2 Lipless crank of your choice..

 

A small square bill ( KVD 1.5, bandit 100, etc..)

 

2" mid depth crank (wiggle wart/bandit 200/sk series 3/etc....)

 

and a medium sized, easy pulling, deep diver (SK 5xd/Bandit ledge 250/etc....)

 

Keep the colors simple....something natural, and something bright, with shad, bluegill, or crawfish as the "theme" for those colors.

 

And as a cranking newb............I would avoid the big, heavy, hard pulling deep divers that require cranking specific gear to toss. All of the baits I mentioned can be used on your "regular" gear just fine to start with.

[Raul]

You need:

 

 A few lipless cranks of different brands, why of different brands ? ´cause today they want "X" brand but not tomorrow, classic ( being around like forever ) lipless cranks are Rat L-Traps ( change the hooks ! ), Rapala Rattlin´ Rap ( or more modern Clackin´ Rap ), SK Diamond Shad and Red Eye Shad )

 

Topwaters: Jitterbug, Sammy ( I recomend it over the Spook ´cause it´s easier to walk the dog with it ), Torpedo and a couple of different poppers

 

Jerkbaits: in the department the Rapala Original Floating Minnow is the king of them, plus you need a few plastic ones like LC´s Pointer  cuz the original floating minnow doesn´t fly too well.

 

Super Shallow, Shallow, mid and deep diving cranks some of my favorite brands are Rapala, Storm and Bandit ( series number tells you how deep they dive )-

 

Don´t go around purchasing cranks like crazy, I swear, you only need a few ones, maybe a 3700 boxfull will do the trick, this comes from someome who owns more than 700 cranks ( 95 % of them have never touched the water.

[roadwarrior]

Don´t go around purchasing cranks like crazy, I swear, you only need a few ones, maybe a 3700 boxfull will do the trick, this comes from someome who owns more than 700 cranks ( 95 % of them have never touched the water.

 

Ain't that the truth!

[McAlpine]

You need:

 

 

Don´t go around purchasing cranks like crazy, I swear, you only need a few ones, maybe a 3700 boxfull will do the trick, this comes from someome who owns more than 700 cranks ( 95 % of them have never touched the water.

Yeah, but you'll buy more.

:-)

[Fishes in trees]

I like the Timber Tiger brand of crank baits.  You can get them in several different running depths.  What I like most about them is that they seem to get stuck less than some other brands, due to the little deflector wings on the sides.

[WRB]

Curtis, are from the UK?

First thing you need to do is tell us what type of lakes to you plan to fish. Deep divers in shallow weedy lakes or shallow divers in deep rocky structure lakes are not very effective.

In general the Bill Norman, Bomber make good deep divers that run properly out of the box. The original Rat-L Trap works everywhere. Colors depends on the predominate prey; fire tiger for perch, bluegill and sunfish.

Shad colors for shad and brown-red for crawdads are the basics.

Size, 1/2 to 3/4 oz works good for most crankbaits.

Depth range, shallow= 5', mid depth = 10 and 15' = deep. Very few crankbaits run deeper than 15' although they claim much deeper.

Tom

[Uncle Leo]

Ha ha I have maybe 10 3700 boxes full of cranks and use maybe one box at the most. 

[roadwarrior]

Ha ha I have maybe 10 3700 boxes full of cranks and use maybe one box at the most. 

 

Hey Uncle Leo! Nice to see you on here.

 

-Kent

[Uncle Leo]

Hey Uncle Leo! Nice to see you on here.

 

-Kent

 Thanks Kent had a rough summer but life is back to normal and I sure miss my fishing. All healed so next year will be different.

[Curtis B.]

Thanks for the input so far guys! I am from upstate NY if that helps.

[Raul]

Yeah, but you'll buy more.

:-)

 

Oh yeah ! I´m a crank aficionado, nowdays, when I look at it from another perspective I come to realize I bought them because I liked them, my Megabass Type X collection isn´t complete yet     , there´s tons of pretty good lookin´ baits I don´t have, meanwhile I will keep on fishin the handfulthat catches fish.

[Fish'N Impossible]

Knowing the lakes and locations you are going to fish will help you with the colors a lot. Example here in Ohio you will not get bit on a red craw lipless crank. That said my starter kit would be:

 

1/2oz Lipless crank (Damiki, Live target)

 

Shallow diver crankbaits (Bomber square A, Bandit 100, KVD 1.5)

 

Mid Diver Crankbaits (Live Target, Bandit 200, Bomber, Rapala)

 

Deep Diver Crank baits (Live Target, SK 5xd, Bandit 250)

 

and keep the colors forage related...Red and Green Craw....Shad patterns...Firetiger and don't be scared of a solid white. (bombers killer color is Oxbow).

[RandySBreth]

I will tell you in warm weather I catch more Bass (Spots, Smallies and the big green ones) on a Bomber 4A than anything else, in cold water it's an XRap Shad. Start there.

[BuckMaxx]

I would start with about 2-300 of them and work up from there. I use about 3 of 'em is all. haha