Crankbaits / Run true or hunt

[Kevinator1]

Don't you just love the pros who in the past said that your crankbait had to run true to get strikes but now they all say they are looking for a crankbait that "hunts" and goes all over the place. Sounds like crankbait sales were down for awhile to me. Gotta have that hunting action fellas!  Sometimes I do bend the eye to get the bait to run sideways under the docks....maybe i'll come up with the Dock crankbait! "You don't want the crankbait to run straight or hunt....you want it to lean sideways to get under the docks!"  

[Raul]

Pros say so many BS that many times it´s not even worth paying attention to them, pros said FC didn´t stretch . 

You know a crank runs properly when it doesn´t roll on it´s side and no longer works.

[MassYak85]

Personally I do prefer one that hunts in open water, but around cover I don't think it matters. 

[flyfisher]

hunting and running true are not mutually exclusive.  If you tune a crank bait to run a specific direction, it will always run that direction.  A crank bait that hunts has an erratic motion that stays in a straight path but is not the same consistent wobble the entire time.

[BassThumb]

A crankbait can still "run true" and "hunt" at the same time. The KVD squarebills are a perfect example of that. The run in a straight, but very erratic line.

[riverbasser]

My definition of a crank that hunts is what the rapala scatter raps do

on a side note I would definitely buy your dock cranks!

[smalljaw67]

I hate when terms get thrown around so much they get confusing and the pros are the main culprits. Watch any pro interview and they will tell you they used a medium heavy action rod, no, it was a medium heavy power and the action was different. Crankbaits are going through this thing that they have to "hunt" or "search" and "run true" and it can be considered the same thing. Take an older crankbait, I'll begin with my favorite medium divers, the Bomber 4A, if I throw that on a standard 7' cranking rod with a 6.?:1 reel and use a normal pace it will be a true running crankbait and it will be erratic and hunt when it hits and deflects off cover, that is why it is important to maintain bottom contact with a crankbait. Take the same scenario and burn that bait, it will "blow out" meaning that it becomes unstable and then turns on its side and it won't return to center until you get it back to its normal speed range. Now the crankbait designers have figured out how to make a bait do that but return to center, take a look at the Spro Baby Fat John, I heard anglers complain that it doesn't "hunt" but what they don't know is that you need to burn it, when it is being reeled in at a high speed it gets a little unstable and will kick out but then comeback to center, it takes much more speed to get a bait like that to blow out and turn sideways. The Rapala Scatter Rap, they made it so you can control when you want it to do that, and it too can be reeled to fast, if you burn it then you'll experience blow out but run it at an easy pace and you get a true running crank but speed it up a little and it will swing out and then back in as you slow it down but that is a true running bait. So there you go, just about all erratic cranks are true running and with some kind of bottom contact or  or cover bumping, every true running crank will be an erratic, hunting type bait as well.

[WRB]

This topic has been well answered, all can add is a diving crank bait that hunts came from original Wiggle Warts that dart to one side or the other randomly without rolling on a steady retrieve. Tuning a crankbait was bending the line tie eye to prevent the lure rolling over at faster retrieve speeds. Bending the line tie eye to make the lure run to one side so it goes under docks etc, is another definition of tuning.

I like my crankbait to run straight and impart the erratic action by changing pace (cranking speed), bottom bumping or object and rod action.

Tom

[avidone1]

I like em to run straight.  If I want em to hunt I get them in beagle color.

[S. Sass]

20 minutes ago, avidone1 said:

I like em to run straight.  If I want em to hunt I get them in beagle color.

I see what you did there ?