Crankbaits

[Jeremy Perry]

So!! I'm going to be revamping my crankbait arsenal this winter, I'm probably going to sell all of the crankbaits I currently have and use that to partially supplement the cost of starting all over. so my question here is; whats everyone's favorite crankbait brand and why? ill be fishing down here in central west Texas (lake Amistad, O.H. Ivie, Hubbard Creek, Lake Leon, Alan Henry etc. ) I'm really wanting to try and stick with one brand with an easy way to identify diving depth. 

the colors I throw most of the time are red/black back, shad, citrus shad/ chartreuse. any input or advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

[SWVABass]

Man I have done really well on strike Kings line up. From the 1.0 square bill to the 5xd. Also on their deep cranks the size is imprinted on the bill. If I had only one brand this would probably be it for me.

[Dens228]

I would think you can't go wrong with either Strike King or 6th Sense.  I'm currently moving towards all 6th Sense but have nothing against my Strike King cranks. 

[scaleface]

I like Berkely Dredgers .There are six different sizes that I use from 5 foot to 25 foot . One thing some people dont like about them is they are not highly buoyant . Some of them even suspend .

[Russ E]

1 hour ago, Swbass15 said:

Man I have done really well on strike Kings line up. From the 1.0 square bill to the 5xd. Also on their deep cranks the size is imprinted on the bill. If I had only one brand this would probably be it for me.

^^^this.

love strike king cranks. Kvd 1.5 and 5XD are my top 2.

plus in a pinch Walmart sells them.

[Bluebasser86]

I feel like Strike King and Bandit are 2 companies that offer some of the most complete line ups of crankbaits from super shallow runners to very deep divers and a good selection of colors. 

[TOXIC]

There is no depth/cover/time of year or situation that SPRO doesn't have a crank for and I can attest that the pro's who designed them actually designed them.  I was talking to John Crews about the Little John and told him he did a good job.  His reply..."I think I did too good of a job"!!  

[NHBull]

Dredgers, spro and 6th sense  make up most of mine.  If I had to pick only one, dredgers would get the call as they do get deep faster

[Spankey]

I'm a Rapala guy for the most part. They have been putting versions out for a long time others are claiming as new now. Their color possibilities may not be as great as others but maybe color really is not that important. They have balsa and plastic versions. Both are great. They have never skimped on quality over the years. In my opinion. 

 

I love the Bandits. Jumped on that bandwagon back in the early 80's. Great lures. Wish I had 10 cents for every Smallie I caught on a Bandit. I have a lot of vintage fish catching patterns from years ago. That company went down the crapper when they sold out. 

 

Same applies to Bomber. ^^^^^ What happened?

 

I've jumped on the Strike King bandwagon on a few versions of their crank baits. The XD's I love. I don't believe color is everything but there are a couple of the Sexy Patterns they put out that are working great for me. Not sure if it's the lure or the pattern. Leaning toward the color.

 

Lipless all I throw are Rat-L-Traps. 

[Jeremy Perry]

thanks everyone for all the input, i use strike king 2.5 and xd's currently as well as some spro's but mostly

H2O brand (cheap, i have about 80 of these stupid things lol) i was leaning toward the rapalas but im thinking about mixing it up between rapala and strike king more than likely. 

 

thanks again yall. 

[scaleface]

3 hours ago, NHBull said:

Dredgers, spro and 6th sense  make up most of mine.  If I had to pick only one, dredgers would get the call as they do get deep faster

They  stay deep longer also . Lots of bass are caught close to the boat .

[TBAG]

Majority of mine are Strike King with some older Rapalas mixed in but I've jumped on the 6th sense wagon lately and really like what they have to offer.

[NYWayfarer]

Throw another vote in for Berkley from me. I have success with their Squarebulls. Love the fusion hooks on their hardbaits.

 

 

[Boomstick]

If I was going to go with one brand, it would likely be Strike King or Norman. They're rather cheap and effective. However, I've probably caught more fish on the Norman Fat Boy (spring and fall) and River2Sea Ish Monroe's (summertime) than any other crankbait, but my youngest son has probably got more fish on a KVD 1.5 than I have on other cranks. My oldest son has been quite successful with a KVD 2.5.

