crank bait starter kit ?

[jbmaine]

Hi all,

   I have a confession to make. Out side of using the original Rapala back in the day, I have never used crank baits. Out side of top water and fishing on the bottom ( jigs), soft plastics is all I have used. I would like to give them a try but the variety available quite frankly overwhelms me. So if I were to get some what would be a good starter kit. Say three shallow, three medium, and three deep divers. I fish in southern Maine and am looking to target LM and SM. 

                                                                            Thanks

                                                                                       Jim

[CroakHunter]

If you are bank bound, I wouldn't worry about deep divers. I would suggest lipless cranks instead. They are very versatile in that you can fish then at any depth. I will suggest strike king baits because that is what I'm familiar with and they are readily available in most outdoor stores.

 

-KVD 1.5 square bill- colors: bluegill, sexy shad, chartreuse black back, and delta red craw.

-KVD flatside crankbait- colors: bluegill, sexy shad, perch, brown craw, delta red craw.

-Strike King red eye shad lipless crankbait- gold black back, chrome blue back, delta red craw, bluegill or perch.

 

The last 2 baits I suggested also work very good in cold water. 

 

[Cgolf]

-Bandit 100s for shallow water, smallies love them and largemouth eat them too

-2nd the Red Eye shad, been my # lipless bait the last couple of years

-For Deep divers Rapala DT series and Norman Deep little Ns and DD22s

-Shad rap can be an excellent cooler water bait as well. I generally fish the smaller sizes.

-Luhr Jenson Speed Trap, awesome bait for shallow water

[Deleted account]

It really depends on what specific bodies of water you will be fishing, the time of year, and of course the cover and conditions. But here is my list which fit your criteria. 

 

Bandit 100

SK KVD 1.0

 

Bandit 200

Fat Free fry

 

5XD

Fat Free shad

[scaleface]

If my stuff was stolen and I had to replace it quickly , heres what I would get .

 

Rapala Crankin Rap square bill for shallow cranking    a Berkely Dredger in each size  and some Strike King  Red Eye Shads . That would cover all depths  1 to 25 foot for the divers and the Red Eye can be fished any depth .

[NYWayfarer]

1 hour ago, CroakHunter said:

-Strike King red eye shad lipless crankbait- gold black back, chrome blue back, delta red craw, bluegill or perch.

1 hour ago, cgolf said:

-2nd the Red Eye shad, been my # lipless bait the last couple of years

58 minutes ago, scaleface said:

 and some Strike King  Red Eye Shads .

 

 

4th vote for the Strike King red eye shad.

 

[tander]

I would go with all Bandits in the 100, 200, 300 series. That would cover depths from 1-12 feet. Go with a shad color, craw color, and maybe a chart. color. These are some of the cheapest cranks and they do catch fish.

[fishballer06]

Shallow/Squarebill:

Mann's Baby 1-

Lucky Craft 1.5

Strike King KVD 1.5

 

Mid:

Rapala Shad Rap

Rapala DT6 and DT10

Storm Wiggle Wart

 

Deep:

Rapala DT14 and DT16

Strike King 3XD/5XD/6XD

Norman DD22

[jbmaine]

Thanks, I'll put a few on my list for black Friday.

                                             Jim

[Scarborough817]

personally i can't get enough of the rapala dt series, they just catch fish for me, but i would also look at some red eye shads like everyone else has mentioned as well as the kvd squarebills and the spro little johns. Personally the cranking bug bit me hard this year, a crankbait bite is addicting i see why kvd cant stop throwing them now.

 

my list would be the following

 

Shallow:

sk kvd 1.5

bagley balsa b2

booyah streak

 

Mid:

lucky craft rto 2.5dd

rapala dt10

strike king red eye shad

 

deep:

spro little john dd

rapala dt 16/20

strike king 6xd

[Bucky205]

If I owned absolutely no crankbaits my first purchase would be a chrome/blue Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap, then a couple of Rapala DT's.

[Munkin]

Manns baby 1-

Bandit 100,200,300

RC 1.5 

Strike King 1-6 series

Rebel Deep WeeR

 

These are what work best for me.

 

Allen 

[WRB]

My favorite crankbait brands over the years have been Bomber 7A, Norman DD14 & DD22, Poe Cedar 300 and Bagley B series.

if  I was going to buy crankbaits today the Berkley Dreger series and Major Craft Zoners. The Dregers come in several depth ranges and colors so that is my suggestion for you kit plus a Zoner.

Tom 

 

[DomQ]

Bass pro has a sweet strike king squarebill kit on sale right now, if scoop that up for its not for Canadians ?

 

[fishwizzard]

I also have been making a push to get cranks into the rotation, I have been using jerkbaits/minnow baits and lipless cranks for a while, but wanted to branch out.  Here is the order I made as a starter kit;

I went for the colors I did to have one "natural" and one "loud".   I fish a lot of shallow ponds from the bank so I started with a shallow and super shallow lures, with a plan to pick up some medium divers once it warms up a bit and my desire to get out in my yak increases.  

[Deleted account]

4 hours ago, fishwizzard said:

I also have been making a push to get cranks into the rotation, I have been using jerkbaits/minnow baits and lipless cranks for a while, but wanted to branch out.  Here is the order I made as a starter kit;

I went for the colors I did to have one "natural" and one "loud".   I fish a lot of shallow ponds from the bank so I started with a shallow and super shallow lures, with a plan to pick up some medium divers once it warms up a bit and my desire to get out in my yak increases.  

Yup, that will work. Those super shallow ones have caught me a few good ones. Make sure you bring something to get them back when they hang up. Caught 2 on the 1.0 today in 2 feet of water.