What basic crankbaits

[Andrewhurd]

I've been doing more bass fishing the past few years and I mostly have spinner baits, chatter baits and top water. I only have a couple crankbaits and haven't had any luck with them. What is a good size, color, design should I pick up? There is so many to pick from in the stores and I need a starting point to get me started on what to look for.  Same also goes for soft plastics.

[jr231]

Shad rap and bomber model A are two hard baits I wouldn't want to go without. 

[Gundog]

I like Strike King KVD 1.5 (dives to 3 ft) or Norman's Deep Baby N (dives 6-8 ft) for shallow water. As far as color, in the Northeast alewife, perch, crawfish and blue gill are the main forage species so I would start there. 

[scaleface]

There are so many to choose from and they all work. Are you from a boat or shore and how deep do you think you will be fishing ?

[Andrewhurd]

I will be fishing from a boat and most of the time I'm in 12ft or less of water. 

[Paul Roberts]

Start with depth you'll be fishing. The rest is just details. 

[Spankey]

Do you own a Rat-L-Trap?

[Raul]

1 minute ago, Spankey said:

Do you own a Rat-L-Trap?

 

[Spankey]

Maybe pick up a Rapala Countdown or Husky Jerk.

 

My thoughts would be to pick up a few or couple of lures before you go out each week and fish them hard. Pick up stuff that you are interested. Before you know it or by the end of the season you'll have a pretty impressive amount of stuff. There is plenty of lure info on here. Colors are a whole different ballgame that may not mean that much.

[primetime]

Shad raps on spinning gear are almost always money, not just a cold water bait. The shallow shad rap is one of my favorites, I also love a small crankbait like the Storm Subwart, KVD 1.0, Speed traps etc. The bomber series is tough to beat pound for pound imo.

 

Norman makes some of the best cranks as well. I am always hearing about the DD22 and Middle N.

[Clinton john]

If fishing from a boat and normal water depth is 12 are less.

 

Bandit 100,200,300 series cranks.

Colors- pearl and black back, crome and black back, red crawfish, sunpearch.

 

Rat-al-trap and cotton cordell 

size- 1/4, 1/2 once

Colors- pearl and black back, crome and black back, crome and black back with orange bell, red crawfish, bluegill.

 

This list sum's up 90 % of my cranks and lipless cranks.

 

Hope this helps sir.

[Crank Bait Nut]

Can't Go Wrong With A Few Wiggle Warts In The Box , Craw Colors. Brown , Green & Red.

[Spankey]

I guess you can make this part of fishing so scientifically nasa level of fishing but to me it's pretty straight forward. To me it's depth range, how much action, natural colors close to food source or what might be preyed on and colors on the other side of the spectrum that may trigger a strike. I've heard them called "idiot baits" I hate to use that terminology but it is what it is I guess. Call me an idiot than cause I throw slot of them. 

[scaleface]

At 12 foot , you will want a bait that dives 14 to 15 foot . Bill Norman DD14 would stay at 12 foot for awhile . The deep Little N will hit 10 foot well then shallower than that there are bunches that will work . If they dont come in perfectly straight then they will have to be tuned . A bait that runs crooked wont catch many fish .

[LBASS01]

Booyah Hardknocker lipless crankbait, Berkley Pitbull, and Berkley Bad Shad.  These shoud get you started off right.

[Hot Rod Johnson]

The Strike King "Pro Model" 3XD, 4XD, 5XD and 6XD Series Crankbaits are my choice for inexpensive "Crankbaits"... My choice of colors are as follows, DB Craw, Sexy Shad, and Neon Bluegill... These baits will catch fish and they run true, they do catch fish and work bottom cover very well... You may want to change the hooks and they are ready to fish...

[papajoe222]

I won't offer suggestions for specific brands, but I will suggest four bait styles: Shallow, mid-depth, deep running (down to around 14ft. for you) and lipless cranks.  I'd pick colors that imitate the local forage, but  with shad or crawdad colored cranks you can't go wrong. Work the entire water column, by changing baits, until you catch a fish and then work that depth with either that bait, or a lipless crank.  Change retrieve speeds during your casts and you should be on your way to catching some fish with cranks.

[crypt]

On ‎5‎/‎23‎/‎2017 at 1:32 PM, Yeajray231 said:

Shad rap and bomber model A are two hard baits I wouldn't want to go without. 

this and a baby 1-  nothing else. you will catch everything in the lake with these........maybe.

[Attila]

My vote goes with the Shad Rap as you can fish it in the entire depth range that you'll find yourself in and it's available in so many different patterns you should have no problem matching the forage in the lake that you're in.  Another unique feature is that I've started to do is to upsize the treble hooks which makes the bait suspend, a great thing to do in cold weather situations as Mike Iaconelli describes in this video.  I've listed the specifications below and you can find the complete colour selection hyperlinked here.

 

Specifications

Model	Running Depth	Body Length	Weight	Hooks
SR05	4' - 9'	2"	3/16 oz	Two No. 6
SR07	5' - 11'	2-3/4"	5/16 oz	Two No. 5
SR08	8' - 15'	3-1/8"	3/8 oz	Two No. 4
SR09	8' - 15'	3-1/2"	9/16 oz	Two No. 3

 

 

[Darren.]

Welcome aboard, @Andrewhurd!

 

I'm not a lot of help as I don't fish cranks much at all.

But I do like rattle traps!

[WRB]

What you are asking for is what lures are popular with the site members.

What lure works for me may not work where you bass fish for several reasons, the type of lake being the most important.

What type of lake are you fishing; deep Rocky structured with sparse cover, shallow flats with lots of cover, laydowns and standing timber or a little of both?

Tom