Strike King tiny crank

[bilgerat]

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_29847_100005001_100000000_100005000?cm_ven=bazaarvoice&cm_cat=RLP&cm_pla=29847&cm_ite=productname_link

I'll tell you what, I'm the worst crankbait fisherman you've ever seen but this is the third weekend in a row that this little booger has got it done for me. Forget that it weighs 1/8 oz and is under two inches long. Forget it's marketed as a pond bait for panfish. Bass have been inhaling these things, as well as dinner plate sized crappie. I'm not talking dink bass either, my biggest so far this year was over 3 lb. Ghost and charteuse/blue back have been the hot patterns for me. At under $4 a pop, they're a steal. I have found them for as little as $2.50 at Wally World. Have not had any run bad out of the box. Some of my older ones will occasionally tangle the front and rear trebles on the cast. Strike King must be aware of this as my newer ones have a short shank treble on the rear which eliminates this problem.

You'll need no heavier than a light power rod to throw these. My setup is a 6' 8" Fenwick Elite Tech River Runner UL spinning rig. 10/4 braid with a 6 lb mono leader throws this quite a ways and zero hookup issues.

If the bite is tough, don't be afraid to downsize.

[Sam]

We throw these on a Virginia river in the fall.

For some reason the bass eat them up.

Keep on fising them!!! 

[Goose52]

I bought one of those at WalMart but have never fished it...I'll have to get it wet !

[Fat-G]

Oh man, you just kill 'em on these no matter what. My brother loves to throw these when he comes out with me.

[NorcalBassin]

I like throwing them on light spinning gear... makes a 3 pounder feel like a hog. Also caught quite a few trout and bass on these little fellas.

[ww2farmer]

The mini series 3 is also pretty good :-X

[wisconsin heat]

i have a couple that i havent used yet...

[crappie25]

i have always used pint size bait, big fish seems to hit them quicker. its hard for me to buy a bait over 3 inches

[Grey Wolf]

Excellant small profile baits .

[skunked_again]

i love that bait. we catch about everything on those things.

[Hooligan]

I hate that bait!  The only time I ever fish them I lose them to pike.  Not that it doesn't catch fish, it's that I HATE remembering it when I'm fishing smallies on pike water, it's inevitable that I'm going to lose it to pike.

[Goose52]

I bought one of those at WalMart but have never fished it...I'll have to get it wet !

I brought this thread back to report that I finally did get my Strike King Bitsy Pond Minnow wet!

My records show that I first caught a fish on this bait on April 13. I've fished it off-and-on since then, on the 4 different rods that I have that can toss the actual 1/12 oz weight of this bait. Results? For me, it's the biggest dink magnet that I have ever fished As of early this morning, I had caught 55 fish on this lure:

20 bluegill (5" to 10")

19 LMB (5" to 12")

14 yellow perch (5" to 10")

1 redear/shellcracker (8")

1 white crappie (9")

HOWEVER, later today I finally got a decent LMB on this bait - 17" / 1.96lb. I had been concerned that the little #14 trebles wouldn't hook-up on a larger fish but both trebles were buried in the bony part of the jaw - I had to use my forceps to get one of them out; my 4lb mono would have broke before this fish could have got un-buttoned. I was using a 5' UL (mod-xtra-slow!) spinning rod and a 2 lb bass on that rod was a lot of fun. THEN, on the very next cast, I get a 5" bluegill.

So, the bait does indeed work, but you sure have to wade through a lot of dinks to get the nice fish!

[I.rar]

nice. i still have to check these little guys out. im also a horrible crank baiter lol.

[Goose52]

nice. i still have to check these little guys out. im also a horrible crank baiter lol.

What's sorta neat about this bait is that it suspends (at least mine does - will have to get another to see if they all do). Having the bait suspend gives you more options on how to work the bait. You can toss it out and do a strait retrieve, crank it down to depth and dead stick it - then add some twitches. You can pause on the retrieve and then twitch a few times then restart the retrieve. It can also be worked like a mini-jerkbait...

You just have to get past the dinks. At least I haven't caught anything smaller than 5" yet...

[RAMBLER]

That is the fish catchin' thing I've ever used. I've tossed it over beds of gills and had them knock it out of the water before one grabbed it. Caught everything you all have, except smallmouth (don't have them in this part of the world) plus catfish. Had a day when the bite was bad, the wind was bad, so I was trolling with that little thing. Caught a 12 1/2 pound channel cat. That took about 20 minuts to get in. It bent one hook and knocked one eye off. Straightened the hook and still catch fish on it.

[dhami013]

The Bitsy Minnow. I always tie one on for my girlfriend so she'll be entertained while fishing ha. Soon I'll get her worm fishing with me.

But yeah the Bitsy always produces. Whenever it gets slow, the Bitsy I will throw.

[grimlin]

Took me 15-20 minutes to get mine to even run straight...The line tie looks like a tangled mess now after I finally tuned it.It ran hard to the left.The white perch here seems to love that thing so far.

[Hyrule Bass]

i got one i been meaning to try out, also a couple other small cranks too i want to try. i dont use too many smaller lures for no particular reason. i did buy a rebel tad fry not long ago and tried it out, what a blast it was. i didnt hook any bass on it, but i did have a field day with the panfish, theyll hit it on the retrieve and theyll also come take it off the top. i actually did hook a small bluegill with it and out from under the dock came a nice fat bass that then hit my bluegill and started to swim off with it, i shouldve opened the bail and let him swim off with it but i figured i had slim chances of hooking him when the bluegill had two of the hooks from the treble buried in him...