Crankbaits

[Dat_Bass]

Alright, so I'm lookin to add some new hard baits to my collection. I'd like some recommendations on square bills and normal crank baits. Anything will help, Also, any chatter bait recommendations are welcome too.

[A-Jay]

 I'd highly recommend the 6th Sense Crush Flat 75X Crankbait ~

Been a very good bait for me two seasons running.

A-Jay

[Hurricane]

Can't go wrong with the Rapala DT series.... 

[Cgolf]

The Bandit 100 has been good to me for years on both lakes and rivers. It has a more subtle action. For a bait that pushes a ton of water, the now out of production xcalibur SB is a great bait, the 200 size worked well for me and I think they may eventually rerelease these under the Booyah brand. If I have those two baits I should be able to catch some bass. Others that I tried for the first time last year and did well on are the shallow Bandit Flatt Maxx and Bill Lewis echo.

For deep divers pretty much all I own are Norman deep little Ns and DD22s along with the Rapala DT series. 

[Raul]

I´ve caught more bass on Rapala Shad Raps than with all my other cranks put together.

[HoosierHawgs]

1 hour ago, cgolf said:

The Bandit 100 has been good to me for years on both lakes and rivers. It has a more subtle action. For a bait that pushes a ton of water, the now out of production xcalibur SB is a great bait, the 200 size worked well for me and I think they may eventually rerelease these under the Booyah brand. If I have those two baits I should be able to catch some bass. Others that I tried for the first time last year and did well on are the shallow Bandit Flatt Maxx and Bill Lewis echo.

For deep divers pretty much all I own are Norman deep little Ns and DD22s along with the Rapala DT series. 

I'm fairly certain they announced that the Alton Jones Xcalibur XCS Square Lip baits would not be moved to the Booyah line. I may be wrong though. As for square bill baits in general it is really hard to go wrong. I'm going to give a shameless plug for the Bait Monkey and say that you should try them all. I originally was not a very confident crankbait fisherman but now that I know what style of lip does what and what the size and shape of the body along with hooks and rattles do to effect the action I'm the proud owner of 30+ square bill baits of almost every make and manufacture. They each have their time in the sun.

[Airman4754]

1 hour ago, Raul said:

I´ve caught more bass on Rapala Shad Raps than with all my other cranks put together.

Ditto, and you can fish a Shad Rap year round. You won't find a better cold water crank. My dad would troll them along tree and weed lines and was so successful doing that. 

I really like the Strike King XD series also. They're just kind of a no-nonsense crank bait, have multiple sizes to cover a lot of depth ranges, and catch fish. 

Shap Rap for tight wobble, XD's for big wobble. 

 

[camman]

For a chatterbaut style baits I picked up the Picasso Shock blade this year and have done really well with them.  A little more expensive than a Chatterbait but I get a good wobble with them and they hold up

[smalljaw67]

I'm sold on the Yo-Zuri 3DB square bills, those are high end with a normal price tag. Your normal crankbaits, what depth range are you referring to?  There are shallow divers without square bills like the Mann's Baby 1 minus, and the Rapala DT-4, then you mid-level divers like the Storm Wiggle Wart and Bagley Diving Kill'R B, and your semi-deep divers like the Bomber Fat Free Shad or the Rapala DT-14, and finally deep divers like the Strike King 10XD and the like.

[HoosierHawgs]

5 minutes ago, smalljaw67 said:

I'm sold on the Yo-Zuri 3DB square bills, those are high end with a normal price tag. Your normal crankbaits, what depth range are you referring to?  There are shallow divers without square bills like the Mann's Baby 1 minus, and the Rapala DT-4, then you mid-level divers like the Storm Wiggle Wart and Bagley Diving Kill'R B, and your semi-deep divers like the Bomber Fat Free Shad or the Rapala DT-14, and finally deep divers like the Strike King 10XD and the like.

They were an especially good deal when they were 5 bucks a pop during the 25 days sale.

[68camaro]

For cranks I like Gary Yamamoto in sizes 100 - 300 depending on desired depth. Also I really like LiveTarget Crawfish in several colors.

I don't use squarebill but lipless I like Rat-L-trap and Strike King.

 

[HoosierHawgs]

27 minutes ago, 68camaro said:

For cranks I like Gary Yamamoto in sizes 100 - 300 depending on desired depth. Also I really like LiveTarget Crawfish in several colors.

I don't use squarebill but lipless I like Rat-L-trap and Strike King.

 

The Yamamoto 100 size bait I would consider it a Square Bill bait.

[68camaro]

4 minutes ago, HoosierHawgs said:

The Yamamoto 100 size bait I would consider it a Square Bill bait.

Did not know that. I don't use it as most people use a square bill. My water here has very soft weedy bottom, so I need to keep all my cranks just above it or they snag all the time.

[Cgolf]

1 hour ago, HoosierHawgs said:

I'm fairly certain they announced that the Alton Jones Xcalibur XCS Square Lip baits would not be moved to the Booyah line. I may be wrong though. As for square bill baits in general it is really hard to go wrong. I'm going to give a shameless plug for the Bait Monkey and say that you should try them all. I originally was not a very confident crankbait fisherman but now that I know what style of lip does what and what the size and shape of the body along with hooks and rattles do to effect the action I'm the proud owner of 30+ square bill baits of almost every make and manufacture. They each have their time in the sun.

That would really suck if they were gone, I only have 5 of them and they are awesome when the fish are chasing. If this is true I may want to try and find some more. 

[Missourifishin]

3 hours ago, Raul said:

I´ve caught more bass on Rapala Shad Raps than with all my other cranks put together.

These and SK KVD squarebills are my favorite cranks.

[HoosierHawgs]

25 minutes ago, cgolf said:

That would really suck if they were gone, I only have 5 of them and they are awesome when the fish are chasing. If this is true I may want to try and find some more. 

I buy every one of them I see that isn't in the Real Craw patterns.

[HoosierHawgs]

35 minutes ago, 68camaro said:

Did not know that. I don't use it as most people use a square bill. My water here has very soft weedy bottom, so I need to keep all my cranks just above it or they snag all the time.

Right. Different strokes for different folks. I would also use a lot of lipless in that situation. Whenever the wide wobble action of a SB stops producing, i go to the lipless and get a few more strikes.