Lew’s XD Cranking rod

[jdr99a]

Anyone with experience on the 8 or 10xd rods from lews? While they should be able to handle the deeper stuff well, how do they handle squarebill/lipless baits?

 

I don’t do a lot of deep cranking but am looking to add a rod to my arsenal that can be versatile enough to do crank multiple depths with. 

 

 

 

 

 

[MediumMouthBass]

I dont have much experience with those cranking rods from Lews, but i have a David Fritts cranking rod and a KVD Composite cranking rod too (both from Lews).

 

The Fritts i use fishing the river with square bills and the KVD is for 1oz chatterbaits and some 1.5oz-2oz swimbait use. But mainly for deep diving crankbaits, now im talking anywhere from 12-25 foot deep divers, some from Strike King, but mostly the ones Berkley makes (the Dredge, to me this thing just feels so heavy in the hand and casts like i have a tungsten weight tied at the end of the line) plus is doesnt pull the kayak while im fishing it).

 

(The Fritts is rated from 1/2oz-1 1/4oz and KVD is 1/2-2oz)

 

These rods are similar in lure ounce ratings  to the ones you are looking at, but the XD go a bit lighter. The XD rods might be able to do both but i dont think it would be ideal. heres the thing my deep cranking rod would struggle a TON with throwing square bills, lets take the Strike King 1.0 1.5 and 2.5 these are very light lures and some of the most common square bills, even though its a bendy rod i dont think they would even be able to load up the tip of the rod, let alone the whole rod. Whereas that Fritts can cast those 1.0, 1.5, and 2.5's all day every day with distance and accuracy.

 

Now you can use any rod or reel to fish crankbaits, but ill give you 2 options below depending on how deep you want to get into this rabbit hole.

 

#1 If you want to take it seriously

You need a reel specifically for cranking. The reels very important. I have 2 Lews BB1 Pro casting reels and they were made for crankbait fishing, they hold alot more line on the spool than most reels and let you cast extremely far, and i mean extremely far. Getting as much line out as possible is key when fishing these deep divers. Reason being say you cast out 100 feet, it might take 1/3 or even 1/2 of that cast reeling it in just to get it to its listed depth (give or take some distance). Its got a clicking drag too so you know when you hook a fish deep you dont miss it because you thought it was just a tree branch or a rock you felt the hook stick to for a second.

 

And you would need 2 rods and 2 reels for different setups, not only is the rod important for throwing each type of crankbait but the line on the reel is very important. For square bills 15lb is recommended but for deep cranks its 10lb, because like i said before you need to get as deep as possible.

 

You can get 2 good cranking rods from sales throughout the year really cheap, i bought three of those KVD rods for $60 each last season. 

 

#2 You want something multipurpose or just something to try to see if you like this type of fishing.

Try to find a rod with some bend in it meant for cranking, but has ratings inbetween a square bill rod and a deep cranking rod. You will lose some ounces on the top rating so you wont be able to go as deep but it should create a balance where throwing each type is doable but not ideal.

Get a cranking reel too, again the BB1 Pro is the ultimate do all cranking reel, put 15lb line on it for square bills and then buy a spare spool and fill it with 10lb for deep cranks, within minutes you can change your spool, retie and fish any crank you want. With only 1 rod and 1 reel, and you wont have to much invested in it. Also the BB1 Pro goes on sale quite a bit recently.