bandit cranks??

[Fish Man]

i have never really fished cranks baits before an im lookin at buyin a few.......are bandits any good and if so what colores do yall use...i fish shallow stained water so im lookin at the shallow flat maxx and footloose

thanx in advance

logan

[Munkin]

Flat maxx do not work well for me, footloose are alright but I catch a lot more fish on a Mann's Baby 1-. Now the Bandit 100 in crayfish pattern is the #1 fishing catching crankbait I own (BTW I own at least 250+ crankbaits). I cannot remember the name of the crayfish color but "old light matte" just slays river fish for me. One thing to remember about Bandits is if you are buying them in person try to get the ones that have Mustad triple grip hooks. These are the older ones which have better hooks and need less tuning. Look at the link below the crankbait second from the left is the color I am talking about and you can see the package of older baits that have the Mustad hooks. The newer baits are made in China and even though they still work the quality is not the same as the older ones. If you have any more questions I can answer as I know a lot about Bandits.

Allen

http://cgi.ebay.com/4-New-Bandit-200-Series-Crankbaits_W0QQitemZ190085988050QQihZ009QQcategoryZ7300QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[Fish Man]

are the 1000's any good..i saw them on there website and mite work on the shore at my pond.....however the seem very small ....also will a crank bait work in a color that is good on another bait like a in line spinner or spinnerbait

thanx

[Munkin]

Yes they are small and a panfish magnet. As far as colors go for crankbaits you only need 3 colors; crayfish, firetiger/chartruese and white/shad colored they will color all situations. For ponds and lakes white and firetiger work best but in the river crayfish color works better 75% of the time.

Allen

[Munkin]

I see you are from Delaware, this summer you need to go to Trap Pond and about 1 hour before dark start throwing a Zoom horny toad. This produced the biggest 5 fish stringer of my life with all fish going 4+. I am not sure what ponds you are fishing but I can tell you about Trap.

Allen

[VABasser]

Yes they are small and a panfish magnet. As far as colors go for crankbaits you only need 3 colors; crayfish, firetiger/chartruese and white/shad colored they will color all situations. For ponds and lakes white and firetiger work best but in the river crayfish color works better 75% of the time.

Allen

Simplifying those colors for crankbaits really helps because there are so many different colors I'm always trying to figure out which ones to get. I don't fish crankbaits a lot but I'm trying to use them a little more this spring and summer. So the color you like best in a river is the brown craw with red belly or something (I forget exactly what it was called on that Ebay link)?

[flyphisher #]

The Flat maxx deep divers are great IMHO. Other than the hooks. dont fish them around rocks. I use them alot around wood. Catch lots of fish and rarely hang up. You do have to use a 6:1 reel though. For some reason the Flat maxx fish alot better on a faster reel. I use the shallow runners and the regular bandits some too. They catch fish, decent cranks for the money though.

[Fish Man]

Munkin you said that chartruese is good....we use alot of dark green,,,,gold,,and yellow on other baits do u think they might work on a crank as well???

thanx

[Fish Man]

this color seemed to catch my eye

http://www.banditlures.com/cart/proddetail.php?prod=FMSD26&cat=19

[Munkin]

The ponds I fished in Delaware had water that was severly stained so I would stay with any chartreuse colored bait. For the record the biggest bass I caught in 2005 was at Trap pond on a Bone colored Baby 1-. Pearl works quite well if you are looking at another color to try?

Allen

[Munkin]

Yes they are small and a panfish magnet. As far as colors go for crankbaits you only need 3 colors; crayfish, firetiger/chartruese and white/shad colored they will color all situations. For ponds and lakes white and firetiger work best but in the river crayfish color works better 75% of the time.

Allen

Simplifying those colors for crankbaits really helps because there are so many different colors I'm always trying to figure out which ones to get. I don't fish crankbaits a lot but I'm trying to use them a little more this spring and summer. So the color you like best in a river is the brown craw with red belly or something (I forget exactly what it was called on that Ebay link)?

http://www.banditlures.com/cart/proddetail.php?prod=104&cat=15 This is the color I am throwing on the Upper Potomac 75% of the time. I would also not buy from that website as the prices are way too high! If you want to know about crankbaits in general I use crayfish colored cranks in the river 90% of the time. Lakes are a different story though as shad or firetiger work a lot better than any other color for me. Below I will go ahead and list the crankbaits that work best for me in no particular order.

River:

1. Bandit 100

2. Rapala shad rap RS size? (I am not sure but I think 5)

3. Lucky Craft RC 1.5 ( I have only used the white with black splatter back but it really works)

4. Mann's Baby 1- ( Best shallow bait ever)

5. Luhr Jensen Klawdad (Overlooked but man does this thing catch fish)

Lake:

1. Mann's Baby 1-

2. Timber Tiger

3. Rapala Shad Rap

4. Poe's 400+

5. Speed Trap (I cannot remember who makes it?)

Allen

[Fish Man]

thanx a ton.....and yea the pond i fish in millville also is stainned almost year round except for now when the ice melts

[The_Natural]

Bandits are notorious fish catchers here in the south.  I throw the 100, 200, 300, and the Flat Maxx in the shallow and deep versions.  My favorite colors are Taco Salad (a killer stained water color), baby bass, rootbeer and rootbeer/chart, pearl, and spring craw.  I should be good on Bandits until the year 2015...I purchased over 200 baits when Academy put them on sale for $1.38  8-)