Bandit crank baits

[king fisher]

I fished for bass in Eastern WA growing up in the seventies, and early eighties.  Moved to Alaska after high school.  Im moving back to WA and plan on fishing for bass again.  Still have some crank baits that worked well in the rocky lake I fished growing up.  Mostly Rebel Deep WEER, Hedon sonics, and bomber model A's. I still have many of the sonics, and Deep WEER's.  Will these older lures still work well for both small mouth and large mouth bass in rocky muddy water up to 10 feet deep.  Primary forage cray fish.  Would like recommendations on newer Crank baits.  Have read mixed reviews on the Rapala DT line.  What about Bandit? Very good price.  How is the quality?  Do they catch fish as well as expensive brands?

[Fishin' Fool]

Yes decent crankbaits for the price. Maybe replace the hooks. Chartreuse rootbeer splatter back or whatever it's called

[Cgolf]

Yes, very good baits, my best brand by a mile. Very durable, the only one I ever broke was one I bounced off a railing on the back cast while shore fishing. I still caught 4 fish on it with it all cracked and taking on water. The 100 does have a bit more subltle action, but seems to do well when fish are both inactive and active. 

[primetime]

The bandit footloose is a good little wake bait...hard to beat if you can find them on sale, they are a good lure for the money..I am not a cranking expert by any stretch, but I have confidence in bandits....

[whitwolf]

Buy a few of each series and fish them. I generally like Bandit baits and am quite partial to the black 100's and 200's. 

[tander]

Bandits are my #1 crankbait. I used 100's, 200's, and 300's. My favorite color is Tenn. shade followed  close by chart./blue back and baby bass. Hard to beat them especially for the price.

[Cgolf]

3 hours ago, king fisher said:

I fished for bass in Eastern WA growing up in the seventies, and early eighties.  Moved to Alaska after high school.  Im moving back to WA and plan on fishing for bass again.  Still have some crank baits that worked well in the rocky lake I fished growing up.  Mostly Rebel Deep WEER, Hedon sonics, and bomber model A's. I still have many of the sonics, and Deep WEER's.  Will these older lures still work well for both small mouth and large mouth bass in rocky muddy water up to 10 feet deep.  Primary forage cray fish.  Would like recommendations on newer Crank baits.  Have read mixed reviews on the Rapala DT line.  What about Bandit? Very good price.  How is the quality?  Do they catch fish as well as expensive brands?

Cabelas has two colors of the 100 online for 3 bucks still. I picked up over 20 of them a few weeks back. 

[king fisher]

Are more expensive brands worth buying?  Sounds like everyone likes the Bandits.  I don't mind spending more if they catch more fish.

[S. Sass]

I like the Footloose SB16 a lot of places i go 3 or 4 feet is all you want a crankbait to go. But I too am no expert on crankbaits. I just really started heavily using lipped crankbaits this year.   

The Bandit Footloose SB16 Crankbait still shows 4 colors and the Bandit 200 Series SB 16 Crankbait shows 6 colors. 

The Bandit 100 Series SB 16 Crankbait doesn't come up on the Bargain Cave for me but it is also marked down to $2.99 but currently only has 2 colors listed. 

[Munkin]

Try the baits you have and if they don't work then adjust? I have caught bass on a Rebel wee-r from 1989 to last year so I know they still work. The only crank I would suggest adding to your arsenal is a 1.5 bait. Lucky Craft and Strike King make them along with others but I would start with one of those two. The 1.5 is a squarebill crank that runs about 3-5 feet and is just a fish catching machine. For colors go with something that matches the local forage? Gizzard shad and Black back chartuese have been my main two colors in general with crayfish thrown in for river smallmouth.

 

I will add that the Bandit cranks in 100-300 size are in my top 5 most productive crankbaits.

 

Allen

[MIbassyaker]

3 hours ago, king fisher said:

Are more expensive brands worth buying?  Sounds like everyone likes the Bandits.  I don't mind spending more if they catch more fish.

Different brands have slightly different wobbles on the retrieve, and you may find your bass like some more than others. So it's worth trying out a few different brands. But Bandits are great bang for the buck, as are the Strike King KVD 1.5 mentioned above.  I personally have a hard time spending much money on something I can, and probably will, lose to a laydown at any moment.

[robster80]

bandits for me have outperformed my other more expensive cranks. theyre becoming a go to lure for me this season. my local shop still has alot of the older packaged USA made ones and ive been stocking up everytime i go in there. hey just flat out catch fish for me when other baits wont. ive bought 20-30 thinking im all set but i may go back and get some more lol