[Fishingmickey]

Hi Jeremy,

     I'd be really hard pressed to limit myself to one brand. I'm kind of old school for some stuff and throwing a balsa crankbaits is one of them. I think the balsa baits float much quicker then the plastic cranks. So when you hit weeds, rock or wood they float back and up much better. I like the Bagley balsa Killer bee's, Rapala Fat rap's, DT series and Shad raps (shad raps especially in cooler water), DT22's from Norman have a place in the arsenal too.  I do like the Strike King bigger cranks (6XD & 8XD's) for getting seriously deep. I have not tried the newer line of Berkley crankbaits.  Good luck with the re-vamp of your arsenal.

Fishingmickey

[Happybeerbuzz]

If you have an hour or so to watch YouTube, Thebaitmantv just put out a comprehensive video talking about a lot of brands of crankbait. 

[Jeremy Perry]

guess i know what im doing for the next hour, hiding in my office watching you tube lol 

[Brett's_daddy]

If I had to go with just one brand it would be 6th Sense. They make great baits with fantastic paint jobs and come with quality hardware stock so you won't need to upgrade anything right away and are reasonably priced (around $8 - $9). I've heard they have really good customer service too.

[Boomstick]

2 hours ago, Fishingmickey said:

Hi Jeremy,

     I'd be really hard pressed to limit myself to one brand.

I will second this. Of course I do have my goto brands that I may prefer over others, but I think with any one brand there is always a certain profile that I am missing.

[Bankbeater]

My favorite is a Cordell Big-O, but you can't go wrong with Strike King.

[Big Rick]

On 10/2/2018 at 8:17 PM, Russ E said:

^^^this.

love strike king cranks. Kvd 1.5 and 5XD are my top 2.

plus in a pinch Walmart sells them.

And, Strike King is one of the chosen few that BPS will still carry. And BOY, do they carry them!!  Loads of inventory!!  I use the BPS credit card for my business expenses and get about $35 a month in points, so I frequent BPS monthly....

[Russ E]

Just now, Big Rick said:

And, Strike King is one of the chosen few that BPS will still carry. And BOY, do they carry them!!  Loads of inventory!!  I use the BPS credit card for my business expenses and get about $35 a month in points, so I frequent BPS monthly....

I do the same thing, but with a Cabelas card. Fortunately you can use either card in both stores now.

[Smalls]

I’m partial to 6th sense, Arashi and Spro.Decently priced, come with good hardware that I don’t need to change out, and have good action.

 

I WISH 6th sense would sponsor me, because as many fish I’ve caught with their square bill, I’ve probably lost to pike. But at $10, I can’t find anything better. 

 

Arashi, I bought like 20 of em when Cabela’s had em in clearance. Loved em, can’t find em locally. 

 

Can’t find much Spro, either, and they’re an extra $5 to feed the pike. 

[burrows]

Retracted 

Edited October 5, 2018 by Burrows

[ww2farmer]

6 minutes ago, Burrows said:

I didn’t read much of the post

That's obvious.....this is a thread about baits, not rods.

 

To the OP....I have actually gone away from using hard baits that are widely available at the big box stores. Not that I think it matters to the fish, and I am not so foolish to think tons of people aren't throwing higher end baits, because a lot of guys are.

 

Will Strike King, Berkley, etc...catch fish? Sure, and lots of them.

 

But I have grown to  like stuff that's a little better quality. For example, by the time I bought a SK KVD,  RES, 5xd, etc...changed the hooks, culled out ones that didn't run right, sent baits back to SK for poor QC (Strike King C.S. is top notch....but I have had to use them....A LOT) I am further ahead just buying a Spro, Jackall, Luckycraft, Ima, or insert "premium" brand name here bait The LC 1.5 and 2.5 sqaurebills are a great example of this. They are worlds better in quality than a SK, and cost the same, if not less if you figure in the fact that the SK baits need the hooks changed right out of the package.