Running Depths

[Fishin49er]

I bought a Field and Stream magazine today and it had an article where they tested 6 different crankbaits to see if they ran as advertised. Lures tested: Rapala DT10, Bomber Fat A B06F, BPS XPS Extreme, Cordell Wally Diver CD6, Bandit 300 Series, and Luhr Jensen Radar 10.  Even though they all ran true out of the package, the only one that ran at its advertised depth was the Rapala. Others were off by 1 to 6 feet.  Just thought I would give yall a heads up, maybe that will help you decide on the next crankbait you buy.  

[Tucson]

Yeah, I read that article too, pretty interesting.  I think Rapala has consistently good quality lures for a good price plus they can be trusted on the depth issue.  Gets my vote.

[.ghoti.]

When I went to Bassmaster Univ., Davy Hite said the same thing. Most crankbaits do not run at their rated depths. He recommended the Rapala DT series. He also said a DD22 will run at 22'. If you troll it, 200' behind the boat, on 4lb line, with about a dozen split-shot.

He went on the say that it really didn't matter, as long as you were aware of it, and could pick the bait that ran at the depth you wanted. That would be the problem. It takes a lot of experimenting to find out how deep your baits actually run. I know I don't have that kind of time. The depth a crank will reach is dependent on a variety of factors. Line diameter, length of the cast, retrieve speed and water density would be the main ones. My approach is a lot less scientific. I keep tying on different baits, with progressively larger bills, until I can get it to the bottom.

I too like the DT series. At least they are consistent.

Cheers,

GK

[5bass]

Yeah,the DD22's run 14-18'.There has been a book published in the past couple of years that has almost every crankbaits depth.The guy who wrote the book tested several thousand cranks and recorded all his findings.I'll try to figure out the name of his book and post it up.

Here's the link to that book....it's at the bottom of the page

http://www.precisionangling.com/books.html

[Brandon972]

Check out the books Precision Trolling, and Precision Casting by Mark Romanak. You wont get any better info than those books. Precision Trolling has a chart listing all kinds of lures with their running depth, on what size line, and how far your line has to be out to reach that depth. A must for big time crankbait users! You can do a seach on the net for Mark Romanak, and it will take you to a sight with all his books for sale!

[Brandon972]

FBL, I just noticed we are talking about the same book. lol